Help Me, Rhonda
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| "Help Me, Rhonda" | ||||
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| Song by The Beach Boys from the album Today! | ||||
| Released | March 8, 1965 | |||
| Recorded | track: January 8, 1965 vocals: January 19, 1965 |
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| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 3:04 2:46 (single version) |
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| Label | Capitol | |||
| Writer | Brian Wilson/Mike Love | |||
| Producer | Brian Wilson | |||
| Today! track listing | ||||
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| "Help Me, Rhonda" | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Single by The Beach Boys | |||||||||||||||||||
| from the album Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Released | April 5, 1965 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Format | Vinyl | ||||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | February 24, 1965 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Genre | Rock | ||||||||||||||||||
| Length | 2:46 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Label | Capitol | ||||||||||||||||||
| Producer | Brian Wilson | ||||||||||||||||||
| The Beach Boys singles chronology | |||||||||||||||||||
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"Help Me, Rhonda" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for their American rock band The Beach Boys. The song is the first Beach Boys song (with the exception of their Christmas Album) to feature a lead vocal by Al Jardine. It was released in March 1965 on the album Today! as "Help Me, Ronda". By that time, it had already been re-recorded; this second recording was released as a single through Capitol Records in April 1965, re-titled with the more well-known "Rhonda" spelling.
The single peaked at number one in the United States, their second U.S. number one single after "I Get Around". The song is on most Beach Boys hits compilations; typically the single version is used.
Recording
The original version was recorded over two dates at Western Recording Studios in Hollywood on January 8 and 19, 1965, with Chuck Britz as the engineer and production by Brian Wilson. There is a similarity between Help Me Rhonda from The Beach Boys and the tune Fannie Mae by Buster Brown which charted number one in the R&B chart of 1960.
The instrumental track has Carl Wilson, Bill Pitman, and Glen Campbell on guitar, Billy Strange on ukulele, Ray Pohlman on bass guitar, Leon Russell on piano, Hal Blaine on drums and timbales, Julius Wechter on claves, Billy Lee Riley on harmonica, Steve Douglas and Plas Johnson on tenor saxophone, and Jay Migliori on baritone saxophone. Al Jardine sang the lead vocal with backing vocals by Carl, Dennis and Brian Wilson, and Mike Love.
The song was originally considered an album cut but radio stations began to play it and Brian decided to rework and re-record it. The single was recorded at Universal and Radio Recorders studios in Hollywood on February 24, 1965, again with Britz as the engineer and Brian Wilson as producer. Featured on the instrumental track were regular Wrecking Crew members such as Hal Blaine on drums and Carol Kaye on bass guitar. Beach Boys who contributed to the instrumental track were Carl Wilson (guitar) and Brian Wilson (acoustic piano and Hammond B-3). The single version once again features Al Jardine on lead vocals with backing vocals by Carl, Dennis and Brian Wilson, and Mike Love.
Interruption by Murry Wilson
The recording session was interrupted by the Wilson brothers' drunken father, Murry, who criticized the Boys' enthusiasm. His criticisms drove Brian Wilson to breaking point and Brian screamed an expletive, removed his headphones and confronted his father. Shortly after defending his actions, Murry Wilson left the studio and The Beach Boys continued. The recording reel continued to record the confrontation, which circulates among fans.[1]
Versions and releases
The first version appears on the 1965 album Today! as "Help Me, Ronda". This recording runs over three minutes with no guitar solo, has a number of false, fade in/fade out endings, and, instead of the song starting with Jardine's vocal, there is a brief guitar intro. It is included on the Endless Summer compilation album (though the back album cover lists the song as "Help Me, Rhonda").
The single version, which is taken at a slightly quicker tempo, starts off with Jardine's vocal and features a changed lyric ("ruined our plans" from the previous version is changed to "shattered our plans"). The single was released on April 5, 1965. In addition to topping the charts in the US, the single reached #1 in Canada (on the RPM national chart), #5 in Sweden, #10 in Germany and Australia, #2 in Singapore, #3 in The Philippines, #5 in Hong Kong and #9 in Ireland. It peaked at 27 in the United Kingdom.
The new single was included on the album Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!), released June 28, 1965. The instrumental backing of this version was released in 1990 as a bonus track on the CD reissue of the band's 1968 Stack-O-Tracks album.
A slight variation, "Help Me, Rhonda (Alternate Single Version)", is on the 1998 Endless Harmony Soundtrack album. This adds a wordless falsetto from Brian Wilson over the chorus.
Live versions
After becoming The Beach Boys second number one in the United States, it became a regular in the live set. It has been on two Beach Boys live albums: 1973's The Beach Boys in Concert and Good Timin': Live at Knebworth England 1980. The song was also released by Brian Wilson on his 2000 live album Live at the Roxy Theatre. The song was performed by Ricky Martin at 2001's "An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson".
Cover versions
Johnny Rivers' cover in 1975 on his New Lovers And Old Friends album (with an assist from Brian Wilson on back-up vocals) reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Jan and Dean and the Bel-Air Bandits covered the song on their 1982 album One Summer Night/Live [2]
A slow, reflective cover appears on the 1998 album Toxic Swamp And Other Love Songs by Kenny Young And The Eggplants.
Kevin Max's cover appeared on the album "Making God Smile: An Artists' Tribute to the Songs of Beach Boy Brian Wilson" in 2006.
Al Jardine recorded a cover with Steve Miller in 2010 for his solo album, A Postcard from California.
In popular culture
- On the 80s sitcom Alf and the spinoff cartoon series. Alf's girlfriend from his home planet Melmac was named Rhonda as a reference to this song.
- The song appeared in the 1988 comedy film Short Circuit 2 to help Ben and Fred escape a freezer they were locked in.
- In the 1997 remake of That Darn Cat, the song is used to help Patti Randall figure out the riddle of the "Hell" watch realizing the message really means, "Help".
- In an episode of Seinfeld, "The Soul Mate", Jerry says, "Oh, help me Rhonda", in response to George's comment that his boss believes George killed Susan.
- One episode of season one of the CW series 90210 is titled "Help Me Rhonda". The episode is centered over a guest appearance of a character with that name.
- In the Full House episode, "Beach Boy Bingo", Danny, Joey and Jesse try to win Beach Boys tickets from a "name that song" contest on the radio. 3 seconds of Help me Rhonda is played and unknown to them, DJ is on the phone trying to win the same contest. She doesn't know the song title so she looks over to friend Kimmy Gibbler and says "Help me, Gibbler!" in which the host asks to repeat the answer. She immediately says "Help me.." and Danny, Joey and Jesse run in and shout "RHONDA"
- In the Full House episode, "Road To Tokyo", Jesse tries to sing the song in Japanese, but then his interpreter drops the cue cards and Jesse starts naming Japanese related stuff (Honda, Godzilla, etc.) instead.
- In "Psych" season 2, episode 12 "The Old and the Restless" Shawn alludes to this song by saying "Help me, help me, help me..Rhonda!".
See also
References
- ^ WFMU's Beware of the Blog: I'm A Genius, Too! The Murry Wilson Tapes
- ^ "Jan and Dean's Discography Original Albums 2". Jananddean.com. http://www.jananddean.com/discvis01b/discvis01b.html. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
| Preceded by "Ticket to Ride" by The Beatles |
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single May 29, 1965 (2 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Back in My Arms Again" by The Supremes |
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