Worst Beach Boys Song on Surf's Up - Part 7 in an Ongoing Series

I know the lyrics suck and the whole feel of it is out of synch with the rest of the album and everything but I really don't mind "Student Demo Time". "Looking at Tomorrow" gets my vote on this one.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

too close to call really

LOL. Most one-sided poll ever.

funny how hardly anyone's voted in the previous polls until this one, and then *Ka-boosh*! I wonder if the majority of voters have actually heard Surf's Up, or if it's just that STD (sic) preceeds its own reputation?

Maybe Surf's Up is probably the latest of their albums that non-hardcore Beach Boys fans listen to enough to have an opinion on what the worst song is. Based entirely on personal experience though.

Could be

"STD"

lol

i mistakenly voted disney girls which is actually only my 2nd least fave on this record, behind student demonstration time

― Dominique, Thursday, May 14, 2009 3:43 PM (twelve years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Good to know the vote for Disney Girls was an accident but surprised to see how many people ITT actually dislike that lovely song

I don't like it, the song and the singing are both syrupy. Bruce Johnston is OK for a couple of lines of vocals here and there; my favourite song of his is the instrumental "The Nearest Faraway Beach".
"Student Demonstration Time" is worse, though. The one thing I like about it is the megaphone sound on Mike's vocal.

just saw this today, very intriguing

https://theseconddisc.com/2021/06/03/long-promised-road-beach-boys-feel-flows-box-set-for-july-release/

xp That's fair, I think I have a higher tolerance for syrup than most

For all the talk about what Smiley Smile might have been if only had Brian's vision been realized, I can't help but regret that we never got to hear Cass Elliot sing "my friend Bob, he has a job".

I'm psyched for the new box set. I know it's all going to be surplus scraps but this is a really meaty bit of beach boys history

I really like Disney Girls. Yeah it's syrupy but so much Beach Boys is, so whaddya want. Bruce bodies it really well, and it fits in with the whole family-focused themes of this era of the band.

We did get to hear Cass Elliot sing "Disney Girls," though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D52LRYhPy7M

(I love both versions)

Yeah, "Nearest Faraway Place" is great. Guess I didn't realize who wrote it.

Bruce Johnston is like, "do you want some extra syrup on your syrup?"

We did get to hear Cass Elliot sing "Disney Girls," though!

Yeah, the joke is there's an old interview with Bruce where he talks about asking for Brian's help writing lyrics for Disney Girls, and he suggested the line "my friend Bob/he has a job" among others which Bruce rejected.

not syrupy enough, I guess

wtf is a Disney girl, always bothered me about the song

You've got to listen to "Disney Girl" by Thin White Rope to get the rest of the story.

It still would have been better than the lyrics to Student Demonstration Time. Xp to myself.

Anyway, I like Disney Girls and even Take a Load off Your Feet. The album is sequenced really well. Even though not all the songs are equally amazing taken on their own, those 2 songs are really important to the pace and flow of the album. "SURF'S UP" is the only song that doesn't fit IMO, feels so out of place.

Also, i know most fans like the vocal overdubs they added for this release, but they annoy me. I was quite disappointed that this mix was used for the Smile Sessions.

Prefer the extended mix of Til I Die and it would have made a great closer.

The line "my friend Bob he has a job" may have been intended for Deirdre rather than Disney Girls, now that I think about it. I still would like to hear Mama Cass sing that.

I'll bet if she had covered Deirdre it would have worked pretty well. Her style kinda dovetails with Bruce Johnston's.

he's also a MAGA

Not a great fan of her version of "Disney Girls" tbh, but she would have nailed "Deirdre" for sure.

b..but he writes the songs..