"I've been cruisin' 'round the town now with the guys for quite awhile," Mike begins. "We've been thinkin' 'bout starting up a club that shows some class and style," Brian continues. Everyone then chimes in with "And we'll get the finest cars!" It's an early song in the line of "Little Deuce Coupe" or "I Get Around" where we find the guys bragging about their hipness. In this case there's just something so charming and innocent about it. "We'll get the roughest and the toughest initiation we can find / And if you want to try to get in we'll really put you through the grind." These guys look too clean-cut for anyone to take that seriously.
The song has a sophisticated arrangement and is the first time drummer Hal Blaine appeared on a Beach Boys recording. According to Jon Stebbins in The Beach Boys FAQ, Steve Douglas and Jay Migliori both play saxophone on the track. We don't know exactly when it was recorded. The CD liner notes say July 16, 1963, but they ascribe that date to ten songs on the album and that's not realistic. Unfortunately it seems the documentation has been lost. I think the song is more powerful in its stereo mix versus the mono. The vocals are louder in stereo and Hal's drums sound quite aggressive compared to other tracks on the album.
My favorite part of the song is Brian's voice. I've heard some say that their favorite singer could sing the phone book and they'd love it. I guess I'm the same with Brian. Twice in the song he chimes in with: "We'll set a meet and get a sponsor and collect some dues / and you can bet that we'll have our jackets on wherever we cruise." I don't want to belittle it by calling it cute, but I find it very sweet. This is right before the Beatles showed up and redefined what "cool" is. It takes me back to the world of The Mickey Mouse Club or a town like Mayfield, where the Cleavers lived. In a very good way.
