'Til I Die

Last updated

"'Til I Die"
'Til I Die single.jpg
Single by the Beach Boys
from the album Surf's Up
A-side "Long Promised Road"
ReleasedOctober 11, 1971 (1971-10-11)
RecordedAugust 15, 1970 (1970-08-15) –July 30, 1971 (1971-07-30)
Studio Beach Boys, Los Angeles
Genre Progressive pop [1]
Length2:29
Label Brother/Reprise
Songwriter(s) Brian Wilson
Producer(s) The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys singles chronology
"Long Promised Road" / "Deirdre"
(1971)		"Long Promised Road" / "'Til I Die"
(1971)		"Student Demonstration Time" / "Don't Go Near the Water"
(1971)
Audio sample

"'Til I Die" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album Surf's Up , subsequently issued as the B-side of the single "Long Promised Road". With autobiographical lyrics about death and hopelessness, it is one of the few songs in which both the words and music were written solely by Brian Wilson. An extended mix of the original recording, created by engineer Stephen Desper, was included on the 1998 Endless Harmony Soundtrack .

Contents

Background and composition

Brian Wilson reportedly wrote "'Til I Die" while suffering from an existential crisis, having recently threatened to drive his car off the Santa Monica pier and ordered his gardener to dig a grave in his backyard. [2] According to biographer David Leaf, these episodes were treated as jokes by Wilson's family and friends. [3] In a November 1970 interview, Wilson discussed his daily routine of "go[ing] to bed in the early hours of the morning and sleep[ing] until the early afternoon". He added: "I'm not unhappy with life; in fact I'm quite happy living at home." [4] According to Wilson's (since-discredited) 1991 autobiography Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story , the song was inspired by a late night trip to the beach:

Lately, I'd been depressed and preoccupied with death...Looking out toward the ocean, my mind, as it did almost every hour of every day, worked to explain the inconsistencies that dominated my life; the pain, torment, and confusion and the beautiful music I was able to make. Was there an answer? Did I have no control? Had I ever? Feeling shipwrecked on an existential island, I lost myself in the balance of darkness that stretched beyond the breaking waves to the other side of the earth. The ocean was so incredibly vast, the universe was so large, and suddenly I saw myself in proportion to that, a little pebble of sand, a jellyfish floating on top of the water; traveling with the current I felt dwarfed, temporary. The next day I began writing "Til I Die", perhaps the most personal song I ever wrote for The Beach Boys...In doing so, I wanted to re-create the swell of emotions that I'd felt at the beach the previous night. [5]

The song was written over the course of several weeks as Wilson tried to express the feelings he had experienced on that night he had spent alone at the beach. As he explains, "I struggled at the piano, experimenting with rhythms and chord changes, trying to emulate in sound the ocean's shifting tides and moods as well as its sheer enormity. I wanted the music to reflect the loneliness of floating a raft in the middle of the Pacific. I wanted each note to sound as if it was disappearing into the hugeness of the universe. [2]

Explaining how Wilson came up with the chords, Don Was recalled, "he told me that he was sitting at a piano, creating geometric patterns with his fingers, trying not to move the fingers on the outside of the patterns, but limiting changes to internal movements. When he landed on a shape that both looked cool and sounded good, he wrote it down. So, essentially he created this masterpiece by contorting his fingers into really groovy shapes." [6] However, Was said, "I've absolutely no idea whether this story has any basis in truth or whether he was just making it up on the spot to entertain me." [6]

Asked how he came up with the song in a 2007 interview, Wilson answered, "Well, I put a b note in g major 7th chord and it was a 3rd in the chord, and the note in the key of g resonates pretty well. Lyrically, I tried to put nature in there. Earth, water, rocks and leaves." [7] He stated that the line "I'm a cork on the ocean" was the first thing lyrically that came to him. [8] In the lyrics, Wilson compares himself to a cork on the ocean, a rock in a landslide, and a leaf on a windy day—seeing himself as a small, helpless object, being moved inconceivable distances by forces beyond his comprehension. "How deep is the ocean? How long will the wind blow?" The hopeless conclusion is given in the song's title. [9]

Recording

Wilson recorded a solo piano demo of the song on November 4, 1969. [10] According to some sources, when he presented the song to the band, one member initially voiced criticisms. [11] [12] Bruce Johnston remembered Brian "playing it for the band and one member of the band didn't understand it and put it down, and Brian just decided not to show it to us for a few months. He just put it away. I mean, he was absolutely crushed. This other person just didn't like it." [13] Various sources state that Mike Love had called the song a "downer". [9] [14] Engineer Stephen Desper wrote that "the guys often thought the original lyrics to ['Til I Die] were drug derived." [15] At one stage, to address the criticism, Wilson changed the lyrics from "It kills my soul" to "It holds me up" or "It fills my soul" and "I lost my way" to "I found my way". Ultimately, the rest of the group insisted that the original lyrics be kept as the new lyrics contradicted the lyrics in the verses. [9] A recording of the song with these alternate lyrics still exists, and was released on the 2021 compilation Feel Flows. [16]

