Welcome to a breath of fresh air with Sandy Kaye. Hello and welcome to a breath of fresh air, the show that takes you behind the music and inside the stories of the artists who created the soundtrack of our lives. Today we’re heading straight to the California sunshine with one of the founding voices of one of the most influential bands in music history, it’s Al Jardine from the Beach Boys.
Exciting news for Australian fans too, Al is about to head down under for a tour to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the album Pet Sounds. From the harmonies that changed pop music forever to the songs that captured endless summers, surfing, freedom and youth, the Beach Boys created a sound that became part of the fabric of modern music and Al Jardine was right there from the very beginning as a singer, songwriter and guitarist. In this episode Al reflects on the early days with Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, the explosion of worldwide fame, the makings of classics like California Girls, Help Me Ronda, Surfin’ USA and Good Vibrations and what life was really like inside one of the most successful and at times turbulent bands in rock history.
So settle back, turn the volume up and get ready for a fabulous conversation with a true music legend. I’m doing great, thank you. It’s a breath of fresh air talking to you.
Yeah, thank you so much. Hey we’re very excited to see you touring here in Australia with the Pet Sounds band as you’ve been doing all over the US and probably beyond I’m sure. I want to take you back if it’s okay with you to get a bit of your history.
A lot of people know a lot about you but perhaps don’t know that you and Brian actually started off together in school didn’t you? High school and in college. We were all in the same year, I mean we all, Brian and I and somebody else, oh Bruce, Bruce Johnston, we were all the same year and Paul McCartney. Really? You all went to the same school? No, we were in the same year.
Right, okay, so you and Brian grew up together through high school and then re-met. Yeah, and his brothers too. Yeah, his brothers were about four years behind us.
And you were really good friends there? Mm-hmm, yeah, we played on the football team together and we, you know, we just college together. We did a lot of stuff and he dropped out of school pretty soon afterwards. He dropped out and I stayed in for an additional year and left the band for about a year and then came back and rejoined for the rest of our careers.
Right, so you were a football jock, both of you? Yeah. When did you decide to form a band together? Well, in college, just shortly after, in our sophomore year. That was the thing to do? Yeah, well, I recognized his talent immediately of course and I thought, you know, we’ve got to start a band and do some folk music because I was in the folk music at the time.
And so he wanted to do jazz before freshman harmony kind of music. He was more into the jazz system. But we both lost out to Dennis Wilson, who was our surfer in the group, and he said we ought to do a song about surfing.
And that took precedence over everything. So it was a family, kind of a family adventure right off the bat. So we were very lucky to have the Wilsons.
I was very happy to know the Wilsons and they were happy to have cousin Mike Love aboard. So it all kind of worked. It certainly did, probably beyond your wildest dreams, I’d imagine.
What sort of folk music were you listening to in those days? Doo-wop. I was listening to the top 40 radio. Brian was of course fascinated by it.
We all loved doo-wop and rock and roll. And his specialty, however, was organizing harmonies vis-a-vis the four freshmen and the high-lows, people like that. He loved putting harmony together and imagining himself being a four freshman.
In your poem, we danced till three, and then you gave your heart to me. We’ll remember always, graduation day. Though we live in sorrow, all the joys we’ve known, we can face tomorrow, knowing we’ll never walk alone.
When it came time to decide that you were going to do surf music together, it was all about harmonies, as we well know today. Did you have any competition at the time doing surf music? No, we were the first group ever to do lyrics, as far as I know, to put surf music to lyric. Before that, it was mainly instrumental music.
So we melded the two. Carl Wilson played lead guitar, I was rhythm guitar. And bass, I played bass also in the band.
So it all coalesced, you might say, around Brian’s instinctual musical adaptation. He knew how to write a melody. He was an expert arranger.
He just had it all. He had that wonderful falsetto voice, and it just all came together for us. Round, round, get around, I get around.
Yeah, get around, round, round, I get around. I get around, round, round, I get around. I get around, round, round, I get around.
I get around, round, round, I get around. I get around, round, round, I get around. I’m getting bugged driving up and down this same old strip.
I gotta find a new place where the kids are hip. My buddies and me, you’re getting real well known. Yeah, the bad guys know us and they leave us alone.
