The Beach Boys “I Get Around” on The Ed Sullivan Show
Inspiration Behind I Get Around:
When the Beatles came to America in the 1960’s, they took over the airways, leaving once popular bands in the background, of Beatle mania. Brian Wilson and Mike Lowe wrote I Get Around as a response to this British invasion. This song serves as an autobiography of the Beach Boys as if to declare, “we get around too.” This airing on the Ed Sullivan Show helped remind Beach Boy fans that we’re pretty good too.
Biblical Application:
As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men, Acts 17:10-12.
Exegesis of I Get Around:
Round round, get around
I get around
Yeah
(Get around round round, I get around)
I get around
(Get around round round, I get around)
My kinda town
(Get around round round, I get around)
I’m a real cool head
(Get around round round, I get around)
I’m makin’ real good bread
While the spotlight was on the Beatles, the Beach Boys were busy traveling all over the country.
I’m gettin’ bugged driving up and down the same old strip
I gotta find a new place where the kids are hip
The Beach Boys were trying to expand their audience, seeking to go in a different direction to reach a broader audience.
My buddies and me are gettin’ real well known
Yeah, the bad guys know us and they leave us alone
The Beach Boys were like America’s Beatles without the national media frenzy.
I get around
(Get around round round, I get around)
My kinda town
(Get around round round, I get around)
I’m a real cool head
(Get around round round, I get around)
I’m makin’ real good bread
(Get around round round, I get around)
I get around, round
Get around round round, ooh
The Beach Boys are doing okay, traveling around the country.
We always take my car ’cause it’s never been beat
And we’ve never missed yet with the girls we meet
The Beach Boys enjoy street racing when the cops aren’t around.
None of the guys go steady ’cause it wouldn’t be right
To leave their best girl home now on Saturday night
The boys didn’t want to have long distance relationships, preferring to remain single.
I get around
(Get around round round, I get around)
My kinda town
(Get around round round, I get around)
I’m a real cool head
(Get around round round, I get around)
I’m makin’ real good bread
(Get around round round, I get around)
I get around, round
Ooh, ooh
Despite being overshadowed by the Beatles, the Beach Boys were successful for decades.
Round round, get around
I get around
Yeah
(Get around round round, I get around)
This group keeps evolving and spreading out their reach in the music industry.
(Get around round round, I get around)
(Get around round round, I get around)
(Get around round round, I get around)
(Get around round round, I get around)
The Beach Boys are still relevant.
(Get around round round, I get around)
(Get around round round, I get around)
(Get around round round, I get around)
(Get around round round, I get around)
Fans continue to show up at their concerts.
Final Thoughts:
While playing sand volleyball a few days a week each summer in college, I Get Around was part of the daily music mix at Geauga Lake in Ohio. My best friend Eddy and I played picked up games for hours, hearing this Beach Boy tune several times a day. Now that I know the background of this song, the message is different than I always thought. Yet this was one of many Beach Boy songs that I enjoyed listening to while growing up.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 