The Beach Boys - "Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring" - The A.W. Show / Oct. 22, 1965

[cbarrett34]

Carl's part is the hardest

[BobbyCrispy]

I'm watching this for the third time, and for the third time I am fighting back the tears!

[vAGENTv0RANGEv]

@BobbyCrispy I swear Bobby, you are the coolest guy on youtube, if not the world, you brought me here and i never looked back!

[BobbyCrispy]

@vAGENTv0RANGEv thanks!! :-)

[StripeRich]

Without the Four Freshmen, there would have been no Beach Boys plagiarizing their sound. The complex structure that the original Freshmen came up with is nowhere better displayed than in this a capella rendition.

[abata15]

@StripeRich Giving respect to, not plagiarizing. I'm removing your stripe.

[StripeRich]

@abata15: Likewise giving respect to the Beach Boys....as in: "nowhere better displayed than in this a capella rendition" ! Kudos to both groups, as I'm sure you would agree. Imitation might have been a better choice of words, as it is after all, the sincerest form of flattery.

[abata15]

@StripeRich I sincerely apologize, I misunderstood where you were coming from. Here's your stripe back.

[benitalia77]

gosh the sound is so good !

[majorcarfan]

in my opinion brian makes it sound so much fuller than the four freshman did

[majorcarfan]

just wow the harmonies just wow

[DarwinBlinks]

Mike Love just oozes douche. Four Freshmen rule.

[runnersdialzero333]

@DarwinBlinks all he does is sing a tiny bit of his vocal part here. how's that douchey, exactly?

[juliano66]

bells in every tooth. :)

[BeachBoysJanDean1]

You're not kidding A.W. that WAS pretty!! Pretty amazing!!

[TheBitterSweetgr]

OUT OF WORDS......whoever knows understands this is UNBELIEVABLE....pure magic

[WilsonVanGarneau]

I love the Wilson brothers!!

[rmoore1000]

Brilliant!

[loydsheryl]

Good heavens. I was in high school and college during the 1960's. I grew up during the Beach Boys' era. And I never knew until right now that these guys had the ability to do this kind of work. How on earth did I miss THIS? Thank you for posting!!

[11maebelle]

God, I love these guys. Except Mike Love, he's still an asshole.

[soulbliminal]

Brian looks like Rasputin. lol

[brancrabtree]

I saw Brian the other week in Montreal and he is still in tune after all these years. It is amazing what this man has accomplished.

[brancrabtree]

It's amazing how a lot of the Beach Boys records are in Mono and still sound great. This just shows you how talented they were. 

[MsSpawn1234]

absolutely stunning! 43 years later there is STILL nothing remotely that can compare! thanks for the post! :)

[azipcode2u]

What was equally amazing about the Beach Boys is that while there was total 'group' collaboration for all tunes/melodies (usually just Paul & John though), it was virtually ALL Brian Wilson coming up with the harmonies for EACH part as he arranged the songs...in his head!

[OropherThranduil]

it can't get any better than the Beach Boys singing this song standing around one mike and the beatles signing this boy around one mike.

[bigbandsrock1]

OMGOSH! I LOVE THEM!!!!

[michaelhigh1967]

I love this "howd'ya do this sheet" kind of videos. It really breaks it down, and gets to the essence of greatness.

[BloozeDaddy76]

I was born in Hawthorne, love the Beach Boys and this performance. But when it comes to tight, powerful harmonies, it gets no better than the Gatlin Brothers, three guys who are sorely overlooked and underrated who can equal this performance in their sleep.

[retread01]

@BloozeDaddy76 But the Beach Boys were about infinitely more than just technical proficiency, they weren't some barbershop tribute act. I'm sure there are a million groups that could learn their parts and sing them, but that's not much really.

[kencorynonumber]

Very nice, of course, but there are hundreds of barbershop quartets that sing in beautiful close harmony like this all over the world.

[TheShottibar]

love this clip harmonies beautiful

[Amulius]

Those chords they sing together are totally crazy... I can't fathom somebody else doing it even nearly as good as they do it.

[theillfrisch]

the beach boys may or may not be the greatest vocal harmony group, but you can't deny they have a signiture harmony style all their own.

[RichardGilinsky]

@theillfrisch Not sure about the "harmony style all their own" part. This chart is straight take-down of the Freshmen arrangement. There may be one or two note changes - I haven't analyzed each chord - but it's pretty much identical, except the Freshmen sang it in A, and the BB sang it in b-flat. It's pretty well-known that Brian very much admired the Freshmen and deliberately borrowed their style for his own writing.

[sthugh]

@RichardGilinsky He simply said they had their own style of harmony, which they did, even if they chose not to display it on this song.

[RichardGilinsky]

@sthugh Point well-taken. Still, Mr. Wilson was probably most influenced by the Four Freshmen. Originally recorded in 1958 on the album "Freshman Year", check it on YouTube: search for Four Freshmen Hearts Were Full. The influence on the BBs is unmistakable. The FF style of putting the lead in the top voice of a male quartet broke with barbershop and pop tradition. Another key influence on Mr. Wilson.

