The Beach Boys

Released: April 20, 1970

Songwriter: Lead Belly

Producer: Carl Wilson Al Jardine Brian Wilson

When I was a little bitty baby
My mama done rock me in the cradle
In them old cotton fields back home

It was back in Louisiana
Just about a mile from Texarkana
In them old cotton fields back home

Let me tell you now well, I got me in a fix
I caught a nail in my tire doing lickitey splits
I had to walk a long, long way to town

I came upon a nice old man well, he had a hat on
Wait a minute, mister, can you give me some directions?
I'm gonna want to be right off for home

When I was a little bitty baby
My mama done rock me in the cradle
In them old cotton fields back home

It was back in Louisiana
Just about a mile from Texarkana
In them old cotton fields back home

Don't care if them cotton balls get rotten
When I got you, baby, who needs cotton?
In them old cotton fields back home

Brother, only one thing more that's gonna warm you
A summer's day out in California
It's gonna be those cotton fields back home

It was back in Louisiana
Just about a mile from Texarkana
Give me them cotton fields (It was back in Louisiana)
Let me hear it for the cotton fields (Just about a mile from Texarkana)
You know that there's just no place like home

Oh, boy, it sure feels good to breathe the air back home
You shoulda seen their faces when they seen how I grown
In them old cotton fields back home

The Beach Boys are one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time and the first American pop band to reach the 50-year milestone. Their vocal harmonies are among the most unmistakable and enduring of the rock and roll era.

Formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California, by Brian Wilson, his two brothers Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and classmate Al Jardine, the group’s first single “Surfin'” got them signed to Capitol Records and they quickly became one of the most popular and successful artists of the surf music craze of the 1960s. From 1962 to 1966, The Beach Boys scored over twenty top 40 hits in the US including the chart-toppers “I Get Around”, “Help Me Rhonda” & “Good Vibrations” along with the top 5’s “Surfin USA”, “Fun, Fun, Fun”, “California Girls”, “Barbara Ann” & “Sloop John B”. Several of the band’s singles also found top 40 success in Canada, Australia, Sweden and the UK. In 1965, de facto leader Brian Wilson suffered a mental breakdown due to the stress of writing, producing & touring combined with substance abuse issues, causing him to step down and stop traveling with the band on tour.

Inspired by producer Phil Spector and The Beatles' Rubber Soul, Brian focused on studio work, determined to keep the group relevant as the surf music scene was fading with their 1966 album Pet Sounds. Despite tension between members in the studio about this new direction, lack of faith from the record label, mixed reviews, and comparatively lukewarm reception initially in the US, the album still found massive success in the UK and earned accolades from fellow artists including The Beatles, who acknowledged that the album was their inspiration to further push the boundaries of pop music with their landmark album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Eventually Pet Sounds would be acknowledged as one of the greatest albums ever recorded by several media outlets like The Times, Mojo Magazine, The Guardian, VH1, BBC and Rolling Stone.

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