I get around, round, round, round, I get around. I get around, round, round, I get around. I get around, round, round, I get around.
I get around, round, round, I get around. I get around, I get around, round, round. Who was writing lyrics? I’d imagine you would have drawn on all the instrumental surf music that was around at the time.
Where did the lyrics come from, from staring Malibu Beach and the like. Yeah, well, Mike and Brian were cousins, first cousins. So they were able to shape some lyrics together by talking to Dennis and because he knew all the names of all the surfing spots.
So the three of them really, really put it all together. Was Dennis actually a surfer himself? Uh-huh, very much so. Yeah, he was very, very athletic and, but none of the rest of us really caught on for some reason.
You never got into surfing? We tried, but we weren’t very good at it. We would rather be in a studio and Dennis would rather be out in the water. I can’t imagine you weren’t very good at it.
I mean, you and Brian had been those putty jocks. You were athletic right from the get-go. Yeah, yeah, well, you know, we were more at home in the recording studio and writing songs.
Right, so I think the first one that you played bass on was the song Surfin’ in 1961, is that right? That was the first one, yeah. ♪ Surfin’ is the only life, the only way for me now, surf ♪ ♪ Surf with Bob, Bob, dip-de-dip-de-dip, Bob, Bob, dip-de-dip ♪ ♪ I got up this morning, turned on my radio ♪ ♪ I was checking out the surfing scene to see if I would go ♪ ♪ And when the DJ tells me that the surfing is fine, ♪ ♪ That’s when I know my baby and I will have a good time ♪ ♪ Goin’ surfin’ Bob, dip-de-dip-de-dip, surfin’ Bob, dip-de-dip ♪ ♪ Surfin’ Bob, dip-de-dip-de-dip, surfin’ Bob, dip-de-dip ♪ ♪ Surfin’ Bob, dip-de-dip-de-dip, surfin’ Bob, dip-de-dip ♪ Surfing is the only life, the only way for me Now surf, surf with me From the early morning to the middle of the night Anytime a surf is up, the time is right And when the surf is down, to take its place We’ll do the surfer stomp, it’s the latest dance craze Surfing, surfing, surfing Surfing is the only life, the only way for me Now surf, surf with me From the early morning to the middle of the night Anytime a surf is up, the time is right And when the surf is down, to take its place Surfing is the only life, the only way for me Now surf, surf with me From the early morning to the middle of the night Anytime a surf is up, to take its place We’ll do the surfer stomp, it’s the latest dance craze Yeah. So the pressure was on then, I’d imagine, after that very first hit to come up with more.
From where I sit, that didn’t seem like a difficult chore because you just kept rolling hit after hit after hit out. But was it a difficult task to match the success of the first one? Well, not really, but the label, for some reason, decided that they would release this. And they did release a song called Ten Little Indians.
I know it sounds crazy, but when I think back on it, I don’t know how many people even know that. We haven’t even really, no one’s ever asked that question, I guess. Well, there you go.
And we thought that was the end right there. Because it did nothing. It obviously didn’t have the hook, the surfing thing.
We didn’t follow up on it because they insisted on this, I don’t know why, releasing this children’s song. I’m sure we’ve all heard it, Ten Little Indians. At least we have here.
The producer had no concept of continuity. So Brian said, hey, this is nuts. Ten little Indian boys The first little Indian gave Squad pretty feathers The second little Indian made her an Indian doll The third little Indian gave her moccasin leather But Squad didn’t like them at all Surfing Safari was the next release, and of course that did very well.
And Surfing USA and Surfer Girl, the surfing style techniques and harmonies then worked, and they were happy that we were able to recover. Right, you were definitely on to a winner with all the surfing music for sure. I haven’t thought of that song, that Ten Little Indians thing.
Isn’t it funny how management can be so far off base in any business. You’d think the A&R team at Capital Records could have figured that out. Absolutely, you wouldn’t get away with doing Ten Little Indians.
We saved their butt. We actually rescued the label. That’s crazy.
You get on to 63 and you leave the band. What happened then? There are all sorts of rumors around why you left. I’m 62.
62 you left the band. Early 62, because I wanted to finish school and get my diploma. And Brian did just the opposite.
