Beach Boys - A day in the life of a tree

[44kiwibird]

Mooiste nummer wat ik ooit heb gehoord. HOLLAND

[FinallyunderstandU]

I really like this. It has a syd barret feel to it..

2 THUMBS up !!

[TheHarlequinsMusic]

What an amazing song, and the dynamics of the arrangement is so great...how it starts heavier and then cuts out and gets quieter...the opposite of 90% of most songs..

[surfsupedy]

Beautiful closing round of voices with a message years ahead of its time. More organic earthly feeling than walking through an autumnal woods.Enlightning.

[JDrevolver66]

Brilliant song, tho Dennis probably could've sung it with the 'raspy vulnerability' Brian seems to have wanted. Van Dyke Parks joins the group vocal tag.

[renacu8900]

FUCKING GENIOUS

[MrSamBroughton]

Love the Beach Boys with a passion :')

[vitntagestrawberry]

andrew v. was right....this song is sad but good !

[shrew972]

I just posted by mistake an irrelevant video response which I cannot delete now - So sorry , please erase it - no harm meant :))) nor spam!

[EMCEscher]

Jack Reilly sounds like Brian Wilson does now. Meaning, not very good.

[dmcguire70]

i love the organ!

[dirkbrad]

Always loved this......such a sad metaphor for Brian's life...... until maybe 15 years ago....but look how the tree recovered.......HOPE for us all

[doug1122003]

i've never really given this song a chance but it's actually really nice just wish brian would've sang it.

[WarphobblerKaz]

It amazes me that Brian Wilson had no idea that he was & is regarded as a genius in Britain - this was palpable when he performed live at the Buckingham Palace Concert, he was shaking.

[Michaelmexp]

The last 3 songs on Surf's Up are probably the three best Beach Boys song ever made.

[Chacha5678]

Andrew Vanwyngarden was told that from Al Jardine, btw

[Chacha5678]

Andrew Vanwyngarden says this song gave the band such sad memories that their manager had to sing it

[joefax530]

Word is the band manager did the vocals because the rest of the group thought it was too depressing....

[havik95]

haha this song is preety funny hahahhahaha

[numberwang2020]

simple but effective...touches the soul...

[Dodo251]

Another Brian's 3 minute masterpiece.

[thimblerig]

Incredible!!

[himycatisdead]

This is why the Beach Boys languished the latter part of their career in most fan's eyes because they could not connect with the fact the band had made a song about a tree. Talking about it as a living thing, but if one can get by all that and refuse to be judge mental then you find one of the best songs ever recorded by the Beach Boys as was most of the entire Surf's Up album........

[jmlpaulin]

@himycatisdead this is actually a metaphor for brian wilson's deepening state of depression, not a personification of actual trees. just fyi sir

[BillyFudpucker]

The tag for this is amazing. So are part of, (gasp), Mt. Vernon and Fairway, the little 33 that came with Holland.

[effielafratte]

This is one of the finest songs ever written.. it makes me cry of sadness and beauty at the same time, just as our world does

[selina4]

Epic.

[Razersun]

Beach Fags

[navroful]

A very good song.

[64bbfan]

Has to be one my most favorite Brian Wilson songs. Incredible journey it takes you on and most representative of his life at the time.

[bettstp]

Simply a masterpiece

[DonZabu]

Brian said he got Jack Rieley to sing this song because he "sounded like a tree".

Now is it just me, or is that the worst possible thing you can say about a dude's voice?

[RMArborist]

@DonZabu Now, yeah, you/me/world -- as an Arborist, I bring a unique POV - though you're not wrong, there are so many lesser aspects hanging in the balance that I wish I could earnestly sound like a tree! Brian got this one right, toot!!!

[DGordonN]

@DonZabu I think its rad metaphor, he does have a very naturaesque voice, its humble and perfect for the piece

[Karateworm]

@DonZabu True... but he was totally right though :P

[surffdog55]

Great stuff. Loved this era of the Beach Boys. I used to sit in my parents' station wagon in the driveway and listen to this on my Eight track player. Really beautiful stuff. Wish Brian could still write like this, but I grateful for anything he comes up with.

[Dodo251]

2:10 simply magical!

[pmoyer50]

Think this is a strange song. Odd how at first the words trip you up and spoil the effect - then comes the itch to switch it off and this heavenly cathedral choir is heard and that part is awesome.

[johnmusk]

This song would be a good opening number for a musical about the life of Brian Wilson and the beach boys.

[ENACODNOM]

@johnmusk Or rather for an unreliable political party?

[Ageispolis11]

@johnmusk What an idea! Why hasn't this been done yet? We have a queen musical & a Beatles Cirque du Soleil musical. 'I Just Wasn't Made For these Times'- the life of Brian Wilson!

[SPzero06]

What a gorgeous analogy this song makes to Brian's life at the time. This song is touching, and I think it's very, very eerie how similar Jack Reiley's voice sounds to Brian's late 70's voice... the really tired, raspy, older voice that is just so sad sounding.

[artois54]

Ein wunderbares Lied von einem großartigen Album. Gott segne Brian Wilson und seine Mitstreiter!

[l1rzm]

SO magic ......

[belladeballe]

A requiem for a tree...that was beautiful, but so sad. I'm sure it does have a deeper more personal level to it such as Brian's depression but this song is powerful at face value, too.

[bobshenix]

jnf1222, it was Jack Rieley you are correct.

