I Get Around

Album

Believe

Label

Capitol Records

Genre

Car song

Composer(s)

Brian Wilson;Mike Love

Entered Chart

May 23, 1964

Peak Date

Jul 4, 1964

Released

May 11, 1964

Recorded

April 2–10, 1964 Studio Western, Hollywood

Catalog #

Capitol 5174

B-Side

"Don't Worry Baby"

Like most early Beach Boys songs, this does not have deep lyrical content; it's a fun song about a teenage lifestyle featuring friends, girls and cars. Musically, however, it was incredibly innovative, with an opening fuzz guitar, stop-start rhythms and a keyboard line working in and out of the song. Written by Brian Wilson with contributions from Mike Love, it was the first Beach Boys recording after The Beatles took hold in America, and Wilson responded with this rather complex creation. This was The Beach Boys first #1 in their own country ("Surfin' Safari" went to #1 in Sweden two years earlier). Father-manager Murry Wilson and therefore his beleaguered son Brian despaired over not hitting the top spot in the US, coming off second best first to the Four Seasons through 1962 and into '63, then to Jan & Dean when they got to #1 that summer with "Surf City" - a song Brian Wilson wrote - and then into 1964 with the Beatles took over. This was released as a double A-side single in May 1964 with "Don't Worry Baby." It is considered one of the best ever single releases along with "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever" by The Beatles and "Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog" by Elvis Presley. It was rated fifth biggest seller of 1964 by both Billboard and Cash Box - indicating close to 2 million US units sold - though it was another 18 years before Capitol submitted it to the RIAA for auditing (the only other Beach Boys single the label did this for was "Good Vibrations"). This was The Beach Boys real breakthrough in the UK, reaching #7 in a chart that for months had seen only British faces. It was effusively pushed by Mick Jagger on British TV's Juke Box Jury and he personally circulated copies of it to the UK's independent pirate radio stations offshore. It was also #1 in Canada and New Zealand. Fuzzed and reverbed guitar were demonstrated on this way before anyone else in rock, but too subtly for the general public to notice. It was about three years later that fuzz and reverb became a huge deal from the amplifiers of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. >> Alice Cooper says that this is his favorite song. The horror rocker is a big fan of '60s pop music, especially The Beach Boys and The Beatles. He was 14 when he first heard "I Get Around," and even though he didn't surf, he did want to drive around with his friends. In our interview with Randy Bachman, he recalls a conversation with Brian Wilson where Wilson explained that this song is based on the Broadway show tune "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue." Said Bachman: "I said, 'How did you do that?' He said, 'Well, when they say to stay on the C chord for two beats, I stay on it for four. Or if they say stay on the C chord for eight beats, I stay on it for two.' So if you listen to 'Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue, oh, what those five feet could do,' that's 'I Get Around.' But they went, 'Round, round, get around, I get around.' And then he put his own, 'Woo oo,' and then he wrote his own song and he put in his own lyrics." Mike Love discussed his songwriting collaboration with Brian Wilson on The Beach Boys early hits. "Brian is amazingly adept at chord progressions and coming up with harmonies and so on," he told Mojo magazine. "I was pretty quick on the lyrical side, and the hooks. So, we were just a very good partnership at that time." Whether it would be 'Fun, Fun, Fun,' or 'I Get Around' or 'Help Me, Rhonda,' or any of those hits at that time we co-wrote, it was literally I would sit next to him at the piano," Love continued. "And we would work out both the musical and the lyrical components, which complimented the musical mood that was going on at the time."

Round round get around, I get around, yeah
(Get around round round I get around, ooh-ooh) I get around
Fom town to town (get around round round I get around)
I'm a real cool head (get around round round I get around)
I'm makin' real good bread (get around round round I get around)

I'm gettin' bugged driving up and down the same old strip
I gotta find a new place where the kids are hip
My buddies and me are getting real well known
Yeah, the bad guys know us and they leave us alone

I get around (get around round round I get around)
From town to town (get around round round I get around)
I'm a real cool head (get around round round I get around)
I'm makin' real good bread (get around round round I get around)

I get around (round, get around-round-round, ooh)
(Wah-wah-ooh)
(Wah-wah-ooh)
(Wah-wah-ooh)

We always take my car 'cause 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 (get around round round I get around)
From town to town (get around round round I get around)
I'm a real cool head (get around round round I get around)
I'm makin' real good bread (get around round round I get around)

I get around (round, ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)

Round round get around, I get around, yeah

Get around round round I get around (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Get around round round I get around (wah-wah-ooh)
Get around round round I get around (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Get around round round I get around (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Get around round round I get around (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Get around round round I get around (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Get around round round I get around (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Get around round round I get around (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Get around round round I get around (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)