He quit school because he already knew it all. And he literally told me that. I said, Brian, why’d you quit? Why’d you leave? He said, oh, I already knew it all.
And he’s right. He was absolutely right. He knew in his own mind.
He knew exactly what he liked and what he wanted to do. But was he clever at school too? Not really. No, he was an average student like myself.
But he was a genius, a musical genius. And that just was obvious from the beginning. And I didn’t want to stand in his way.
So I said, look, you guys just carry on and I’ll be fine. I’ll do my degree thing. But then he called me one day.
He says, look, you’ve got to come back in the band because I can’t do this anymore without you. And I said, well, of course, I’m not going to let you down. So I replaced him in the touring band.
And in the recording studio, I was back in recording again. We were good friends. We supported each other.
Yeah, it sounds like you’ve been mates, as we would say here, since you were really young. Really special relationship, for sure. If everybody had an ocean Across the USA Then everybody’d be surfin’ Like California A’s You’d see them wearin’ their baggies Warrachi sandals too A bushy, bushy blonde hairdo Surfin’ USA You’ll catch them surfin’ at night Outside, outside USA Enter a county line Outside, outside USA Santa Cuny, Kansas Outside, outside USA A prisoner of the Indians Outside, outside USA All over Manhattan Outside, outside USA And down the mini way Inside, outside USA Everybody’s gonna surfin’ Surfin’ USA It must have been kind of hard walking away from that band.
Was that your decision or your mum going, no, no, no, you’ve got to finish? No, no, it was me. Really? You were that sensible at the time? Yeah, well, I guess. But, you know, I realized at the end of my tenure there that it wasn’t for me.
And Brian and I just happened to help each other out at the right time.
This is a breath of fresh air with Sandy Kaye. It’s a beautiful day. Then you came back again in 1963.
Yeah, and then we did some serious… I came in, I guess I started recording with, I think, Don’t Worry Baby. Have you ever heard that song? Of course we have. And I get it right.
Yeah, of course. Well, it’s been building up inside of me for Oh, I don’t know how long I don’t know why But I keep thinking something’s bound to go wrong But she looks in my eyes And makes me realize that she said Everything will turn out alright Ooh I came in earlier than that, but that was my first session back with the guys. Right.
And it was great. So, you hadn’t been singing with the band until then. When did the change come when I’d imagine it was Brian who said, Hey Al, now it’s time for you to sing.
Was it? Well, I was stopping in along the way. In between, I would go down and meet the guys and go in the studio. I was singing on Surfer Girl and that stuff too.
And, you know, I had a good knowledge of the music. So I could just, I just jumped in every once in a while until he asked me to come back and join the touring band. And then you sang on Help Me Ronda also.
Oh yeah. Did you know that you had a good voice? Oh yeah. Well, we all did.
I mean, obviously I replaced Brian’s voice in the band when he dropped out. And until, well, I don’t know, until much later when he had to come back in, come to think of it, because we lost David Marks, who was replacing me. Right.
And when David left, Brian had to come back into the band. So it’s a long story. I’ll put it in my book.
Oh, is there one coming? Not right away, but… I should tell the story because it’s fascinating. Go on. And, you know, we were all just dumb kids trying to, you know, get through school and have a, and then figure out what to do afterwards.
And it was really, you know, David’s still around and doing his, he started his own band. And so it’s been a very, well, 60 years ago, for God’s sake. Can you believe that? A lifetime.
Geez. Yeah. I know.
And how quickly has that gone for you? Really fast. Yeah, I feel like, geez, all this just happened yesterday, you know. Yeah.
But it’s suddenly here we are in our eighth decade, for me. Yeah, right. And I’m going, geez, it just feels like yesterday.
Yeah. When you look back on it now, Al, would you have done anything differently or you’d have gone through the same steps the same way? Oh, well, no, I would have left school the same, when Brian did. That would have been the smartest thing to do, if I were to do something over again.
But, you know, hindsight’s what it is. Absolutely. Was it true that you wanted to be a dentist at the time? Not really.
No, I was in a pre-dental medical undergraduate course. Right. So I had my choice.
Yeah. To do either one, you know, but it’s very dry and very, I miss the music. Absolutely, this would have been much more fun.
