The Little Girl I Once Knew
| "The Little Girl I Once Knew" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by The Beach Boys | ||||
| B-side | "There's No Other (Like My Baby)" | |||
| Released | November 22, 1965 | |||
| Format | 7" vinyl | |||
| Recorded | October 13 / 24, 1965; United Western Recorders, Los Angeles | |||
| Genre | Rock, pop | |||
| Length | 2:35 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Writer(s) | Brian Wilson | |||
| Producer(s) | Brian Wilson | |||
| The Beach Boys singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"The Little Girl I Once Knew" is a song written by Brian Wilson for the American rock band The Beach Boys released as a single in 1965.[1]
AllMusic called a song "a virtual link between the slightly progressive work on songs such as 'California Girls' and the then-quantum leap taken by Wilson on Pet Sounds and 'Good Vibrations'".[2] Unified by an opening hook which intertwines keyboards with guitars, the song is eccentric for using stop-start melody sections along with a few dramatic periods of silence lasting several seconds each.[2]
Recording
"The Little Girl I Once Knew" was recorded shortly after Brian Wilson completed Beach Boys' Party! in between sessions for the Pet Sounds tracks "Sloop John B" and "You Still Believe in Me".[3] The track has drawn comparisons with the work of contemporary Burt Bacharach, whom Wilson admired.[4] In 1995, Wilson expressed, "It was a fine song, except the intro is the only good part of it, and the rest didn't sound so good. I thought the song in itself sucked. I didn't like the harmonies, I thought they were sour and off-key."[5] Despite this, he later said that the song "should've" gotten more attention than it should have.[6]
Release and reception
It was released in November 1965 as a single 45 rpm, backed by "There's No Other (Like My Baby)", and reached #15 on the Cash Box chart, #20 on Billboard. On the UPI (United Press International) chart, quoted by newspapers across the United States, it placed at #4—the same position it peaked at the 'pirate' station Radio London serving the UK. In Canada, it was #7 on the national chart cited by Billboard and #10 on the RPM chart. Across North America, of major markets, it was highly popular only in Minneapolis and Vancouver (both #3), Washington DC (#5), Boston (#8), Baltimore and Pittsburgh (both #9); also top ten across the South in Birmingham, Louisville, Orlando and St Joseph.
As radio stations preferred to avoid dead air time, the song was poorly received by them,[2][4] which may account for its relatively low chart rating among their other singles of the period, including "California Girls" and "Barbara Ann". Capitol Records' rushed release of "Barbara Ann" in December ruined any chance "The Little Girl I Once Knew" had of continuing up the charts. Just after its release, John Lennon gave it a favorable review:
"This is the greatest! Turn it up, turn it right up. It's GOT to be a hit. It's the greatest record I've heard for weeks. It's fantastic. I hope it will be a hit. It's all Brian Wilson. He just uses the voices as instruments. He never tours or anything. He just sits at home thinking up fantastic arrangements our of his head. Doesn't even read music. You keep waiting for the fabulous breaks. Great arrangement. It goes on and on with all different things. I hope it's a hit so I can hear it all the time."[7]
It is the last new original song the group released before the album Pet Sounds, and was not included on any mainline Beach Boys album, but has since been collected on several anthologies (its first LP appearance being volume 3 of the group's Best Of series) and as a bonus track on reissues of Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!).
Personnel
- This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
- The Beach Boys
- Brian Wilson – lead vocals[4]
Variations
An alternate take with different lead vocals by Brian was included for the 1990 reissue of Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!).[4]
References
- ↑ Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys. The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band: On Stage and in the Studio Backbeat Books, San Francisco, California, 2004. ISBN 0-87930-818-4 p. 104
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Greenwalkd, Matthew. "Song review". Allmusic. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ↑ Doe, Andrew G. "GIGS65". Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Leaf, David (1990). Today/Summer Days (CD Liner). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records.
- ↑ Benci, Jacopo (January 1995). "Brian Wilson interview". Record Collector (UK) (185).
- ↑ "Brian Answer's Fans' Questions In Live Q&A". January 29, 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
- ↑ Lambert, Philip. Inside the Music of Brian Wilson. p. 218.
