{"id":111973,"date":"2025-09-01T14:06:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T14:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/111973\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T14:06:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T14:06:09","slug":"the-vietnam-inspired-beach-boys-ballad-written-and-recorded-by-dennis-wilson-in-1972-and-officially-released-50-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/111973\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vietnam-Inspired Beach Boys Ballad Written and Recorded by Dennis Wilson in 1972 and Officially Released 50 Years Later"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2022, the Beach Boys<\/a> released an expanded reissue of their 1972 album\u00a0Carl and the Passions \u2013 \u201cSo Tough\u201d and\u00a0Holland\u00a0from 1973.\u00a0Sail On Sailor \u2013 1972\u00a0merged the two albums with additional live and 80 previously unreleased tracks from the band\u2019s sessions spanning 1971 through 1993, including \u201cOut in the Country,\u201d \u201cHard Time,\u201d \u201cRooftop Harry,\u201d \u201cPa Let Her Go Out (Better Get Back in Bed),\u201d \u201cLittle Child (Daddy Dear),\u201d \u201cOh Sweet Something,\u201d \u201cSpark in the Dark,\u201d \u201cBody Talk (Grease Job),\u201d and more. <\/p>\n

By \u201972, the Beach Boys were riding on the success of back-to-back albums Sunflower\u00a0(1970) and\u00a0Surf\u2019s Up in 1971 before returning to the studio to work on Carl and the Passions \u2013 So Tough. This time they were joined by two new band members, guitarist and bassist Blondie Chaplin and drummer Ricky Fataar, formerly in the South African group The Flame, who were produced by Carl Wilson<\/a> and signed to the band\u2019s Brother Records.<\/p>\n

During the Holland sessions in 1972, which were mostly recorded in a renovated studio barn in Bambrugge, near Amsterdam, the Netherlands, there was one more somber track written and recorded by Dennis Wilson<\/a> that wouldn\u2019t get released for another five decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarry Me Home\u201d<\/p>\n

Backed by a country-bent pedal steel, piano, and the Beach Boys\u2019 soothing harmonies, \u201cCarry Me Home\u201d is a solemn song, featuring Wilson sharing vocals with Chaplin. The moving lyrics follow a man pleading to go back home and not die, and were specifically written from the perspective of a soldier facing death during the Vietnam War\u2014I don\u2019t wanna die \/ Carry me home.<\/p>\n

Carry me home
To my love
Carry me home
To my home<\/p>\n

The rain\u2019s fallin\u2019 down on me
The wind is blowin\u2019 cold
My eyes gettin\u2019 tired
I guess I won\u2019t grow old<\/p>\n

\"\"Dennis Wilson from The Beach Boys posed in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on January 1, 1971 (Photo by Gijsbert Hanekroot\/Redferns)Bootlegs<\/p>\n

For years, \u201cCarry Me Home\u201d became a fan favorite decades before its official release in 2022 via bootlegged copies. <\/p>\n

A press release descriptor of the song during the release of Sail On Sailor \u2013 1972 read<\/a>: \u201cWritten and produced by\u00a0Dennis Wilson\u00a0about a soldier dying in the Vietnam War, the hauntingly beautiful, downtempo ballad features powerful vocals from Dennis and Blondie Chaplin over plaintive piano, country-tinged pedal steel, acoustic guitar, marching drums, and the band\u2019s trademark harmonies. This marks the first official release of the oft-bootlegged track that has circulated among hardcore fans in inferior audio quality for years. It has long been one of the most requested songs to be released from the group\u2019s archive. Although it has been considered for release over the years,\u00a0\u2018Sail On Sailor \u2013 1972\u2019\u00a0finally provides the historic and musical context the song has long deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dennis<\/p>\n

Chaplin said it was \u201ceerie\u201d listening back to Dennis\u2019 song so many years later. \u201cIt\u2019s how Dennis felt at the time,\u201d said Chaplin<\/a> in 2022. \u201cI see him struggling with his own worries. The voice is really sensitive, and you can feel the emotional pain.\u201d <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t wanna die
Carry me home
Sweet, sweet home
Don\u2019t wanna die this way
In this cold
Carry me home
Sweet, sweet home<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t wanna die
Can this feeling ever go? I wanna live<\/p>\n

Life is meant to live
And I\u2019m afraid
I\u2019m afraid to die<\/p>\n

Please, God, please God
Don\u2019t take my life
Please, please help me<\/p>\n

\u201cWar on the battlefield and inside, it\u2019s always very combustible,\u201d continued Chaplin. \u201cHe [Dennis Wilson] was the real surfer, rowdy and sweet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo: Gijsbert Hanekroot\/Redferns<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2022, the Beach Boys released an expanded reissue of their 1972 album\u00a0Carl and the Passions \u2013 \u201cSo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[38431,49,48,63296,75,341,5801],"class_list":{"0":"post-111973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-beach-boys","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-dennis-wilson","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-music","14":"tag-vietnam"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}