I miss singing with the guys, yeah. They were having hit records while I was in school. You’d have to be asking yourself, you know, what am I doing here? Yeah.
Really make you feel all right And the northern girls with the way they kiss They keep their boyfriends warm at night I really enjoyed my school. Actually, I did enjoy it. But when Brian called, it was a wake-up call.
Right. And, Alec, is it true that it was you that wanted the guys to record Sloop John B? Yeah, that’s when Brian and I first cooked up the idea of having a band. That was the first thing I thought we were going to do, to be honest with you, because the Kingston Trio was a famous rock, I mean, folk band.
And this was one of their big hits, you know, that they had. And I adapted it to our style, more to the Beach Boys style. I was singing and added some chords, different chord changes.
And, yeah, I thought it would work really well. And sure enough, it was a pretty big record in the States. I don’t know how well it did overseas, but it was very big in the States.
Yeah, it really did well. I really enjoyed sharing that with everyone. We come on in this Sloop John B. My grandfather.
Around Nassau town. We did roll. Into a fight.
So hoist up. See how the mill’s so broke up. I’m eager, but I’m strong.
Well, I feel so broke up. I believe you still play that today in your set list. Yeah, I know.
We can’t get away from it. There are three songs we do every time we tour anywhere. It’s God Only Knows, Sloop John B., and Good Vibrations.
Those, well, Vibrations should have been on Pet Sounds, but it wasn’t. Sloop John B., God Only Knows, Wouldn’t It Be Nice. Those are the three.
Right. Those are the big three. We call them the big three.
All the bands, both bands, we have two bands out there. There’s the Beach Boys, and then there’s the Pet Sounds band, which I affectionately named after the album. And we’re going to add more.
This is the 60th anniversary of Pet Sounds, so we may actually do the whole album out there if we are prepared. But we always do the three, the big three. Why have you chosen those three? Why? Because I don’t know.
Those are the ones that seem to be the highlight of the album. Are they also the ones that you enjoy doing most? Oh, yeah. God Only Knows.
My son, Matt Jardine, is an excellent singer, and Brian and I relied on him during the Brian Wilson years when he was touring with his band, which is, by the way, the same band that I’m touring with now. But he would lean on Matt to handle the high parts and some of the leads, actually. So we’re really lucky to have Matt.
I may not always love you But long as there are stars above you You never need to doubt it I’ll make you so sure about it God only knows what I’d be without you If you should ever leave me Life would still go on, believe me The world would show nothing to me So what good would living do me? God only knows what I’d be without you He’s coming with you to Australia, too? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I can’t do it without him.
And, of course, the entire band, which is devoted to Brian’s all these years. They’re still with us, except for, unfortunately, the passing of one of the members. We’ll all be there, intact, focusing, I should say, on an album called The Beach Boys Love You, which is an underappreciated album that Brian did, and it was dedicated to him many years ago, actually in 1977.
So it’s in its 50th, close to its 50th anniversary, so we’re loaded with material. We’ve got Pet Sounds on the one hand, we’ve got Beach Boys Love You on the other, and all the hits. So everyone’s going to hear a lot of music.
Sounds awesome. Oh, yeah. It is awesome.
There had been quite a lot of conflict around band members during those years and around copyright and around band names, all that sort of stuff. Has that all been ironed out now? Everybody’s friends with everyone else again? Pretty much. Mike has the exclusive license to be the Beach Boys, although he has no other Beach Boys.
It’s just him now. And I don’t know how that’s going to work out for him, but I have this amazing… I’m thrilled. Yeah, it’s worked out for me.
Let’s put it that way. It’s just a great opportunity to keep the music alive and pay tribute to Brian and his compositional skills. He’s such a brilliant composer.
Even Paul McCartney would tell you that. He’s just a unique individual. We all see things differently, and Brian had a vision and shared it with everyone.
What was his vision, Al? How would you describe that? Genius. Pure genius. He was the whole package.
He could have been a conductor. I mean, well, in a way, he was our conductor. What am I saying? But he also created the music that he’s conducting.
We were his instruments. Fundamentally, we all were Brian’s instruments, his vocal instruments. And we were lucky to have him because, I mean, it was like Christmas every day with him because he’d come up with another incredible arrangement, and we were in the studio all the time doing what he was hearing in his head.
