Wednesday 10th June

At one point in the Sixties music was progressing so quickly that each new record literally took your breath away.  I had loved the Beach Boys early songs about cars and girls and (what was this strange new thing?) surfing, and then came California Girls – and yes back in Suffolk we did all wish they all could be California Girls.  Suddenly the Beach Boys were out on ‘The Sloop John B’ – some magical boat on the sea and before we could forget that I heard ‘Good Vibrations’. It allegedly took months to record, the group singing again and again in different studios until Brian Wilson was happy with the sound.  It was certainly one of the most polished records of that time; the Beatles were now studio bound and would take months making Sergeant Pepper too.

I can remember specifically a discussion our class had with our music teacher, who insisted that the Beatles would be forgotten by the end of the Sixties; he saw no musical worth in their efforts.  Someone must have brought in ‘Good Vibrations’ because I recall he called it absolute rubbish, especially the phased section in the middle, which we all loved.  He said it had no merit at all and that we should all listen to Beethoven instead.  Well we were in no mood for that; in fact Roll Over Beethoven expressed our opinion of Classical music completely.  Later I have begun to appreciate Classical Music to a degree, but my first love remains the music created in the Sixties and improved on in the decades following.

I especially love that first ‘I’ in ‘Good Vibrations’ which has no musical accompaniment at all and pierces the void, with its three note sharpness, followed by ‘love the purple clothes she wears and the way the sunlight sparkles in her hair.’  And we all understood immediately what ‘Good Vibrations’ meant.  Paul McCartney on hearing it decided that The Beatles had to up their game and was seriously worried that their crown was slipping.  The song still gives me good vibrations and reminds me of summer like no other record.  I am listening here in Eymet sunshine and for me The Beach Boys are the perfect summertime band.