I went a bit out of alphabetical order this morning and listened to the Beach Boys’ Today! The recurring riff in “Don’t Hurt My Little Sister” caught my attention. I figured out how to play it and then compared it to the first few seconds of “She’s So Fine” by Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids from the American Graffiti soundtrack. The riffs are identical, save that the Beach Boys’ is in Bb and Flash Cadillac’s is in B.
I’m not sure what to make of this though because the chronology is confusing. The Beach Boys’ Today! is from 1965. American Graffiti is from 1973 but is set in 1962 and features some of the earlier Beach Boys songs, like “Surfin’ Sufari” and - anachronistically, as it’s from 1964 - “All Summer Long.”
I guess “She’s So Fine” was a good choice for the film’s soundtrack if it’s trying to be reminiscent of the Beach Boys (both “She’s So Fine” and “Don’t Hurt My Little Sister” heavily feature piano as a rhythm instrument and harmony and falsetto singing), but its resemblance is to a song that came a few years after the film’s setting.
I’m not sure what to make of this though because the chronology is confusing. The Beach Boys’ Today! is from 1965. American Graffiti is from 1973 but is set in 1962 and features some of the earlier Beach Boys songs, like “Surfin’ Sufari” and - anachronistically, as it’s from 1964 - “All Summer Long.”
I guess “She’s So Fine” was a good choice for the film’s soundtrack if it’s trying to be reminiscent of the Beach Boys (both “She’s So Fine” and “Don’t Hurt My Little Sister” heavily feature piano as a rhythm instrument and harmony and falsetto singing), but its resemblance is to a song that came a few years after the film’s setting.
