Al Jardine is my favorite Beach Boy. I
always liked his voice the best. Something about his hyper
annunciation just always gets stuck in my head.
When I wrote this article for The
Oregonian about the Beach Boys' 50th reunion tour, I
delved pretty deep into the song “Isn't It Time,” which, lucky
for me, has a very cool part in it sung by Al Jardine.
When the Beach Boys performed at
Chateau Ste Michele outside of Seattle last Friday, Al just looked so
happy to be there. When “Isn't It Time” came around, I was the
only person in my vicinity singing along. And Al made me look bad—he
changed it up on me!
Instead of singing “Every time I
think of you / And all of the things we used to” he sang “all of
the things we like to do.” I actually really liked this change for
the live setting. Since the song is about recapturing youth and there
were a lot of older Beach Boys fans in the audience doing just that,
he updated it to the present tense. It was such a small change, but
it made me smile and look around at everyone dancing around me.
Oddly, this isn't the first lyrical
quirk I've come across with this song. When I was researching my
article, co-writer of the tune Jim Peterik told me that the chorus of
“Isn't it time we dance the night away?” was originally, “Isn't
it time we catch another wave?” Apparently Brian Wilson thought it
was too similar to the band's previous material and suggested the
revision.
Anyway, it was a great show. I kept
hugging my friend Jake and I teared up a couple of times. I won't
bore you with what it meant to me to see “In My Room” and “Surfer
Girl” live. Instead, I'll tell you about the video that played
behind the band during the title track of their new record, “That's
Why God Made The Radio.” It featured footage of hipsters complete
with tattoos and vintage chic outfits cut with old footage of the
Beach Boys.
Now, mind you, Jake and I were some of
the only hipsters in the crowd, although one of the band's
keyboardists looked plucked from an Urban Outfitters ad. I wonder if
they haze that guy and make him carry gear and stuff, because the way
I took the video was the Beach Boys saying, “Hey, just so you know,
we did it first.” If dads are the original hipsters, the Beach Boys
are the daddy of pop rock bands.
Image plucked from Front Row Features.
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The keyboard players are Darian Sahanaja, who was instrumental in getting Brian to record SMiLE in 2004, and Scott Bennett, who co-wrote songs on Brian's Lucky Old Sun album. So they are very talented musicians despite their hipster appearance, and should have their own roadies and generous paychecks.
ReplyDeleteMark
Thanks, Mark. The one I was thinking of was Darian Sahanaja. He has awesome hair and glasses. I was kidding about shlepping gear, really. It's great there are so many young musicians in the band.
DeleteHey Jason - glad you dug the show - yeah some of the folks backing the Beach Boys these days are pretty hip themselves - they were in indie bands - Darian and others were in The Wondermints and Nelson Bragg (percussion) was in several bands like The Quarter After, The Lovetones, and played on numerous indie records. Btw i dig "Isn't It Time" also
ReplyDeletecheers man