[nelson416yo]

i love this song....surfs up is so underated. personally, its my favorite beach boys album

[jnf1222]

Dennis? I thought this was Jack Reiley.

[ph1lanthrope]

It was Jack's lead vocal with Van Dyke Parks joining in on the end tag.

Apart from managing the band, Rieley also wrote some lyrics including "Long Promised Road", "Feel Flows", "Sail On Sailor", "Funky Pretty" and he narrated "Mt. Vernon and Fairway" from Holland.

[Applemask]

Brian's on the tag as well. Is he the only actual Beach Boy on the song?

[ph1lanthrope]

I think they had uncle tom cobley n' all on the "Bom bom boms" but Brian may have been singing the falsetto part and Al Jardine definitely contributed on the "...my branches to the ground...." phrase.

[NS9144]

No, Al Jardine sings on the outro as well.

"Oh lord I lay me down, my branches too the ground, there's nothing left for me."

Van Dyke is in there as well, "Tree's like me weren't meant to live......"

[akovia]

Jack Reiley sung lead Vocals on this song not Dennis.

[2007BeachBoy]

Who was/is Jack Reily?

[akovia]

Jack Rieley is an American record producer.He was the manager and song-writer of the pop music group the Beach Boys during the early 1970s, and is credited with guiding them back to acclaim.The Beach Boys met Rieley, while promoting their album Sunflower, and hired him as their manager

[spacepatrolman]

He didnt produce anything or write anything he got the job of manager by lying and saying he was a news correspondent when he never was and he mostly gave a lot of stupid suggestions to brian like why dont you write a song about china and the soviet union .

[gregormann7]

@akovia "He was the manager and song-writer of the pop music group the Beach Boys. . ."

THE m & s-w, mind you! HA HA HA HA HA !!!! LMAO !!!

[ChristForte]

Dennis Wilson tore this song up (In a good way)

[gregormann7]

@ChristForte Stick to the Beatles---a subject you know at least a small amount about.

[regentv980]

classic underated song!

[philipg52]

The man cares about our planet!Good on him.Their burning and cutting them down much faster now than when he wrote this.Self destruction sucks.More protest songs please guys.

[ALK95]

This song is actually about Brian himself. By the early 1970s, when the song was written and recorded, Brian was depressed and literally living in his bed. This song, and 'Til I Die' (both incredible songs), were about his depression with life. Listen to the words: "But now my branches suffer/and my leaves don't offer/poetry to men of song."

Great underrated gem! This song is genius... just like Brian Wilson :) 5 stars *****

[vivathe90s]

great song ... but the video sucks ass.

[numberstation]

Fuck off,idiot.

[embran]

i always thought that this is Brian singing, eh, Jacks voice is so similar to the Brian later voice.

anyway, this one of the greatest connection between voice, music and lyrics - When tree is going to die we have that horror/cemetery organ style, and when tree is reminding good old times as a little, healthy tree we have this innocent sound of flute. Masterpiece

[M3town3]

I actually play Pipe organ. He uses a mixture with basson bass and then som typical organ flutes and if you listen carefully you can hear the sound "rise-up" and i think it's maybe a rohrflute. GREAT song though...

[visionsofed]

This is perhaps one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. I first heard it two days ago fro the date this was posted and oh my god it changed my life. How could I have never heard this before. Wow Brain Wilson is amazing

[vinne1989]

Amazing! One of his best songs!

[DamGreek]

I've always raved to other BBoys' fans how much I love this song. It has so much "soul". The pipe organ on this, was expensively rented & set up in a studio, which took a few days. They use this same organ, I'm told, on "Til I Die" (also from the SURF'S UP album). Jack Rieley wrote the words, Brian composed the music. Also, interesting to note, Van Dyke Parks sings the "Trees like me weren't meant to live.." part. More and more, this song is being discovered! And it's about time. Love it!

[joannejoejulie]

the coda of this piece is a gift from God

[daveyboots]

As a teenager, I was truly spellbound by this track when the album came out. My sisters thought that the Beach Boys had gone a bit weird, but I loved the "Surf's up" album. Fantastic. Thanks for posting.

[boyders16]

I think this is absolutely magical. A lot of people don't like Jack Rieley but I think he was great for the band, Steamboat anyone?

[ranjaky]

thanks, boyders16. you are very kins.

[ranjaky]

oops... i meant to type 'kind.'

[TanteA]

Feel the wind burn trough my skin

The pain, the air is killing me

For years my limbs stretched to the sky

A nest for birds to sit and sing

But now my branches suffer

And my leaves don´t bear the glow

They did so long ago

But now my branches suffer

And my leaves don´t bear the glow

They did so long ago

[TanteA]

Can´t stop listening to that song. Was is written by Brian Wilson?

[calabrodk]

Yes - written by Brian Wilson and Jack Rieley

[daveyboots]

And sung by Jack Reilly too.

[ChuckDizzo]

I always thought Dennis sang this! Are you sure about this?

[daveyboots]

Yep. At Brian Wilson's request Jack Reilly tried the lead vocal after every Beach Boy had an attempt. Jack's was the vocal that moved Brian and it was kept.(See page 289 of "The Beach Boys" Keith Badman). Dennis's voice, although not brilliant was much better than this.

[Applemask]

It's the effect that Brian wanted, apparently, though.

[eyehateevery1]

i was waiting for this vid

[brianwilson77]

Beautiful song and fantastic Lyric! Brian is a Fucking Genius!!