[sthugh]

@RichardGilinsky Sure he was influenced by them. Where the Beach boys were different was that they provided not just harmonies, but counterpoint melodies within those harmonies. Of course, that was due to multitrack recording. But the Four Freshmen usually all sang the same melody. With the Beach Boys you'd have a lead singer, a bass singer doing some kind of "do-wah" thing, three background voices doing a high "wah-ah" kind of line, and maybe one other singing an exact harmony to the lead.

[Banoii]

@theillfrisch I total agree. 

[deweypug]

So good, but MIKE is such a schmuck

[jmm1000]

unbelievable.

[BeachBoysJanDean1]

You are witnessing Brian at his extreme best. It just doesn't get any better than this.

[luizcadu]

@1deane Hey man, your site is fantastic. I'm an arranger myself, and I've used your transcriptions for personal study several times.

Cheers from Brazil!

[happymoogman]

What a sound. The best.

[Minacious]

There will never be ANYTHING like the class of the old school beach boys.

[awelshl]

This song is lovely :-)

[jwild611]

The early 60's was a really magical time

[thegoldenyear]

Each one of you makes great points about this piece. I think I'll go and "like" everything on this page. Of course, there are far better *songs* in the Beach Boys' canon, but this staggering showcase, from its assured cold open through the gorgeous "matched" note at 1:44-45 to beyond, has probably been my go-to example of their four-part prowess since I first heard it in A&E's Wilson 'Biography' special. I'll never tire of this.

[colindominy]

Just brilliant harmony singing here. To any young vocal / harmony group who may be 'just starting out' .. you'll not find a better mentor / teacher than this group and this stupendous creator / producer, Brian Wilson. Go get yourselves the Capitol Boxed Set "The Pet Sounds Sessions" .. and listen & learn .. pure heaven !!

[tehmaster690]

This video proves that Carl physically CANNOT sing bad. Even when not trying, his voice sounded angelic.

[onemanband0101]

i love how short al jardine is but i don't care this is awesome!!!!

[1jimbones]

I agree that Brian had the greatest male falsetto voice of all time. it comes across as almost his full voice and not thin or tinny like so many who try to capture the beach boy sound. The wind instument analogy is spot on. Carl took over the group by the 70's and that music is also amazing.

[OropherThranduil]

@1jimbones

best example for the opposite is the ''i got kicked in the balls a hundred times'' falsetto of barry gibb.

[greenbaydahg]

wow, the line at 2:22 sent chills through me

[cheifguggletram]

@greenbaydahg That part is amazing. They actually captured the sadness of death through their voices. Amazing.

[cbarrett34]

carl's part is the hardest

[grandplans]

awesome harmonies. 

[singinjohnny]

Yeah man!!! So many people write these guys off as surf music in such a derogatory fashion. Brian Wilson's magic ear for true beauty in music is still evident in his music today and will always as long as there are ears existing that appreciate that beauty.

[Markinvention]

Brian Wilson - the greatest falsetto voice in pop music.

[proggoth]

@Markinvention Agreed, Many have had great falsetto but Brian's timbre is like that of a wind instrument.

[jammmon]

@Markinvention

Greatest male falsetto ever

[dmcguire70]

@1deane Still looking for "donations" huh alan-If i were BW, i'd consider suing.

[MrsMcClifton]

When my parents do pass away, I will make a plaque with the lyrics to this song on it and place it on their earthly resting place...It so describes them.

[jnobes7]

Brian is God.

[HunterGathererDrone]

@jnobes7 yes...brian is the voice of the creator

[BeachBoysGuy1]

Listen to Carl !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LOOKN450]

I lovethis video. It comes and goes constantly from YouTube. I guess Whoever has the rights to it,eventually pulls it, then someone else posts

it? And Poor Dennis, left to mouth the words alone as he is obviously excluded. I always found it eerie, the way Brian glances down at Carl after the lyric "then one day they died" ... Brian Rules !! unfortunately, he's only a shadow of his former self these days.

[JiminRnow]

Woah... goose bumps. Rip Dennis and Carl, you're gone, your music lives in my heart, and will forever. Thank you.

[chankagogo12]

mike love pretty sums up his musical influence and abilities outside of singing in one sentence in this video. after the interviewer asks "how do the harmonies work together?" mike responds "well i don't know, but this is my part..."

[39chevycoupe]

One of the best vocal harmony groups ever.

I've heard them sing this in concert in the 60's, and it would brings chills....

[iferraro]

@39chevycoupe wow, cool. Do you remember when and where you saw them and who was in the band that night?

[39chevycoupe]

@iferraro When I heard them sing " Their Hearts " it was Carl Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, and Bruce Johnston singing it in 4 part harmony. I have seen them all together, including Brian- on stage ( not in early 60's however ). First time I heard them was at Bushnell Memorial Auditorium, Hartford, CT. They sang and played identically to their records. I believe the year was 1965. The audience would sit still, quiet until end of the songs, then clap appreciatively. Nothing like today'.

[iferraro]

@39chevycoupe Thanks for filling me in. I love to hear stories from people who saw the Boys perform live, especially when Brian was in the mix.

[spacepatrolman]

@39chevycoupe its all about breath control at 1:25 you can hear them inhaling in unison

[mdefil23]

I wish Brian could break away and rejoin Mike and Al.

:)

[39chevycoupe]

@mdefil23