| "Wild Honey" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) West German picture sleeve | ||||
| Single bythe Beach Boys | ||||
| from the albumWild Honey | ||||
| B-side | "Wind Chimes" | |||
| Released | October 23, 1967 (1967-10-23) | |||
| Recorded | September 26–27, 1967 | |||
| Studio | Beach Boys Studio, Los Angeles | |||
| Length | 2:37 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Songwriters | Brian Wilson,Mike Love | |||
| Producer | The Beach Boys | |||
| The Beach Boys singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Wild Honey" is a song recorded by the Americanrock bandthe Beach Boys. Written byBrian Wilson andMike Love, it was released as the lead single from their 1967 albumWild Honey, with the B-side of the single being "Wind Chimes". The single peaked at number 31 in theU.S. and number 29 in theU.K.
In a 1992 issue ofGoldmine, Mike Love explained the idea for the lyrics of the song:
Brian was doing this track with aTheremin and we were doing the song. I went into the kitchen and we were in this health food thing and wild honey was all natural. So there's this can of wild honey and we're making some tea. So I said, I'll write the lyrics about this girl who was a wild little honey. And I wrote it from the perspective that that album was Brian's R&B-influenced album, in his mind. It may not sound like it to aMotown executive but that was where he was coming from on that record. In that particular instance I wrote it from the perspective ofStevie Wonder singing it.[1]
Recording for the song began on September 26, 1967 atBrian Wilson's home studio inBel Air, California with Jim Lockert engineering the session. The song would be almost completely recorded in one day. The band would initially record organ and electric bass guitar courtesy ofBruce Johnston, percussion, tambourine and piano and following thatCarl Wilson's lead vocal was overdubbed onto the basic track. The band then recorded instrumental inserts including bongos, percussion and drums, in whichDennis Wilson's bass drum was recorded in a hallway.[2] The session then concluded with the band doing further vocal overdubs and Bruce Johnston performing the organ solo.[3]
Work was resumed on the track the following day withPaul Tanner overdubbing his custom-builtElectro-Theremin over the otherwise finished track.[citation needed]
Billboard described the single as an "easy rocker with a steady and solid dance beat."[4]Cash Box said that it's a "thumping, pulsing ditty."[5]
The song was first released as a single on October 23, 1967, with "Wind Chimes" as its B-side (except in Greece, where 1965's "The Girl from New York City" was the B-side). It was then released as the first track onWild Honey in December of the same year. The following year, the song's backing track was released on theStack-O-Tracks album. The song has appeared on several of the groupsgreatest hits compilations including the 1999 compilation albumThe Greatest Hits - Volume 2: 20 More Good Vibrations; the 2003 compilationSounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys as well as the 1993 box setGood Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys.
Credits per Craig Slowinski.[6]
The Beach Boys
Additional musician
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