Do It Again single
- US Release: July 8th, 1968
- UK Release: July 19th, 1968
- Chart High: US #20; UK #1
- Backed With:
- Wake The World
Do It AGAIN Sessions
May 26th 1968, Bel Air, CA
Sessions today focus on “Do It Again” (originally entitled “Rendezvous”) with joint production by Brian and Carl Wilson. Mike Love has been inspired to write the song this month after surfing with an old friend, Bill Jackson. Mike’s feeling of nostalgia is so vivid that he decides to turn it into a song, and Brian comes up with a catchy tune to go with the deja-vu lyrics. Brian will come to regard this as the best of his collaborations with Mike.
Soon after a quick studio demonstration by Brian, the speedily recorded song begins life with Mike taping a vocal against the full Beach Boys line up on guitar, organ, bass and drums. At first Mike’s vocal has the lyric “Let’s get back together and surf again” but he soon changes it to the released versions “…and do it again”. Onto this, the group dubs additional backing vocals , a guitar/organ instrumental insert, and a new guitar solo. A saxophone track, additional percussion and hand claps are added to complete the 4 track recording
The heavy snare drum beat on the very opening of the song becomes a strong hook when the recording is released as a single in the US on July 8th. It’s not entirely clear how Brian and engineer Stephen Desper achieve the distinctive sound of the drum, but it seems to be filtered with some kind of intense “limiting”. The sound of hammering at the close of the 20/20 album version of “Do It Again” is lifted from the unreleased SMiLE piece, “I’m In Great Shape.”
Pictured: Norwegian Cover variant (Top) German variant (Bottom)