When I Grow Up (To be a Man) - The Beach Boys, 1964

 
 

When I grow up to be a man

Will I dig the same things that
Turn me on as a kid?
Will I look back and say that I wish
I hadn't done what I did?
Will I joke around and still dig those sounds
When I grow up to be a man

Will I look for the same things in a
Woman that I dig in a girl
(fourteen fifteen)
Will I settle down fast or will I
First wanna travel the world
(sixteen seventeen)
Now I'm young and free, but how will it be
When I grow up to be a man

Oooooo Ooooooo Oooooooo
Will my kids be proud or think their
Old man is really a square
(eighteen nineteen)
When they're out having fun
Yeah, will I still wanna have my share
(twenty twenty-one)
Will I love my wife for the rest of my life
When I grow up to be a man

What will I be when I grow up to be a man

What will I be

When I grow up to be a man

(twenty-two twenty-three)
Won't last forever
(twenty-four twenty-five)
It's kind of sad
(twenty-six twenty-seven)
Won't last forever
(twenty-eight twenty-nine)
It's kind of sad
(thirty thirty-one)
Won't last forever
(thirty-two...)

 
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The Beach Boys hit the music scene in the early '60s, and introduced a new form of rock. Glorifying the California youth culture, cars, and surfing, the close harmonies were unlike anything that had come before. The band consisted of brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, along with their cousin Mike Love and high school friend Al Jardine. The group was quite a family affair - father Murry Wilson was the early manager for the group, although various claims of mental or physical abuse surfaced in later years.

They were signed to Columbia Records in July of 1962, and four months later they released Surfin' Safari. If you're not familiar with the Beach Boys music (which seems far fetched), just listening to the titles of their songs will give you an idea of their musical philosophy: All Summer Long, Be True to Your School, California Girls, Surfin' USA, Catch a Wave, and Little Deuce Coup. I couldn't resist the irony of posting When I Grow Up (To be a Man) as my choice here.

(On a personal note, I have listened to this song on and off since being a little boy, comparing my own age to the song's lyrics. Then one day, I realized I was older than the last age barely audible as the song fades out...)

The band re-invented itself in 1966 with the release of Pet Sounds, a complicated, layered album with a slight psychedelic edge. The single Good Vibrations became their best selling hit at that point. However, things started to go wrong from that point on, mostly due to mental illness on the part of the band's leader, Brian Wilson. But despite various legal battles, The Beach Boys still perform their old songs to this day... albeit in separate groups...

Connections: What did happen when band leader Brian Wilson grew up (to be a man)...