Fending off the Invaders: The Story Behind “Fun, Fun, Fun” by The Beach Boys

As the calendar flipped from 1963 to 1964, The Beach Boys were on top of the world. They were riding the wave of three consecutive Top 10 hits and a Christmas album that would become a classic. On January 1, the band walked into United Western Recorders in Los Angeles and recorded an all-time classic. The band was about to embark on a tour of Australia and New Zealand so the single was rushed into production. Meanwhile, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles had just hit No. 1 in America.

The Beach Boys single “Fun, Fun, Fun” had all the proven elements: a girl, a car, a blasting radio, a Chuck Berry-style guitar intro, and the unmistakable harmonies orchestrated by Brian Wilson. The song was released on February 3, 1964, just four days before the invaders from the East landed at Kennedy Airport in New York City as 3,000 screaming fans met them. Beatlemania was in full force after their Sunday night appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. What seemed like a surefire No. 1 song for The Beach Boys was kept from the top of the charts by an onslaught of Beatles releases. Let’s look at the story behind “Fun, Fun, Fun” by The Beach Boys.

Well, she got her daddy’s car
And she cruised through the hamburger stand now
Seems she forgot all about the library
Like she told her old man now
And with the radio blasting
Goes cruising just as fast as she can now

“We Were Very Threatened by the Whole Thing”

The American acts were aware of the coming British Invasion. Brian Wilson and Mike Love realized their songwriting needed to step it up a notch. They would not be able to rest on their laurels.

Wilson wrote in the 1990 CD liner notes for Shut Down Volume 2, “The Beatles invasion shook me up an awfully lot. … They eclipsed a lot of what we’d worked for … eclipsed the whole music world. Michael and I got together and had a meeting, and we talked it over. We were very threatened by the whole thing.”

And she’ll have fun, fun, fun
‘Til her daddy takes the T-bird away
(Fun, fun, fun ’til her daddy takes the T-bird away)
Well, the girls can’t stand her
‘Cause she walks, looks, and drives like an ace now
(You walk like an ace now you walk like an ace)
She makes the Indy 500 look like a Roman chariot race now
(You look like an ace now you look like an ace)
A lotta guys try to catch her
But she leads them on a wild goose chase now
(You drive like an ace now. You drive like an ace)

Inspiration

None of the band members cited one specific incident as the song’s subject. In 2016, Mike Love wrote in his memoir, Good Vibrations: My Life As a Beach Boy, “Brian and I were in a taxi in Salt Lake City, Utah, heading from a Holiday Inn to the airport. I told Brian that I thought we should write a song about that teenage experience of getting your driver’s license, borrowing your parent’s car, and then driving to see and be seen. It was a rite of passage. But instead of a teenage boy doing it, I had this image of a great-looking girl in a hot car, and she tells her father one thing to borrow the car but then does something else. We unspooled the idea further. We thought it should be up-tempo, with a Chuck Berry opening guitar riff (like that in ‘Johnny B. Goode’), and because we were in Southern California, the girl should not be taking her ‘father’s car’ but her ‘daddy’s car.’ Brian wrote the music, and I wrote most of the lyrics.”

And she’ll have fun, fun, fun
‘Til her daddy takes the T-bird away
(Fun, fun, fun ’til her daddy takes the T-bird away)

Shirley Johnson

To promote their show in Salt Lake City, The Beach Boys visited KNAK radio for an on-air interview. While the band was in the studio, University of Utah student and part-time secretary Shirley Johnson complained to the radio station staff about the trouble she was in for telling her father (who owned the station) she was going to the library when, in fact, she cruised to Shore’s Drive-in, a local hamburger shop. When he found out, he revoked her driving privileges. After the interview, the station manager, Bill “Daddy-O” Hesterman, drove the band to the airport.

Well, you knew all along
That your dad was gettin’ wise to you now
(You shouldn’t have lied now you shouldn’t have lied)
And since he took your set of keys
You’ve been thinking that your fun is all through now
(You shouldn’t have lied now you shouldn’t have lied)

Mixed for the Radio

Beach Boys songs seem to jump out of the car radio. Writer David Leaf interviewed engineer Chuck Britz for the 1990 CD remaster, “Airplay was where the money was,” so to find out in the studio how a record would sound on the radio, they would listen to a potential single “on a little cheap eight-inch speaker I had. In fact, because I knew what it sounded like, we would dub down to it a lot of times. To this day, the car radio test is used by record producers, although naturally, today’s car radios sound a little bit better.”

But you can come along with me
‘Cause we gotta a lot of things to do now
(You shouldn’t have lied now you shouldn’t have lied)
And we’ll have fun, fun, fun now that daddy took the T-bird away
(Fun, fun, fun, now that daddy took the T-bird away)
And we’ll have fun, fun, fun now that daddy took the T-bird away
(Fun, fun, fun now that Daddy took the T-bird away)
(Wo wo wo wo woo woo woo)
(Fun, fun, now that daddy took the T-bird away)
(Fun, fun, now that daddy took the T-bird away)
(Fun, fun, now that daddy took the T-bird away)
(Fun, fun, now that daddy took the T-bird away)
(Fun, fun, now that daddy took the T-bird away)
(Fun, fun, now that daddy took the T-bird away)

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Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images