The Beach Boys were not as nearly popular as The Beatles in Brazil but by late 1965 they had placed both 'I get around' and 'Help me Rhonda' in the lower rungs of the Brazilian charts.
As of June 1964 through to late 1967, I used to get up early on Sunday mornings to listen to the 25 Best Selling Singles countdown beamed on Radio Excelsior, Radio Bandeirantes or Radio Nacional in Sao Paulo. Those hit parade shows usually lasted for 2 hours, from 10:00 am to 12 noon.
Not only did I listen to all records but also made a point of writing their titles and artists' names down on a sheet of paper that I would later transcribe into a neat note-book to keep. That's how I kept tabs with the chart action in that glorious period.
As I've always been a sucker for voice harmonies The Beach Boys struck me as something to treasure and I rooted for their (few) records to get on to a higher position but I don't think either of their discs got higher than # 8.
By 1966, when 'Barbara Ann' was released, I had become a serious fan of Italian pop music and would follow the Italian scene reading magazines such as 'Giovani' and 'Big'. That's how I realized The Beach Boys (along with the Rolling Stones and other British rock groups) were really much more popular in Italy than they were in Brazil. Their Italian 45 rpms had colourful picture-sleeves and were high up in the charts whereas in Brazil they were virtually ignored maybe due to the rise of Brazil's indigenous rock aka Jovem Guarda. By the way, 'Barbara Ann' had hardly any air-play but enough for me to get acquainted with it.
By 1967, I fell in love with beautiful 'Sloop John B' which was probably The Beach Boys' last chart entry in Brazil. I bought the Capitol-Odeon single but I don't think it got higher than # 13. That was probably the last I heard of The Beach Boys in Brazil.
One could say The Beach Boys had 4 middling hits in Brazil in the 1960s. Their highly praised 'Pet sounds' album was thoroughly ignored and differently from the rest of the world 'Good vibration' didn't even make it as a single.
I get around
I'm getting bugged driving up & down the same old strip
I gotta find a new place where the kids are hip
my buddies & me are getting real well-known
yeah, the bad guys know us and they leave us alone
I get around - from town to town
I'm a real cool head - I'm making real good bread
We always take my car cuz it's never been beat
and we've never missed yet with the girls we meet
none of the guys go steady 'cause it wouldn't be right
to leave their best girl home now on Saturday night
I get around - from town to town
I'm a real cool head - I'm making real good bread
round round get around, I get around, yeah
written by Brian Wilson & Mike Love.
Help me, Rhonda
Well, since she put me down I've been out doing in my head
I come in late at night and in the morning I just lay in bed
well, Rhonda you look so fine (look so fine)
and I know it wouldn't take much time for you to
help me, Rhonda, help me get her out of my heart
Help me, Rhonda, help, help me, Rhonda
help me, Rhonda, help, help me, Rhonda
help me, Rhonda, help, help me, Rhonda
help me, Rhonda, help, help me, Rhonda
help me, Rhonda, help, help me, Rhonda
help me, Rhonda, help, help me, Rhonda
help me, Rhonda, yeah, get her out of my heart.
She was gonna be my wife and I was gonna be her man (oh, Rhonda)
but she let another guy come between us and it shattered our plans
well, Rhonda, you caught my eye (caught my eye)
and I can give you lots of reasons why
you gotta help me, Rhonda, help me get her out of my heart.
written by Brian Wilson & Mike Love.
Al Jardine (centre) sings lead in 'Help me, Rhonda'.
Capitol / Odeon singles
7C-11021 - Surfin' USA / Shut down - 1963
7C-11029 - Fun fun fun / Be true to your school - 1964
7C 11032 - I get around / Don't worry baby - 1964
7C 11045 - Help me, Rhonda / Kiss me baby - 1965
7C 11037 - Papa oown mow mow / The wanderer - 1965
7C 11049 - Barbara Ann (Fred Fassert) / Girl don't tell me - 1966
7C 11055 - Sloop John B / You're so good to me - 1967
7C 11056 - Heroes and villains (B.W.-Van Dyke Parks) / You're welcome (B. W.) -
7C 11055 - Sloop John B / You're so good to me - 1967
7C 11056 - Heroes and villains (B.W.-Van Dyke Parks) / You're welcome (B. W.) -
7C 11071 - Do it again / Friends - 1968
(11.032) 'I get around' was the Beach Boys' first hit in Brazil.
(11.037) The Beach Boys cover The Rivinstons' 'Papa-oom-mow-mow' b/w Dion's 'The wanderer'.
(11.056) The Beach Boys in 'Heroes and villains' b/w 'You're welcome' - 1967.
Extended-plays
Extended-plays
beautiful 'Darlin' was released as an E.P. in 1968 but it never got any air-play. Odeon didn't even care to 'update' the Beach Boys' photo on the EP sleeve. They were still re-printing 1964 pictures.
from left to right: Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson & David Marks in 1962. Al Jardine had briefly quit the band at this stage.
1962.
1964 - Dennis Wilson, Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine & Carl Wilson.
'I get around' with the Beach Boys went to Number One on 4 July 1964 - for 2 weeks.
During the session where the Beach Boys were recording 'I get around', Murry Wilson was acting like an arsehole. This was nothing new. Murry was the overbearing father of Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, and he was also, in the early years, the band's manager. During the session, Murry was ranting about how untalented his sons were and how shitty the song was, threatening to shut the session down. In the middle of the session, Brian fired him. Brian Wilson didn't make too many power-plays like this, but there was too much at stake.
'I get around' was the 1st thing that the Beach Boys recorded after the rise of the Beatles. Brian Wilson didn't even like the early Beatles; in his mind, his competition was Phil Spector, with his dazzling orchestral layers. Later on, the Beatles and the Beach Boys, along with bands like the Rolling Stones, would launch into an insanely productive rivalry, with everyone trying to outdo everyone else. But in 1964, the Beatles represented a clear and present threat to them.
The Beach Boys had been making hits for a couple of years by 1964, but they rode in on a particular sound, and that sound was on its way out. They were the prototypical group of the surf-music boom. Brian Wilson had written most of Jan & Dean's 'Surf City', which had got to #1 in 1963, but the Beach Boys had never made it to the summit themselves. Murry was furious that Brian had given away a #1 single to Jan & Dean. And the Beatles had come to eclipse surf-music completely. So the Beach Boys had to come up with something new.
'I get around' sounds a lot like the group's early surf-music singles, but it's a progression, too. The lyrics aren't surf-specific. Instead, they're a timeless flex. 'I get around' is a song about being really fucking good at being a teenager.
'We always take my car cuz it's never been beat / And we've never missed yet with the girls wee meet.'
It's also thicker, lusher, more indebted to what Spector was doing. The harmonies pile all over each other with dizzy aplomb, and there's a real momentum in that twanged-out guitar and those feverish handclaps. The hooks are, of course, ridiculous. Mike Love later sued Brian for a co-writer credit, and if he really did come up with the 'round round getaround' part, he deserved it.
https://www.stereogum.com/2002658/the-number-ones-the-beach-boys-i-get-around/franchises/the-number-ones/
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