I remember hearing this song long in the late seventies for the first time. The intro drum sound is interesting. Their engineer at the time, Stephen Desper, came up with the drum effect heard at the beginning of the track. Desper created it by blending the original sound with that of one drum strike being repeated four times.
This song was released in 1968. By this time their popularity in America was falling since releasing Pet Sounds…which makes no sense considering the legendary status that album has. Brian Wilson and Mike Love wrote this song and went back to the surfing image with this one. The song peaked at #20 on the Billboard 100, #1 in the UK (where they remained very popular), and #10 in Canada.
This was a single release…released only two weeks after their album Friends. This was their second UK number one…the first one was Good Vibrations. Brian Wilson named “Do It Again” as one of his favorite Beach Boys original songs, offering insight into his creative process with Mike Love. He did say it was his favorite song that he co-wrote with Mike Love. Since its Spotify debut, this track has earned over 10 million plays!
Carl Wilson: Yes, I suppose it has got the old Beach Boys surfing sound. It’s back to that surfing idea with the voice harmony and the simple, direct melody and lyrics. We didn’t plan the record as a return to the surf or anything. We just did it one day round a piano in the studio. Brian had the idea and played it over to us. We improved on that and recorded it very quickly, in about five minutes. It’s certainly not an old track of ours; in fact it was recorded only a few weeks before it was released. We liked how it turned out and decided to release it.
Mike Love: “I went to the beach with my friends and we went to the surfing spot down at a place called San Onofre, down near the Marine Corps base down south. And it was such a beautiful day and the waves were great. And then of course one of the great things about the beach is it attracts good looking girls. [Laughing].”
I’ve never been a fan of Mike Love. He kicked Brian Wilson out of the band at one time and is not known as a nice guy. Here is a short clip of Brian Wilson talking about Mike Love.
Do It Again
It’s automatic when I
Talk with old friends
The conversation turns to
Girls we knew when
Their hair was soft and long
And the beach was the place to go
Suntanned bodies and
Waves of sunshine
The California girls and a
Beautiful coastline
Warmed up weather
Let’s get together and do it again
With a girl the lonely sea looks good
Makes your night times warm and out of sight
Been so long, long, long, long
Been, been, been, been, been
Been, been, been, been, been
Been so long
Hey now, hey now, hey now, hey now, hey now
Hey now, hey now, hey now, hey now, hey now
Hey now, hey now
Well I’ve been thinking ’bout
All the places we’ve surfed and danced and
All the faces we’ve missed so let’s get
Back together and do it again