The first dated session for the song was at Beach Boys Studio on August 15, 1970. [17] Brian recorded five takes of the song although the song would be left only partially completed. Dennis Wilson was not present during this session due to filming dates for Two-Lane Blacktop , which resulted in a Maestro Rhythm King drum machine being used on the basic track. On August 26, the partially completed track was mixed although very little work was done on the recording until later the following year.[ citation needed ] The last dated session occurred on July 30, 1971. [18] In Desper's recollection, Wilson played Hammond B3 organ while touring musician Daryl Dragon played vibraphone. [19]

"Til I Die" was more or less an achievement in sound. ... After it was done I took a certain part of where I was singing and I made a mono tape loop and put my voice on the tape loop. I sent the loop into an echo chamber. I went into the echo chamber and listened to my voice in a circle and walked out of there in another world.

—Brian Wilson [20]

Al Jardine said of the song, "it's really a good vocal sound, I think Desper deserves all the credit on that one, I mean we just had the best microphones, the best microphone technique and engineering on that particular piece and that particular time." [8] Johnston expressed similar feelings towards the song as he states that "the track is very simple...and the great, great vocal arrangement that he wrote. Really, a great piece of work." [8]

An extended mix of the original recording, created by Desper, was included on the 1998 Endless Harmony Soundtrack . It is notable for having each instrumental layer come in after the other as an introduction and features more prominent vibraphone and organ throughout. The mix was reportedly done only for the engineer's self-interest. As Desper explains, the band "went out for lunch or something like that and since the song was already mounted and a mix up, I put together what I thought was a structure that better showcased the harmonic beauty of Brian's writing. Somewhere thereafter I did play the track for Carl, but only in the interest of disclosure, not to sway him to change the structure that Brian intended." [21]

Release

The song was first released on the band's album Surf's Up on August 30, 1971. On October 11, 1971, the song was released in the United States as the flip-side of the "Long Promised Road" single, which had also been released earlier that year in May with a different B-side. The single entered the Billboard charts on October 30 in the No. 93 position. It peaked three weeks later at No. 89 on the Billboard charts, where it remained for one more week until the single dropped off the charts altogether. [22] It was the first single by the group in 19 months to chart. However, at the time it was the lowest charting single in the group's history and it remained so for a further eighteen years. [23]

Legacy and recognition

Bruce Johnston praised it as the last great Brian Wilson song [13] [24] as well as describing it as Wilson's "heaviest song." [13] Johnston has also stated that "the words absolutely fit his mindset". [8] Wilson also felt this was the case when he stated that "the song summed up everything I had to say at the time." [2] In 2015, Love named the lyrics of "'Til I Die" his favorite of any written solely by Wilson, although he admitted, "I don't like the line 'it kills my soul' but I understand what he's saying." [25] Biographer Jon Stebbins wrote: "'Til I Die' proves that Brian could not only write beautiful music, but that he had the ability to communicate honestly and artfully with his lyrics as well. The track is decorated with a haunting vibraphone and organ bed, which frames the strong harmony vocal arrangement perfectly." [26]

As a solo artist, a remake of the song was recorded – along with an accompanying video – by Brian Wilson for inclusion in the 1995 documentary I Just Wasn't Made for These Times and it would later appear on the film's soundtrack. This version, produced by Brian and Don Was, is much more sparse than the original. Brian's re-recording of the song was released as the second track on a relatively rare UK single in 1995. However, the single failed to make any impact on the charts.[ citation needed ] In 2000, over a period of two days on April 7 and 8, Brian and his band recorded a live version of the song—based on Desper's extended mix—for inclusion on Brian's 2000 live album Live at the Roxy Theatre .

A sample of the song appears as part of the soundtrack to the 2014 film Love & Mercy on the track "The Bed Montage", composed by Atticus Ross.

Personnel

Credits from Craig Slowinski [27]

The Beach Boys

Additional musicians

Cover versions

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Johnston</span> American musician

Bruce Arthur Johnston is an American singer, musician and songwriter who is a member of the Beach Boys. He also collaborated on many records with Terry Melcher and composed the 1975 Barry Manilow hit, "I Write the Songs".

<i>Sunflower</i> (The Beach Boys album) 1970 studio album by the Beach Boys

Sunflower is the 16th studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on August 31, 1970, and their first on Reprise Records. It received favorable reviews, but sold poorly, reaching number 151 on the US record charts during a four-week stay and becoming the lowest-charting Beach Boys album to that point. "Add Some Music to Your Day" was the only single that charted in the US, peaking at number 64. In the UK, the album peaked at number 29.

