Little Deuce Coupe (October 1963)

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7Cp1SuzeSuz07vrE48IrK7

Album History (Released October 1963)

Early in their career, the Beach Boys basically had two types of songs: surf songs and car songs. Capitol Records wanted to capitalize on the popularity of the car songs so they released a compilation album called Shut Down. Brian Wilson felt that he could do better with a new album. Little Deuce Coupe followed.

The boys reused 4 of their car songs: Little Deuce Coupe, 409, Shut Down, and Our Car Club. This album was released only three weeks after Surfer Girl and sold a million copies. The Beach Boys made Capitol Records a lot of money in 1963.

Tracklist

Thanks Wikipedia.

Side one
No.	Title	Lead Vocals	Length
1.	"Little Deuce Coupe"	Mike Love	1:38
2.	"Ballad of Ole' Betsy"	Brian Wilson	2:15
3.	"Be True to Your School" (B. Wilson/Love)	Love	2:06
4.	"Car Crazy Cutie"	B. Wilson	2:47
5.	"Cherry, Cherry Coupe"	Love	1:47
6.	"409" (B. Wilson/Gary Usher/Love)	Love	1:58

Side two
No.	Title	Lead Vocals	Length
1.	"Shut Down"	Love	1:48
2.	"Spirit of America"	B. Wilson	2:23
3.	"Our Car Club" (B. Wilson/Love)	Love with B. Wilson	2:21
4.	"No-Go Showboat"	B. Wilson with Love	1:54
5.	"A Young Man Is Gone" (Troup)	group	2:15
6.	"Custom Machine" (B. Wilson/Love)	Love	1:38

Song Analysis

*Note – There are four repeated tracks on this album that have been discussed in previous reviews. I will copy my old reviews and add some comments based on the context of this album.

1.     Little Deuce Coupe

Old Review: This song is about as dumb as they come. But the music is fascinating. This song pops along at a snappy 1 minute and 41 seconds. This song is impressive for how tight it is. A B A B C A B. A quick, effective pop song with perfect melody, perfect harmony, an excellent bouncing beat, and dumb as dirt lyrics. It’s the quintessential Beach Boys hot rod song.

Album Context: This is my favorite Beach Boys car song to this point and a perfect way to start this ridiculous Hot Rod album.

2.     Ballad of Ole’ Betsy

I love the concept of this song. It’s a beautiful ballad to a jalopy. Speaking for myself, I surely have a romanticized vision of my high school car. It is connected to a lot of fond memories and foolishness. When my car was totaled in college, it felt like a meaningful relationship had ended. This song effectively showcases the love attached to such a vehicle.

3.     Be True to Your School

“When some loud bragger tries to put me down and says his school is great, I tell him right away: Now what’s a matter buddy ain’t you heard of my school? It’s number one in the state!”

Holy cow! This stuff is so cheesy it’s awesome. This song would be stupid, except one gets the feeling that this song is born out of genuine California high school pride. This song doesn’t have a drop of irony in it. The music is decent. To me, this is the weirdest of all the Beach Boys old school hits.

4.     Car Crazy Cutie

This a 50’s doo-wop style song about a “Car Crazy Cutie”. It’s mediocre. The Brian Wilson vocals elevate it a bit, but it’s not a very remarkable song. Also, let’s really take a minute to picture a car crazy cutie. In my brain, this is not a positive image.

5.     Cherry, Cherry, Coupe

This song just doesn’t have enough going on. It’s just too damn simple. Not enough key changes, nothing interesting is really happening. “Go Cherry, Cherry, Coupe, now!” This song just floats along. Filler!

6.     409

Old Review: A Beach Boys classic car song. Good swinging rhythm guitar and percussion. Add in some car revving in the production, you’ve got yourself a hit! The lyrics are idiotic, of course, but this is a pretty great pop song.

Album Context: This good car song belongs on the car song album. Not much more to say.

7.     Shut Down

Old Review: This is one of my least favorite Beach Boys’ hits. The song has a respectable blues structure, and some dumb ass lyrics about cars. I just find it boring. The saxophone and electric guitar duo around the 53 second mark is the best part of this song in my opinion.

Album Context: People like Shut Down, it belongs on the car album.

8.     Spirit of America

This is a song written about a very different kind of car: The Spirit of America. This was a car that broke the land speed record in the 60’s. It’s a nice song, but the tone is a bizarre one for a car that is breaking the land speed record. When I think of such a car, a heavy metal song or classical piece comes to mind. A slow pop ballad hardly seems appropriate.

The aforementioned vehicle:

9.     Our Car Club

Old Review: I like the boogie woogie saxophone in this track. I think it makes the track come together. These hot rod songs really don’t do much for me, but this is a technically sound and listenable song about starting a car club with your bros’.

Album Context: This song is not as popular or good as 409, Shut Down, and Little Deuce Coupe. It justifies its presence; it is indeed about cars. Despite that, this is an incredibly weak song to put on two albums in a row.

10.  No-Go Showboat

This is a serviceable Beach Boys song. Nothing remarkable here. I think this is about a car that looks good but doesn’t go fast? Christ, I’m done with the car songs.

11.  A Young Man is Gone

This is a version of “Their Hearts were Full of Spring” a classic song about a guy who dies in a car accident. The Beach Boys version is incredibly similar to the Four Freshman version. The Boys' version has slightly different lyrics, apparently written to memorialize James Dean. Check out the Four Freshman version:

12.  Custom Machine

“Check my Custom Machine!”  This is a decent song. The backup vocals are nice. There is a bouncing piano in this song, with a solo in the middle of the song.

Overall Album Impressions:

            This is not one of my favorites. Little Deuce Coupe contains only 66% new material, and most of said material are car songs that are average at best. I’m a great admirer of Ballad of Ole’ Betsy, and Be True to Your School is a fascinating creation, but to me, this is one of the weakest of the Beach Boys early albums.