(written August 1976)
This girl I knew (who shall be identified as "L" a
little later) was a few years older than I, and had gone to see
the Beach Boys play at the grand opening of Wallach's Music City
in Torrance in late 1963. The Beach Boys at that time were poised
to become the biggest group in the country, and 1964 looked promising.
Then the damn Beatles hit.
Now, for me and many others, the Beatles were a necessary diversion
after the horror of the JFK assassination. All this girl could
think about, however, was "Oh shit - this is gonna destroy
the Beach Boys".
Which, relatively speaking, it did.
Judging by recent interviews, Brian is still stewing over it.
So I started with that, and used the "last summer"
of '63 as a general allegory for the folly of thinking that youth
will last forever. Some 20 years later I don't feel as if I've
quite become an adult yet, but I'm quite sure it's coming.
Anyway, it's a tragedy, a very sad song in the guise of a simplistic
summertime homage. We almost got Brian Wilson and Dean Torrence
to sing backup vocals on the album version, but schedule conflicts
got in the way. Pity. |