<i>20/20</i> (The Beach Boys album) 1969 studio album by US band The Beach Boys

20/20 is the 15th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released February 10, 1969 on Capitol Records. The LP was named for being their 20th overall release when factoring in live albums and compilations. Much of 20/20 consists of outtakes from earlier albums. It reached number 3 on UK record charts and number 68 in the U.S. Brian Wilson was absent during most of the album's recording after admitting himself into a psychiatric hospital, requiring brothers Carl and Dennis to retrieve several outtakes he had recorded years earlier. While Brian does not appear on the front cover, the inner gatefold of the original vinyl release features him alone, behind an eye examination chart.

<i>Surfs Up</i> (album) 1971 studio album by the Beach Boys

Surf's Up is the 17th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on August 30, 1971 on Brother/Reprise. It received largely favorable reviews and reached number 29 on the U.S. record charts, becoming their highest-charting LP of new music in the U.S. since 1967. In the UK, Surf's Up peaked at number 15, continuing a string of top 40 records that had not abated since 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Never Learn Not to Love</span> 1968 single by the Beach Boys

"Never Learn Not to Love" is a song recorded by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was issued as the B-side to their "Bluebirds over the Mountain" single on December 2, 1968. Credited to Dennis Wilson, the song is an altered version of "Cease to Exist", written by the Manson Family cult leader Charles Manson. The blues-inspired song was written specifically for the Beach Boys, with Manson's lyrics addressing personal tensions that he had witnessed between Dennis and his brothers Brian and Carl.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Please Let Me Wonder</span> 1965 single by the Beach Boys

"Please Let Me Wonder" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1965 album The Beach Boys Today!. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, it was the first song Wilson wrote under the influence of marijuana. The lyrics are about a man who does not know if a girl loves him and is afraid of learning the answer, and so he prefers to fantasize that she does. On February 15, the song was issued as the B-side to their "Do You Wanna Dance?" single before the album's release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Do It Again (The Beach Boys song)</span> 1968 single by Beach Boys

"Do It Again" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was released as a standalone single on July 8, 1968. It was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love as a self-conscious callback to the group's earlier surf image, which they had not embraced since 1964. Love and Wilson also share the lead vocal on the song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surf's Up (song)</span> Song written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks for the Beach Boys

"Surf's Up" is a song recorded by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks. It was originally intended for Smile, an unfinished Beach Boys album that was scrapped in 1967. The song was later completed by Brian and Carl Wilson as the closing track of the band's 1971 album Surf's Up.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cool, Cool Water</span> 1971 single by the Beach Boys

"Cool, Cool Water" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1970 album Sunflower. It was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love and later issued as an A-sided single in March 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Add Some Music to Your Day</span> 1970 single by the Beach Boys

"Add Some Music to Your Day" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys that was released in the US on February 23, 1970 as the lead single from their album Sunflower. It was written by Brian Wilson, Joe Knott, and Mike Love. Wilson later said that Knott "was a friend of mine who wasn't a songwriter but he contributed a couple of lines. But I can't remember which ones!"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deirdre (song)</span> 1971 single by the Beach Boys

"Deirdre" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1970 album Sunflower. Written primarily by Bruce Johnston, it is a love song named after the sister of one of his ex-girlfriends, and is one of his two main song contributions on the album, the other being "Tears in the Morning". Johnston has claimed that co-writer Brian Wilson's contributions were limited to a few lyrics, although music historians Andrew G. Doe and John Tobler wrote in 2004 that "Deirdre" had been "developed from a musical theme first used in 'We're Together Again,'" a 1968 composition credited to Brian Wilson and singer Ron Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don't Go Near the Water (The Beach Boys song)</span> 1971 song by the Beach Boys

"Don't Go Near the Water" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album Surf's Up. Written by Mike Love and Al Jardine, the song puts an ironic, ecological spin on the traditional Beach Boys beach- and surf- based songs: instead of enjoying surfing and other fun activities, this time the listener is advised to avoid the water for environmental reasons.

"A Day in the Life of a Tree" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album Surf's Up. It was written by Brian Wilson and the group's manager Jack Rieley, who also performed lead vocal. The lyrics were inspired by Wilson's feelings toward environmental pollution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">It's About Time (The Beach Boys song)</span> 1970 single by the Beach Boys

"It's About Time" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1970 album Sunflower. Written by Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine, Bob Burchman and Carl Wilson, it was issued as the B-side of the "Tears in the Morning" single. Jardine said, "'It's About Time' was Carl, Dennis and I. That's a good one. I like that production. That was mostly Dennis, and I just helped with the lyrics. Dennis and Carl did the track."

