Sunday, April 03, 2011


The Beach Boys - The Little Girl I Once Knew

I'm fine with the song, but mainly I just want to crank the intro, especially when it reappears at 2:06.

From Wikipedia:

The last new original song the group produced before the album Pet Sounds, it was not included on any regular Beach Boys album.

The song is notable for innovative use of two dramatic periods of near-silence lasting several seconds each. Although one of the Beach Boys' most exuberant songs, it was poorly received by radio stations preferring to avoid dead air time, which may account for its relatively low chart rating among their other singles of the period, including "California Girls" and "Barbara Ann". It is still rarely heard on oldies radio.

Capitol Records' rushed release of "Barbara Ann" in December ruined any chance "The Little Girl I Once Knew" had of continuing up the charts. Just after its release, John Lennon gave it a favorable review; another what-if for the Beach Boys.

2 comments:

davyh said...

This period Brian....*sigh* - side 2 of 'Today' especially, as a foreshadowing of 'Pet Sounds' ? Goodness me.

MD said...

Yeah, that intro is over the top awesome. Could listen to that section over and over.