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"'''The Warmth of the Sun'''" is a song written by [[Brian Wilson]] and [[Mike Love]] for the [[united states|American]] [[pop music|pop]] [[band (music)|band]] [[The Beach Boys]]. It was first released on their 1964 album ''[[Shut Down Volume 2]]'' and later as the B-side of the "[[Dance, Dance, Dance (song)|Dance, Dance, Dance]]" single, which charted at number eight in the United States and number 24 in the United Kingdom. The song was recorded in January 1964 with Brian Wilson producing the song as well as singing the lead vocal. |
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== Composition == |
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The song was written at some time around President [[John F. Kennedy|John F. Kennedy's]] [[John F. Kennedy assassination|assassination]] in November 1963, with Brian Wilson composing the music and Mike Love the lyrics. Some sources have suggested that the song eulogized Wilson's former girlfriend, Judy Bowles, rejection of him.<ref name="white201">{{cite book |first=Timothy |last=White |title=The Nearest Faraway Place |year=1996 |pages=201}}</ref> However, this seems unlikely since Wilson has stated that all of the lyrics were written by Mike.<ref name="williams173">{{cite book |first=Paul |last=Williams |title=How Deep is the Ocean? |year=2003 |pages=173}}</ref> Mike has also stated that they "wrote that about losing someone close. I had someone in mind."<ref name="badman45">{{cite book |first=Keith |last=Badman |title=The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio |year=2004 |pages=45}}</ref> |
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There are conflicting views on when the song was written with Mike suggesting that it was written in the early hours on the morning of Kennedy's assassination and Brian stating that it was written on the morning ''after'' the President's death. |
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According to Brian, Mike came up with the title after he had written the lyrics to the first verse.<ref name="williams173">{{cite book |first=Paul |last=Williams |title=How Deep is the Ocean? |year=2003 |pages=173}}</ref> |
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Mike has stated that they didn't change the initial lyrics after they had been written. |
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== Recording == |
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Brian has mentioned that they struggled to book studio time as most of it had been booked out. |
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The instrumental track was recorded at [[United Western Recorders]] on [[New Year's Day]] in 1964. All of the Beach Boys were present at the session along with session musicians [[Hal Blaine]], Ray Pohlman, [[Steve Douglas (saxophonist)|Steve Douglas]] and [[Jay Migliori]]. |
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The band overdubbed their vocals on January 8 at [[Gold Star Studios]] with Brian singing the lead vocal and Alan Jardine, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson and Mike Love on backing vocals. |
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Sadly, the master tapes for this song as well as most of ''Shut Down Volume 2'' have since been lost. |
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== Album and alternate releases == |
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The song was first released on the bands album ''Shut Down Volume 2'' on 1964. |
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A remake of the song, produced by Brian Wilson and [[Don Was]], was recorded - along with an accompanying video - by Brian Wilson for inclusion in the 1995 documentary ''[[I Just Wasn't Made for These Times]]'' and it would later appear on the films soundtrack. In June 2002, a live version by Brian Wilson and his band along with special guest [[Eric Clapton]] was performed at the [[Party at the Palace]] concert. It was subsequently released on DVD. |
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== Single release == |
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In the United States, the song was released as the flip-side of the "Dance, Dance, Dance" single on October 26, 1964. The single peaked at #8. |
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In the United Kingdom, the song was also released as the flip-side of "Dance, Dance, Dance" in January 1965. The single peaked at #24. |
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In the United States, the song was issued as the B-side of a re-issue of the "Surfin' USA" single in July 1974. The single peaked at #36. |
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== Cover versions == |