"Tears in the Morning" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1970 album Sunflower. Written by Bruce Johnston, it was issued as a single, with the B-side "It's About Time". The single failed to chart in the U.S., but reached the top 5 in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcella (song)</span> 1972 single by the Beach Boys

"Marcella" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1972 album Carl and the Passions – "So Tough". Written by Brian Wilson, Jack Rieley, and Tandyn Almer, the lyrics were inspired by Wilson's fixation with a local massage therapist. It is the last song to feature Bruce Johnston during his original tenure in the band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Promised Road</span> 1971 Beach Boys song

"Long Promised Road" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album Surf's Up. It was written by Carl Wilson and Jack Rieley. Aside from a few guitar instrumentals written in the early days of the band and collective co-writing credits, the song is Wilson's first solo composition, and he plays all of the instruments himself.

"Feel Flows" is a song recorded by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album Surf's Up. It was written by guitarist Carl Wilson and band manager Jack Rieley, and was one of Wilson's first songs.

"Student Demonstration Time" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album Surf's Up. It is an altered version of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller's "Riot in Cell Block Number 9" with new lyrics by Mike Love.

"Loop de Loop (Flip Flop Flyin' in an Aeroplane)" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was written by Al Jardine, Brian Wilson, and Carl Wilson. It was originally recorded between the late 1960s and 1970s. In 1998, Jardine finished the song for its release on Endless Harmony Soundtrack.

References

  1. ↑ Gaines, Steven (1986). Heroes and Villains: The True Story of The Beach Boys. New York: Da Capo Press. p. 242. ISBN   978-0-45300-519-7.
  2. 1 2 3 Badman, Keith (2004). The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio . Hal Leonard Corporation. p.  288. ISBN   9780879308186.
  3. ↑ Leaf 1978, p. 147.
  4. ↑ Badman 2004, p. 279.
  5. ↑ Wilson, Brian (1991). Wouldn't It Be Nice: My own Story . HarperCollins. p.  194. ISBN   9780060183134.
  6. 1 2 Williams, Paul, ed. (2003). How Deep is the Ocean?. pp. 212–213.
  7. ↑ Kubernick, Harvey (July 2, 2021). "Kubernick: Beach Boys "Feel Flows" Box Set". Music Connection.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Filmee Keeda - Hollywood & Bollywood Movie review| TV Shows|". March 29, 2018. Archived from the original on March 29, 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 Carlin, Peter Ames (2006). Catch A Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson . Rodale. p.  172. ISBN   9781594863202.
  10. ↑ Badman 2004, p. 257.
  11. ↑ White, Timothy (1996). The Nearest Faraway Place. p. 286.
  12. ↑ Granata, Charles L. (2003). I Just Wasn't Made For These Times. p. 211.
  13. 1 2 3 Leaf, David (1978). The Beach Boys And The California Myth . Grosset & Dunlap. p.  144. ISBN   9780448146256.
  14. ↑ Irvin, Jim, ed. (2009). The Mojo Collection. Edinburgh: Canongate. p. 245. ISBN   9781847676436.
  15. ↑ Desper, Stephen (September 23, 2018). "Re: Beach Boys studio disasters and screwups?". smileysmile.net. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
  16. ↑ Chidester, Brian (March 7, 2014). "Busy Doin' Somethin': Uncovering Brian Wilson's Lost Bedroom Tapes". Paste . Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  17. ↑ Doe, Andrew G. "GIGS70". Bellagio 10452.
  18. ↑ Doe, Andrew G. "GIGS71". Bellagio 10452.
  19. ↑ Desper, Stephen (May 12, 2015). "Re: Brian Wilson's instrumental contributions to the Surf's Up album". smileysmile.net. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
  20. ↑ Sharp, Ken (January 2, 2009). "Brian Wilson: God's Messenger". American Songwriter .
  21. ↑ Desper, Stephen (December 31, 2006). "Re: The Stephen Desper Thread". smileysmile.com. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
  22. ↑ Elliott, Brad (2003). Surf's Up: The Beach Boys On Record 1961-1981. p. 421.
  23. ↑ Badman 2004, p.  300.
  24. ↑ Boyd, Alan (Director) (1998). Endless Harmony: The Beach Boys Story (Documentary). Eagle Eye Media.
  25. ↑ Sharp, Ken (September 9, 2015). "Mike Love of the Beach Boys: One-On-One (The Interview Part 1)". Rock Cellar Magazine. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  26. ↑ Stebbins, Jon (2011). The Beach Boys FAQ: All That's Left to Know About America's Band. Backbeat Books. p. 124. ISBN   9781458429148.
  27. ↑ Slowinski, Craig (Summer 2021). Beard, David (ed.). "Surf's Up: 50th Anniversary Edition". Endless Summer Quarterly Magazine. Vol. 34, no. 134. Charlotte, North Carolina.
  28. ↑ Pelly, Jenn (May 7, 2013). "Listen: Sufjan Stevens Sings on Chris Schlarb's Cover of the Beach Boys' "'Til I Die"". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.