You know what I’m saying? So it was like an obsession almost, I guess, for him. He was lucky to have his singers around him because how would he express it otherwise? Ba, ba, ba, ba, Bob Moran Ba, ba, ba, ba, Bob Moran Oh, ba, ba, ba, ba, Bob Moran Went to a dance looking for romance Saw Bob Moran, so I thought I’d take a chance Bob Moran, Bob Moran Ba, ba, ba, Bob Moran Ba, ba, ba, Bob Moran You got me rockin’ and a-rollin’ Rockin’ and a-readin’ Bob Moran Ba, ba, ba, Bob Moran You got me rockin’ and a-rollin’ Rockin’ and a-readin’ Bob Moran Ba, ba, ba, Bob Moran He was just churning it out, one after another, after another. Yeah, yeah, until he he did, he did have, he did collapse of course, and after Smile a product called, we were working on called Smile in later years his band was able to recreate his Brian Wilson band was able to recreate Smile and re-release it, or release it I should say.
Great success. I can’t think of one Beach Boys song that didn’t go top ten. It was extraordinary how many hits you guys had.
Yeah, I know, it’s just mind-boggling that we lasted this long. I mean from the early sixties to now, who would have believed it, that the Beach Boys would have credibility, you know, that name even the sound of the name. Maharishi who we studied under, used to say that the name contains the form.
Isn’t that interesting? And it’s so true, the name of something describes what you do. So we were always like a buttonhole into this, the surfing car genre, but we were able to do so much more than that. And that’s what this tour is all about.
I find it amazing that music itself has changed so much over the years, and yet all of those songs remain relevant and contemporary today. Exactly, and particularly even the ones that weren’t hits in those days, now we can revisit and reinvent them in a sense for this very tour that we’re on. And a tribute to Brian, and I like to call it the Beach Boys Love You Tour.
That’s my description of our tour. It’s all in the name, isn’t it? It says it all. I hear you.
Do you have a favourite song? One that you’re particularly fond of? Recently, I’ve always it’s hard to describe, but recently because of this album I’ve rediscovered a couple of songs that I kind of didn’t really appreciate very much. One is called The Night Was So Young, which is a touching, just a very touching ballad, and still I Dream Of It is another one on the album that is just fabulous. I mean they’re undiscovered gems.
You yourself did a lot of songwriting too. You do credit Brian with the majority of it, but let’s not underplay what you did. I mean you did one for your first wife called Lady Linda in 78 that scored a top ten chart entry in the UK.
You’ve written others. I particularly liked the one that you did a remake of the Mamas & Pappas song, Californian Dream, and you did Roger McQueen. I love that one.
Tell me about that, why you wanted to do that. You know, I don’t know. I guess it was my idea.
It just seemed like the appropriate time and place and we were needing a hit single. You know, it was always about singles in the States, getting a hit single out there. Of course.
And it was okay. We did a fairly good job on it, I think, but we don’t do it in person for some reason. It’s very difficult to know what not to do.
We could be easily have a five or six hour show.
This is a breath of fresh air with Sandy Kaye. It’s a beautiful day. Have you still got as much energy today as what you had, well, I won’t say 60 years ago, but even 10 or 20 years ago, or is the whole thing a little more taxing for you today? Well, at the Encore, when we get to the Encore, I start to feel just a little bit winded, but that’s after a couple of hours.
So I still have pretty good energy. That’s so good. So you’re on the road with the Pet Sounds Band.
We’re going to be hearing all of those classic Beach Boy hits like California Girls, Good Vibrations, as you said, Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Help Me Rhonda, Snoop John B, Fun, Fun, Fun, Surfing USA. I could go on and on and on. I know, I know.
And you do. And you’re telling me that you guys are on stage for like a couple of hours during those shows. Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, it’s getting ahead of two hours if we’re not careful. And we have an intermission in the middle, which helps. That really helps.
What do you do during the intermission? I’ll just sit around and talk or rest. The first half is all hits, mostly hits, and also some lesser known, well, not lesser, but, you know, like we have a medley called Catch a Wave in Hawaii, for instance, is right in the middle of the set, or Catch a Wave, Dance, Dance, Dance. We can interchange things real quick.