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The song was first covered in 1964 on ''The Beach Boys Song Book'' album by The Hollyridge Strings. It was later covered by [[Murry Wilson]], who was the father of three of the Beach Boys members, on his one and only album, ''[[The Many Moods of Murry Wilson]]'', which was released in 1967 under Capitol Records. Again in 1967, the Surfsiders covered the song on their album ''The Surfsiders Sing the Beach Boys Songbook''. A year later The Alan Copeland Conspiracy covered the song on their album ''Bubble Called You''. [[Gary Usher]] covered the song on his 1970 tribute album ''Add Some Music to Your Day: A 1970 Symphonic Tribute to Brian Wilson''. In 1977, [[Melissa Manchester]] covered the song on her album ''Singin'...''. In 1985, [[Papa Doo Run Run]] covered the song on their ''California Project'' album. A Norweigan rendition of the song was released by Trygve Thue on his 1994 album ''Jeg - En Beach Boys''. [[Shelby Flint]] and [[Tim Weston]] covered the song on the 1997 tribute album ''Wouldn't It Be Nice: A Jazz Portrait of Brian Wilson''. Again in 1997, the song was covered by [[Philip Aaberg]] & [[Scott Mathews]], in a medley with "Surfer Girl", on the compilation ''Summer Solstice: A Windham Hill Collection''. In 1998, [[Adrian Baker]] backed by the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]] covered the song on the ''Symphonic Sounds: Music of the Beach Boys'' album. That same year also saw Fred Simon cover the song on his ''Interpretation of The Beach Boys'' album. In 2001, [[Vince Gill]] performed a cover version at "An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson" concert. This performance was later released on DVD. In 2006, [[Matthew Sweet]] and [[Bangles]] lead singer [[Susanna Hoffs]] recorded the song for their collaboration, "Under the Covers, Vol. 1.". That same year it was remade by [[Matthew Thiessen and the Earthquakes]], which is the side project of [[Matt Thiessen]]. Thiessen is the lead singer of the [[Christian rock]] band [[Relient K]], and has said on many occasions that the Beach Boys are among his favorite bands. The song was also covered on the 2006 children's album ''Rockabye Baby! Lullabye Renditions of The Beach Boys'' album. |
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==Sources== |
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{{reflist}} |
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== Random Info == |
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Besides Timothy White saying that it was also about Judy, David Leaf in the twofer liner notes suggests the same thing. |
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== Quotes == |
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=== Catch A Wave === |
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*70-71 - They'd started writing the song a day or two before the assassination of John F. Kennedy, but they were still working on it on Novemeber 22, and the devastation of the president's death seeped into the song's final verse, which reaches out of the gloom for a bittersweet sense of hope: ''"Our love's like the warmth of the sun/It won't ever die."'' |
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=== The Nearest Faraway Place === |
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*201 - currently in the can for ''Shut Down, Vol. 2'' was "The Warmth of the Sun," a forlorn ballad that eulogized Judy Bowles's rejection of Brian and the death of John F. Kennedy. Brian and Mike Love began writing the song at 2:00am on the day following the assassination, the Boys winding down at the El Dorado Hotel after a concert in Marysville, California, fifty miles from Sacramento. |
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<ref name="white201">{{cite book |first=Timothy |last=White |title=The Nearest Faraway Place |year=1996 |pages=201}}</ref> |
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=== How Deep Is The Ocean? === |
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*172 - Well, I tried to write something that had something positive about it, even though it was a sad time, to try to make a positive music that makes people feel stronger about his death, the better to handle it. |
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*172-173 - We did it spontaneously at my office. That night, the night of November 22nd, 1963. I was at the piano, he was sitting in a chair next to the piano, on my left. And he would say, "dah doo dah doo..." He goes, "Wait a minute, I'm getting it. What good is the dawn that grows into day?" And then we took on a whole like extrapolation, you know. |
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*173 - I would sing him a melody, and the course of the melody...It only took us at the most a half hour to write the song. |
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=== I Just Wasn't Made For These Times documentary === |
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*Brian: "Mike said, 'Do you want to write a song in tribute to JFK tonight?' It was a spiritual night. We got going and a mood took over us. Something took us over. I can't explain it...Mike flipped out. He said, 'That's one of the most spiritual songs I've ever heard.' I said, 'Those lyrics are beautiful.' He wrote those lyrics. You know, stuff like that happens every 20 years. It doesn't happen every day, JFK gets shot to death and The Beach Boys go and write 'The Warmth Of The Sun'." |
