Don't Go Near the Water (The Beach Boys song)

Last updated
"Don't Go Near the Water"
Don't Go Near the Water - Beach Boys.jpg
UK single cover
Song by the Beach Boys
from the album Surf's Up
ReleasedAugust 30, 1971
RecordedApril 3, 1971
Length2:39
Label Brother/Reprise
Songwriter(s) Mike Love, Al Jardine
Producer(s) The Beach Boys
Licensed audio
"Don't Go Near the Water" on YouTube

"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. [1]

Contents

Background and recording

The song was recorded at the same session as "Long Promised Road" and "4th of July", both also recorded for Surf's Up.[ citation needed ] The lead vocals are by the song's composers, Love and Jardine. According to biographer Peter Ames Carlin, Brian Wilson contributed the dissonant piano part. [1] However, in a 2007 interview, Wilson stated of the song, "Totally Alan’s trip. I was not part of that." [2] Jardine spoke about the song in a 2021 interview:

I love that. I could've done a much better job, but Mike insisted on putting these meditation lyrics in it, whereas I wanted it to be more dramatic. But sometimes you just have to go with the flow, because you're a team. He sang the lead and the lead singer always gets the upper hand. Daryl Dragon helped a lot too. He was the piano assistant and we had those crazy little chords going on there. [3]

Unused lyrics for the song mentioned the narrator's father in reference to the water: "I think it killed my dad". [4]

Release

The song was the B-side of the "Surf's Up" single, released on November 8, 1971. It did not chart. Featured as an A-side in New Zealand, it peaked at #21 there. It was later released on November 2, 1981 as the B-side of the "Come Go with Me" single. The single charted at #18 in the U.S. but never charted in the UK.[ citation needed ]

Personnel

Credits from Craig Slowinski [5]

The Beach Boys

Session musicians

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References

  1. 1 2 Carlin 2006, p. 159.
  2. Kubernick, Harvey (July 2, 2021). "Kubernick: Beach Boys "Feel Flows" Box Set". Music Connection.
  3. Hughes, Rob (September 2021). "Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston on the Feel Flows Era". Uncut . No. 292. p. 39.
  4. Wood, Mikael (August 27, 2021). "In the '60s, the Beach Boys were gods. By the '70s, 'has-beens.' But it's not that simple" . Los Angeles Times .
  5. Slowinski, Craig (Summer 2021). Beard, David (ed.). "Surf's Up: 50th Anniversary Edition". Endless Summer Quarterly Magazine. Vol. 34, no. 134. Charlotte, North Carolina.

Works cited