"Wake the World"
Single by the Beach Boys
from the album Friends
A-side"Do It Again"
ReleasedJuly 8, 1968
RecordedMarch 1968
StudioID Sound and Beach Boys Studio, California
Length1:28
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys singles chronology
"Friends"
(1968)		 "Do It Again" / "Wake the World"
(1968)		 "Bluebirds over the Mountain"
(1968)

"Wake the World" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1968 album Friends. It was written by Brian Wilson and Al Jardine about getting up in the morning for work. In addition to appearing on Friends, "Wake the World" was released as B-side to "Do It Again" in July 1968. The song has since appeared multiple times on the band's live setlists and has been described as a cult favorite.

Background

"Wake the World" was the first original song that Brian Wilson and Al Jardine wrote together. Jardine recalled, "I seem to remember that I was sitting at the piano with Brian, and he had the music worked out when we did 'Wake the World.' That was great; I love that song. We wrote that at his house right under that beautiful stained glass Wild Honey cover window. [...] It was a great little room."[1]

On the song's lyrics, Jardine commented, "It was inspired by a conversation about people having to get up every day and go to work. Something, thankfully, we never had to do!"[2] Wilson stated, "'Wake the World' was my favorite cut. It was so descriptive to how I felt about the dramatic change over from day to night."[1]

The song was recorded in March 1968. The song was one of the few tracks that featured contributions from Mike Love, who for much of the album's recording sessions was studying with the Maharishi in India.[3] The chorus features a tuba line.[4]

Release

In addition to appearing as the third track on the band's 1968 album Friends, "Wake the World" was released as the B-side of the band's subsequent 1968 single "Do It Again".[1] The song also served as the title track to the 2018 compilation Wake the World: The Friends Sessions.[5]

Live performances

"Wake the World" was regularly performed live by the band during the late 1960s and early 1970s,[6] appearing on albums such as Live in London (1970) and the archival The Beach Boys On Tour: 1968 (2018).

Brian Wilson performed the song on solo tours with Jardine in later years.[7] Jardine explained in 2019, "We've been doing that for a couple of years now. So that one, we have been doing, come to think of it. Because, I don't know, 'cause we like it [laughs]."[8] Jardine has also performed the song live in his solo setlist.[9]

Critical reception

"Wake the World" became a fan favorite from Friends.[10] In a 1968 review, Rolling Stone's Arthur Schmidt named the song as one of the "great" tracks on the first side of the album that "evoke the elation of Wild Honey."[11] Goldmine described the track as "one of true beauty with an accompanying message of peace" and noted it as "one of the best collaborative efforts between Al Jardine and Brian."[1] Biographer Jon Stebbins said of the song, "It's incredible to think that such a well-developed composition and arrangement could be shorter than any song on the Surfin' U.S.A. LP."[12]

Personnel

Credits from Craig Slowinski[13]

The Beach Boys
Additional musicians
  • Jim Ackley - Rocksichord
  • Arnold Belnick - violin
  • Norman Botnick - viola
  • David Burk - viola
  • John DeVoogt - violin
  • Bonnie Douglas - violin
  • Dick Hyde - tuba, flugelhorn
  • Norm Jeffries - drums
  • Lyle Ritz - electric and upright bass
  • Jay Rosen - violin
  • Ralph Schaeffer - violin
  • Paul Shure - violin
  • Al Vescovo - guitar

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Cover Story: 'Friends' The Beach Boys' Feel-Good Record". Goldmine Magazine: Record Collector & Music Memorabilia. July 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  2. ↑ "Review: Al Jardine, Family & Friends » Endless Summer Quarterly". Endless Summer Quarterly. 5 March 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  3. ↑ "Friends". smileysmile.net.
  4. ↑ Leaf, David (1990). Friends / 20/20 (CD Liner). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records.
  5. ↑ Hermes, Will (15 January 2019). "How the Beach Boys' Lost Late-Sixties Gems Got a Second Life". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  6. ↑ Dillon, Mark (1 June 2012). Fifty Sides of the Beach Boys: The Songs That Tell Their Story. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-77090-198-8.
  7. ↑ "What would Brian Wilson change about 'Pet Sounds'? He reflects 50 years later". Baltimore Sun. 8 July 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  8. ↑ Moser, John J. (28 September 2019). "Q&A Interview: Beach Boys' Al Jardine, with Brian Wilson at Wind Creek Event Center on Sunday, says singer has his Mojo back". The Morning Call. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  9. ↑ "Al Jardine at Sony Hall". Music Connection Magazine. 1 April 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  10. ↑ Knollwood, Johnny (16 February 2022). "Al Jardine, Co-Founder of the Beach Boys Talks Family and Friends". The New School Free Press. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  11. ↑ Schmidt, Arthur (24 August 1968). "Friends". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  12. ↑ Stebbins, Jon (September 2011). The Beach Boys FAQ. Backbeat. ISBN 9781458429186. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  13. ↑ Endless Summer Quarterly, Spring 2018 Edition
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