In July 1964, The Beach Boys’ “I Get Around” topped the US charts. The song, written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, was the band’s first number 1 hit in America. “I Get Around” also marked the first chart-topper in America by a US-based band since ‘Beatlemania’ took over the United States in January 1964. Therefore, the song is often seen as the start of the unofficial rivalry between The Beach Boys and The Beatles. In this article, I will dive into the story, meaning, and legacy behind the song.
The Story Behind the Song
“I Get Around” was released as the lead single of The Beach Boys’ sixth studio album All Summer Long in May 1964. The song was recorded during the height of ‘Beatlemania’ in the US, a period when the Beatles occupied all the top 5 spots on the US charts.
“I knew we were good but it wasn’t until The Beatles arrived that I knew we had to get going,” The Beach Boys’ bandleader Brian Wilson told radio station WKXJ in 1966. “The Beatles invasion shook me up a lot. They eclipsed a lot of what we’d worked for. We were naturally jealous … When we saw how everybody was screaming for The Beatles, it was like, ‘Whooa!’ We couldn’t believe it.”
Before The Beatles ‘invaded’ America, The Beach Boys were the biggest group in the country. The album Surfin’ U.S.A. gave The Beach Boys nationwide fame and sparked the ‘Surf Craze’ in the United States. But the ‘British Invasion’ quickly replaced the ‘Surf Craze’, and most surf groups slowly faded into oblivion.
Read more: The Rivalry Between The Beatles and The Beach Boys
The ‘British Invasion’ inspired Brian Wilson to abandon the band’s surf themes and move towards pop-oriented pieces. Wilson desired to grow artistically and wanted to compete with The Beatles. He penned his last surf song, “Don’t Back Down”, in April 1964. The song is the only track on All Summer Long about surfing.
“We needed to grow,” Wilson reflected. “Up to this point we had milked every idea dry. We had done every possible angle about surfing and then we did the car routine. But we needed to grow artistically.”
The first sign of artistic growth was All Summer Long’s lead single “I Get Around”. The snapshot-like song was one of Wilson’s most complex arrangements to date and featured the band’s iconic vocal harmonies.
The lyrics of the song were a collaborative act between Brian Wilson and vocalist Mike Love. They address the success of The Beach Boys blended with typical young adult lifestyle. “[It was] about our own experiences,” Love wrote about the song. “How we had this instant fame, some fortune, had traveled all over the country, but did any of that bring us happiness? Maybe we needed to find a different kind of place.”
The Beach Boys eventually recorded “I Get Around” on 2 and 10 April 1964. They recorded the song together with the Wrecking Crew, a collective of talented session musicians in Los Angeles. A then-unknown Glen Campbell was part of the collective and plays bass on the track.
The Legacy of I Get Around
“I Get Around” was released as a single on May 11, 1964. 2 months later, on July 4, the song topped the US Billboard Hot 100. It marked The Beach Boys’ first number hit in the United States. “I Get Around” also topped the charts in Canada. Nowadays, the single, together with its B-side “Don’t Worry Baby”, ranks among the most iconic singles ever released.
“I Get Around” was a turning point for The Beach Boys. With their new approach, the band proved they were one of the few American acts who could keep their ground amidst the ‘British Invasion’. Therefore, the success of “I Get Around” is sometimes seen as the start of the unofficial rivalry between The Beach Boys and The Beatles. The rivalry would culminate in 1966 with the release of The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.
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