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=== The Warmth of the Sun podcast series === |
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*Alan Jardine - "That’s my favorite...It just encapsulates that entire feeling of summer in California, it’s just – or at least a mythical summer in California. But it really is idyllic Southern California concept. |
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*Brian Wilson - "When I listen to ‘Warmth Of The Sun’ I go, ‘how in the hell did I sing so sweetly.’ I get real, real, real good memories from ‘Warmth Of The Sun’. We heard about Kennedy’s death, so Michael goes, ‘well, do you want to write a song to, you know, commemorate his death?’ and I go, ‘sure’. We went to my Brian Wilson Productions office – I had a piano there – and I started playing some chords and the melody and it took us forty-five minutes to write it. It came so quick, it took us forty-five minutes to write that song. That’s how fast we worked. Some of the best songs come pretty quick. Yeah, they’re the most divinely inspired songs." |
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*Bruce Johnston - "I still get chills when we sing it. The harmonies just soar. It’s so simple and so complex and Brian Wilson musically is just exercising the most amazing musical gift ever in sticking this together, yet making it so accessible for people to listen to. And Mike’s lyrics are very accurate and sad and wonderful." |
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*Mike Love - "One of the most emotional songs for me was ‘The Warmth Of The Sun’. ‘The Warmth Of The Sun’ was written in the early morning hours of the same morning that President Kennedy was killed in Dallas. Of course when it came on the radio, we’d been up all night and like one, two, three in the morning we were writing this song. And the melody was so haunting and the harmonies were so what? –Sad, melancholy, that the only thing that I could think of lyrically was losing someone you loved. And, you know, everybody in life has a love for someone that it’s not reciprocated. You know, the other person loses interest or doesn’t feel the same as you do, but you have this fantastic feeling about this person. In the case of ‘The Warmth Of The Sun’, I wrote it from the perspective of ‘the love of my life, she left me one day, I cried when she said, ‘I don’t feel the same way’. So, it was really emotional and it went with the music. And even though Kennedy was killed and the nation was in shock and in mourning, then, you know in the studio we didn’t change the lyrics, you know. We could have, but we didn’t. Cause I wanted to have a silver lining on that cumulus nimbus cloud. You know, things are tough, you know, you lost someone you loved, but still you have the warmth of the sun within you at night. Which means, at least you felt the feeling and you had that feeling of loving someone to that degree, that was really impactful and memorable. So that’s ‘The Warmth Of The Sun’ and that’s one of my favorite songs from an emotional point of view and a personal point of view, that kind of thing." |
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=== Circus Raves === |
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*Mike Love: "We wrote that the night or morning before we got up to the news that Kennedy was shot in Dallas...It's like the warmth of the sun, it means to me a memory and a feeling that you have from within no matter whether they're there or not there, like Kennedy was gone too but still you have a good feeling towards some of the things he stood for. But instead of coming out and saying, 'Oooh Kennedy was shot,' we didn't do that, we knew all that was going on, but we were a little bit more subtle, we created more of a positive space rather than head-on negativity, because the choice is whether to confront negativity with negativity, or positively. I mean, things are bad enough, why sing about it." - Source: Circus Raves: Beach Boys: Mike Love, Carl Wilson Hang Ten On Surfin', Cruisin' And Harmonies – Jan, 1975 (Page 27) |
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=== Goldmine === |
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*Mike Love: "We wrote it at one or two in the morning before the JFK assassination. We were asleep and Brian had moved out of his house, his parental home in Hawthorne, to a rented home, and I spent the night there. I wrote the words and he did the music." |
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=== Nashville Sounds DVD === |
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*Willie Nelson: "And there's sometimes you can hear one and say well that's going to be a standard and of course when you hear something like 'The Warmth of The Sun' you know that that's standard quality." |
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