We have all kinds of options. Catch a wave and you’re sitting on top of the world. Don’t be afraid to try the greatest sport around.
Those who don’t just have to put it down. You battle out, turn around, and raise them, baby. That’s all there is to the coastline craze.
You gotta catch a wave and you’re sitting on top of the world. At the break we rest and then we come out and do the Love You album, the Beach Boys Love You album in its entirety. And then at the end, of course, we end with more hits.
So it’s a good balance, yeah. We have a couple of hundred songs we can interchange in and out. Yeah.
All the guys in the band have been playing together for such a long time, so you know each other so well and the chemistry is just right, yeah? It’s great. We have a new song I wrote called Islands in the Sun, which also is something I wanted to keep something fresh and new in it. It’s kind of like a Caribbean feeling, you know, kind of like Kokomo but not the same.
Yeah, I was going to say, it sounds like a Jimmy Buffett title. Yeah, more Jimmy Buffett, Harry Belafonte. That kind of style, real relaxing, and people love the harmonies.
And it really is nice to have a fresh song in there. Islands in the sun Drifting slowly one by one Now wouldn’t it be fun If we could find a lovely sun Those sunlit days Antigua Bay Seen far away Oh I’d like to sail away Islands in the sun Drifting slowly one by one Now wouldn’t it be fun If the sun Touched your empty life Sailing on a moonlit night A little breeze will do It’s how to make love with you How do you manage to maintain the freshness night after night with the same songs that you’ve been doing for so many years? I mean, you must just be on autopilot or do you get the energy from the audience? Well, if you hear the harmonies and the chord, particularly the chord change, the compositional excellence, and the great harmonies that go with it, Brian used to always say, listen to the vocals, listen to the vocals. And I get to do that every night, so that really gives me good energy.
Because I can hear them the way that we recorded them. I mean, it’s note for note perfect. And you’re still writing new material too, Al? Yeah, I know.
Well, there’s so many unfinished things. Brian always used to say, finish your songs. And that’s good advice because there’s a lot left to finish.
And that was one of them, Islands in the Sun. I enjoy doing that one a lot. Did Brian actually finish all of his songs? No, I just listened to some already.
Today I was listening to some unfinished stuff on an album project we did called Something Summer. And there’s a whole lot of unreleased stuff on there. I may end up putting some of them on my EP.
There’s one called Surfer Susie. It just came up out of nowhere, a deep, deep track. Someone released some deep tracks on us that we never finished.
And we’re going, holy crap. I mean, that’s really good. It looks like we finished it, but we didn’t release it.
Little surfer Susie Sitting on the sand Tell me, are you waiting For your surfer man? Little surfer Susie Will someone hold your hand Tonight? How have you got on since his passing, Al? Okay. His daughters have, it’s been rough on Carney and Wendy. But we get together with them and we actually go out and perform with them once in a while.
So we all comfort each other that way. You’re like one big family, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Even their mother, she performed on stage with us because she had a lead solo on that album.
The whole family’s on that album. Beach Boys love you. I guess Brian Wilson did get to play out everything that he’d hoped to achieve in his life before he passed, though, didn’t he? There wouldn’t have been too much left on his bucket list that he hadn’t achieved.
Is there stuff that you still want to do that you haven’t done yet? Yeah, there are a lot of fun things left to do. Just some little snippets of songs that are just sitting in the can, as we call it, in the can. They’re more personal things.
I come from a simpler background of folk music. So I enjoy the simpler little ballads. They’re there to exploit if we can find them to finish.
Sometimes the masters go missing. So, you know, that’s important to find. Have you kind of come full circle then in your own personal taste and gone back to the love of folk music? Oh, yeah.
I rediscovered a song I wrote, derived from the Kingston Trio catalogue. Their first Grammy was called Tom Dooley. I had reimagined it into a positive, uplifting song about a Dr. Tom Dooley who was a naval surgeon who went to Vietnam and helped to save lives there.
So I have that. I found that in a tape. So I may put that on an EP.
There’s a lot of stuff like that that needs to be finished. Sounds good. I have one of the original Kingston Trio who got the Grammy doing a soliloquy for it.
