The Beach Boys

Released: March 24, 1980

Songwriter: Randy Bachman

Producer: Bruce Johnston

[Verse 1]
When it's ice cream weather get the gang back together
Roll down your windows and ride
They'll be sleeping in the sand dunes dancing in the streets
They're just trying to keep the summer alive

[Chorus]
They're just trying to keep the summer alive
(Sum-sum-summer alive)
They're just trying to keep the summer alive
(Ah keep the summer)
They're just trying to keep the summer alive
(Sum-sum-summer alive)
They're just trying to keep the summer alive
(Try to keep the summer)

[Verse 2]
When it's ice cream weather all the girls will look better
The boys try to give them a ride
To the one last party before the school bell rings
They're just trying to keep the summer alive

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
Lay down in the sun
And watch the clouds roll by
And being with the one you love
In the summertime

[Verse 3]
When it's last September back in school we'll remember
The cure for the wintertime blues
Grab your girl hit the road head on down to the beach
You'll be coming home with sand in your shoes

[Chorus][x2]

[Outro]
Keep the summer alive
(yeah yeah uh huh I know we'll keep the summer)
We'll just
(Yeah yeah uh huh I know we'll keep the summer)
Keep the summer alive
They're just trying to keep the summer alive
(Yeah yeah uh huh I know we'll keep the summer)
Yeah trying to keep the summer alive
(Yeah yeah uh huh I know we'll keep the summer)[repeat until fade]

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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Keepin’ the Summer Alive

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