Migrating Taste // The Beach Boys - I Get Around

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

The Beach Boys - I Get Around - 1964

I didn’t realize how daring this song was until I heard the instrumental version. It’s comprised of all these different segments that are a bit of a hodgepodge of ideas on their own. A spunky bass line. Some hand claps. Big chunks of silence. Full band with an organ and sax. But add that vocal track and it’s a number-one hit. I know it feels like easy to swallow pop, but compositionally, it’s one of Brian Wilson’s early triumphs, and the first song that justifies that “genius”-status he enjoys today.

Posted on April 9th, 2009