Lift up your head, Dr. Tom Dooley Lift up your head and smile Lift up your head, Tom Dooley Your work has been well worthwhile The Navy was his profession It took him overseas Said, sir, please take my commission For my duty is plain to see But deep in the Laotian jungle There he gave his life A war torn people in and suffering He saved them with his knife Well, now, hang down your head, Dr. Tom Dooley Hang down your head and cry Hang down your head, Tom Dooley You’re bound to die Beach Boys’ box set has also just been released called We Gotta Groove, the Brothers Studio years. That’s a big one too. They keep coming out and I guess finding new audiences, new generations of music fans are getting into this music.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s really a lot of interesting, primarily a lot of unreleased, remixed, things like that on there. It’s a lot to listen to.
I think there’s 73 songs on it or something. It’s fabulous that the music just goes through generations and just lives on and on and on. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Brian would have been very pleased to see what you’re doing. We had a great team and we still do. Now this team that I’m bringing down under there is the hand-picked cream of the crop of the musicians that he’s picked himself.
So this is one to see. And you are playing right around the States as well? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’re getting really good response to the band.
Who are you seeing in your audience, Al? Is it mainly the people that have come up with you since the 60s or is it also their kids and grandkids there? No, no, they’re kids in their 20s now, teens and 20s I’m told. They want to hear it all. They want it just like we did when we made it.
Well, she got her daddy’s car and she cruised through the hamburger stand now. Seems she forgot all about the library like she told her old man now. And with the radio blasting, goes cruising just as fast as she can now.
And she’ll have fun, fun, fun, doing that it takes a team in a way. Fun, fun, fun, doing that it takes a team in a way. And the girls can’t stand her cause she walks, looks and drives like an ace now.
You walk like an ace now, you walk like an ace. She makes the Indy 500 look like a Romancherian face. You walk like an ace now, you look like an ace.
A lot of guys try to catch her but she leaves them on a wild goose chase now. You drive like an ace now, you drive like an ace. And she’ll have fun, fun, fun, doing that it takes a team in a way.
Fun, fun, fun, doing that it takes a team in a way. They’re not making music like that today anymore, are they? No. Are you sad for the state of music today? Yeah, I think AI is going to screw it all up because people are trying to sound like us.
I’ve heard recordings purportedly to be Brian Wilson again. But that doesn’t have the soul. If you were talking about the soul in Brian Wilson’s voice and personality, what’s the definitive song that really shows that soul off? I would say, Still I Dream Of It, which is on the Beach Boys’ Love You album, you would feel Brian’s soul very, very clearly.
Time for supper now. The day’s been hard and I’m so tired. I feel like eating now.
Smell the kitchen now. Hear the maid whistle a tune. My thoughts are fleeting now.
Still I dream of it. Of that happy day when I could say I’ve fallen in love. And it haunts me so.
Like a dream that somehow linked to all the stars above. Al Jardim, we can’t wait to see you here. I’m sure that everybody listening to this can’t wait to see you performing wherever you’re coming to.
And you just make sure that you keep yourself in good health because we want to get a whole lot more from you too, including that book that you’ve got to write. We’ll call it a memoir. And what’s the difference? You don’t have to write the entire story.
I guess so. I don’t know. But I’m getting a lot of pressure.
From what I hear, you’re not one that ever bent to pressure. No. No, no.
But it’ll be cathartic. And Dick Van Dyke just released one in closing called How To Live To Be 100 In 100 Ways. Have you read it? I’m reading it now.
It’s great. I recommend it highly to any of the senior citizens out there. What a sense of humor that guy has.
I love the colorful clothes she wears. And the way the sunlight plays upon her hair. I hear the sound of her gentleness On the wind that lifts her perfume through the air.
I’m picking up good vibrations She’s giving me the excitations Good vibrations Excitation Good vibrations Excitation Good vibrations Excitation Please smile She’s somehow closer now Softly smile Now I know she must be kind Ooh In her eyes She goes with me to a blossom world I’m picking up good vibrations She’s giving me the excitations I’m popping off good vibes Good vibrations Excitation Good vibrations Excitation Good vibrations Excitation Well, thank you for having me. Thank you so much. Travel safely here.
We look forward to seeing you, Al. Thanks so much for your time. Thank you.
Thanks. Bye-bye. Bye.