Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Sloopy Seconds

The Beach Boys' "Sloop John B" was a reluctant masterpiece for Brian Wilson. His first reaction to Al Jardine's song pitch was "I'm not a big fan of the Kingston Trio," referring to that band's 1958 cover of an even older West Indies folk tune. But something struck Wilson and within 24 hours from conception to reduction to practice, the song was complete. Hal Blaine (drums) and the incomparable Carol Kaye (electric bass) immortalized the song. Who's ever heard of the Kingston Trio version?


Something funny at the Wiki page for this song: English football fans are apparently fond of singing the song and changing the lyrics. One version -- when traveling to away games:

"[Town]'s a shithole, I wanna go home."

lol

25 comments:

Revenant said...

Who's ever heard of the Kingston Trio version?

They're not exactly unheard-of!

"The Merry Minuet" is still one of the only good political songs ever written.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Me. I have it on vinyl. Sad but true.

Merry Minuet. I forgot about that one. Timeless!

chickelit said...

I'm a big fan of the Kingston Trio, revenant. I just meant that song.

"The Merry Minuet" is prescient, timeless and just never gets old. :)

chickelit said...

Not fair, DBQ. You have everything from that era.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Under 'Sloppy Seconds' I have this.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Are you on the road?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

oh wait, I think I got that wrong.

I was sloppy. You wrote sloopy.

Revenant said...

I'm a big fan of the Kingston Trio, revenant. I just meant that song.

Well, its on their debut album with "Tom Dooley"... I dunno, I'm familiar with it because my parents had that album and I heard it all the time as a kid. I was too busy being like negative one decade old when they were popular, so maybe that wasn't a well-known song of theirs. :)

chickelit said...

Me? No.

chickelit said...

OK, rev. Let's just say that The Beach Boys eclipsed that version.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

It took me a few weeks to get used to the sound of the guy's voice who sings for Radiohead chiefly because it reminded me of the perverted old man on The Family Guy.

After several decades, I have yet to grow accustomed to The Beach Boys' vocals. It is my view that no man properly constituted should be able to (or should ever want to) produce those types of sounds with his body.

That so many people purport to enjoy that sort of thing I attribute to the effects of peer pressure applied during an impressionable phase of development and nostalgia.

AllenS said...

The best Beach Boys song was Darlin.

The Dude said...

Without going back and listening to any version of the song, after hearing the Beach Boys version on the radio for years I heard the original.

I was amazed that Brian Wilson was able to take such a pedestrian tune and turn it into music. That one record is sufficient evidence of his genius, at least to me.

The guy was gifted.

The Dude said...

I listened to it - I was immediately struck by the counter melody, followed by the bass line - Carol was brilliant.

Wonderful vocal harmonies, including a falsetto octave above the melody.

Background harmonizing, swimming along with the chord changes.

Call and response vocals. A capella singing, then joined with simple accompaniment - then the pulsing bass line insists on moving the whole thing forward - fade to the end.

All in all, 2:57 of pop music brilliance. How Brian got there from that weak old folk tune may never be known - he had some different things going on inside his head, that's for sure.

sakredkow said...

Darlin sure was a great song. I'm partial to almost everything the BBs did. Don't Worry Baby was killer diller.

Mike Love winked at me once.

AllenS said...

Mike Love winked at me once.

So, does that mean your a female, or does that mean he's, well, you know...

sakredkow said...

A wink is not necessarily ... you know ... in any case.

sakredkow said...

Although he did purse his lips, too. Maybe he thought I was gay and he was teasing me.

sakredkow said...

Or bullying me if you want to take it like that.

edutcher said...

The Trio version is better, although I still hate the song.

PS All of the Trio's albums are available on CD, for those who liked their stuff.

The Dude said...

The Kingston Trio recorded like they looked - stiff, marching in lock step and completely free of any soul or rhythm.

It is sad to think that a group that bad was ever popular.

Revenant said...

The Kingston Trio recorded like they looked - stiff, marching in lock step and completely free of any soul or rhythm.

Listen to some of their material from "Live at the hungry i". It should cure you of the above impression.

bagoh20 said...

What's wrong with those damned women jumping on them while they are trying to work? I hate that crap, and it happens everytime I walk out the front door. Just stop it. Stop it!

chickelit said...

That was a brilliant comment at 9:50, Sixty.

deborah said...

Seconded, chick.