I liked the Beach Boys okay when I was in my teen years but was more caught up in the Motown sound and to me the Beach Boys were … I dunno … too light, maybe?  I worked full-time from the time I turned 13, so never had time to become a part of the beach crowd … that might have made a difference.  That said, they did some songs that I loved, like Good Vibrations, Kokomo, Sloop John B, etc.  Until last night, though, I don’t think I had ever heard of this song, Do It Again, although it did chart at #20 in the U.S.  But, my team of directors, after a bit of discussion starting with Manilow, then Whitney, finally settled on this one for me to play today!  😊  Thanks, guys … despite my teasing, I do like it … you done good!

According to SongFacts …

Mike Love sang lead vocals and wrote the words for this celebratory track that takes a nostalgic look back at his days of sun and surfing. Love told us that the lyrics were inspired by a surfing safari with some of his old high school buddies, and were autobiographical. He explained: “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].”

Love had the concept and most of the lyrics before Brian Wilson added the instrumentation. He recalled to us: “I came back and we sat down at Brian’s piano, and we banged that song out in maybe 15 minutes, something like that. I had the concept and the lyrics in mind, and he just got a good groove going on the piano.”

Love told us that it was the Beach Boys’ engineer at the time, Stephen Desper, who came up with “that really interesting” 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. The engineer recalled: “I had commissioned Phillips, in Holland, to build two tape delay units for use on the road (to double live vocals). I moved four of the Phillips PB heads very close together so that one drum strike was repeated four times about 10 milliseconds apart, and blended it with the original to give the effect you hear. Everyone liked the sound and credited me with adding to the commercial success of the single. Whether or not that was true, I don’t know, but it put me in the engineering seat for many years.”

The song was originally entitled “Rendezvous.”

The song charted at #1 in the UK, #3 in Australia & The Netherlands, #10 in Canada, and #20 in the U.S.

Do It Again

Beach Boys

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 nighttimes warm and out of sight

Been so long
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

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Brian Wilson / Michael Love

Do It Again lyrics © Irving Music Inc., Sea Of Tunes Publishing Co Inc