In the late 1950s, trombonist Paul Tanner and amateur inventor Bob Whitsell developed an instrument to mimic the sound of a theremin. The Electro-Theramin used a different control mechanism but produced similar results. In the 1940s, Tanner played in Glenn Miller’s orchestra and then joined the U.S. Air Force and performed in the 378th Army Service Forces Band.
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Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys hired Tanner to play the Electro-Theramin on “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” and “Good Vibrations.” When the latter became such a big hit, Wilson urged Tanner to go on the road with the band to play live, but the older musician turned him down, citing that he didn’t have enough hair to take the gig. As the rest of the rock world was experimenting with psychedelia and pushing boundaries, The Beach Boys turned toward soul music, and R&B. Tanner was again asked to record with the band and he added the Electro-Theramin to their next single. Let’s take a look at the story behind “Wild Honey” by The Beach Boys.
Sweet, sweet, wild honey bee
Eat up, eat up, eat up, honey
A New Direction
While The Beach Boys were recording “Darlin’,” Mike Love was inspired by a can of honey in Brian Wilson’s house. The band wanted to make a record like what was coming out of Stax or Motown. In 1992, Mike Love told Goldmine magazine, “Brian was doing this track with a Theremin, and we were doing the song. I went into the kitchen, and we were in this health food thing, and wild honey was all natural. So there’s this can of wild honey, and we’re making some tea. So I said, ‘I’ll write the lyrics about this girl who was a wild little honey.’ And I wrote it from the perspective that that album was Brian’s R&B-influenced album, in his mind. It may not sound like it to a Motown executive but that was where he was coming from on that record. In that particular instance, I wrote it from the perspective of Stevie Wonder singing it.
Mama, I’m tellin’ you as sure as I’m standing here
She’s my girl, and that’s the way I’m keeping it now, mama, dear
No good will it do you to stand there and frown at me
The girl’s got my heart, and my love’s coming down on me
My love’s coming down since I got a taste of wild honey
You know she’s got the sweetness of a honey bee
Wild honey
She got it on and stung me good. Yes sirree
The Recording
“Wild Honey” was recorded on September 26, 1967, at Brian Wilson’s home. Bruce Johnston played organ and bass guitar, Brian Wilson played piano, and his brothers Carl and Dennis added guitar and drums. All band members, including Mike Love and Al Jardine, added background vocals. Carl Wilson sang lead. In 2012, Love told Billboard magazine more about the angle he was coming from. He said, “What would Stevie Wonder say to his mother about a girl that maybe she didn’t want him to get involved with, but then says, ‘Screw it,’ he really digs the chick. This was the premise of the song.”
With all the other stud bees buzzing all around her hive
She singled me out single-handed took me alive
Well, can you, can you gonna take my life eating up her wild honey
A Detuned Piano
Wild Honey was the last Beach Boys album for which Brian Wilson was the primary composer until Love You in 1977. The producer credit was attributed to The Beach Boys. In his 2016 memoir I Am Brian Wilson, Wilson recalled, “It was a chance to get back to being a rock and roll band. I still got plenty of songs on records and plenty of ideas. For Wild Honey, I tuned my piano slightly out, more like a 12-string guitar, to get a more mellow sound. I got the idea to slightly detune from my piano tuner, and I loved what it did to the sound of the record. That album had such good energy, especially on the title song where Carl gave us another great vocal.”
Sweet, sweet, wild honey bee
Eat up, eat up, eat up, honey
The Album
The band’s previous album, Smiley Smile, was going to be followed by a live album recorded in Hawaii. Critics were pouncing on the band as they were not reaching the same spots on the charts, and record sales were declining. Carl Wilson told author Kent Crowley Wild Honey was partly conceived as a response to criticisms against the band for “sounding like choir boys.” Said Wilson, “That whole record had so much soul. We put a theremin on that one for old time’s sake. Mike got the album title from some actual wild honey that was out on the kitchen table. Eating healthy was good for our music. Wild Honey was one of the records that I made a point of going back and listening to after a while. It was after more than 40 years. It kind of swept me away.”
Oh, mama, she’s sweeter
Gettin’ sweeter
Sweeter sweeter
Sweet
Wild honey
Let me tell you how she really got to my soul
It ain’t funny
The way she makes me want to sing a little rock ‘n’ roll
There’s nothing quite as nice as a kiss of wild honey
I break my back workin’ just to save me some money
So I can spend my life with her
Sock it to me, wild honey
Wild honey, she’s mine
Wild honey, she’s mine
The Legacy
Capitol Records released Wild Honey on December 18, 1967, and it competed on the charts with Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles and Their Satanic Majesties Request by The Rolling Stones. It was the lowest-charting Beach Boys album up to that point. It was rereleased in 1974 and later lauded as a masterpiece. In 2020, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at No. 410 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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