The number one song Al Jardine sang with The Beach Boys
It’s difficult to rank the importance of each member of The Beach Boys. Brian Wilson seems to universally rise to the top, but even though he’s often painted as the villain of the story, Mike Love deserves credit for keeping the group going for six decades. Carl Wilson was the band’s secret MVP, taking the lead on classics like ‘God Only Knows’ ad ‘Good Vibrations’ while taking control of the band’s musical direction once Brian left. Dennis Wilson didn’t get a ton of spotlights, but he has a few beloved tracks within the band and probably has the most acclaimed solo album out of the entire group with Pacific Ocean Blue.
That doesn’t leave a lot of room for Al Jardine. The only member of the original lineup not related by blood, Jardine was the pint-sized rhythm guitarist whose close vocal blend helped bolster the band’s harmonies but left him without much of identity within the group. It wouldn’t be until the band’s seventh studio album, and a Christmas album at that, that Jardine would get his first solo lead vocal on the song ‘Christmas Day’.
Jardine’s first real opportunity to step out front came as Wilson and Love finished writing the song ‘Help Me, Rhonda’. “I’d heard Al sing a lot and liked his voice and wanted to write a song for him that showed off the quality of his voice, and sure enough I did,” Wilson recalled to journalist Ken Sharp. It was Jardine’s time to shine, but it took a bit of encouragement for him to nail it.
“I did have a hard time with it,” Jardine remembered to Sharp. “I don’t really know. Some kind of meter thing in there. I never really tackled a lead much before. I was always interested in the backgrounds. Carl [Wilson] and I were always on the harmonies, but to take a lead was a big leap forward. And this was not an easy lead, to be honest with you. It was pretty different. I was happy that Brian asked me to sing the lead. Brian had this idea of how he wanted it and I had an idea of how I heard it, and that’s basically what you get.”
The original recording of ‘Help Me, Rhonda’ appeared on The Beach Boys’ 1965 album The Beach Boys Today! Wilson remained unhappy with the final version and elected to re-record the song for the band’s next album, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!). This was the version that became iconic, landing Jardine a signature lead vocal and giving The Beach Boys their second number one hit in the US. The song would remain Jardine’s calling card for the rest of his career, often appearing as his designated lead vocal during Beach Boys concerts.
Check out ‘Help Me, Rhonda’ down below.
