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Sumahama

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"Sumahama"
Single by the Beach Boys
from the album L.A. (Light Album)
A-side"It's a Beautiful Day"
ReleasedSeptember 1979
GenrePop
Length4:07 (album)
4:28 (single)
LabelCaribou
Songwriter(s)Mike Love
Producer(s)Bruce Johnston, The Beach Boys, James William Guercio
The Beach Boys singles chronology
"Lady Lynda"
(1979) 		"Sumahama"
(1979) 		"Goin' On"
(1980)

"Sumahama" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1979 album L.A. (Light Album). Written by Mike Love, it was lyrically inspired by his fiancée at the time, a woman named Sumako. The lyrics describe "a young girl who wants to go with her mother to a place called 'Sumahama' in search of her father."[1] Although some of the lyrics are in Japanese, Sumako was of Korean descent.[1]

Sumahama is also the name of a popular beach in Kobe, Japan. 'Hama' is the Japanese word for 'beach'.

Background

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It was originally written by Mike Love for his unreleased solo album, First Love.[citation needed] When the release of that project fell through, the song was rerecorded by the Beach Boys.

The original United States LP release of the L.A. (Light Album) featured a version of "Sumahama" that faded out early during the final Japanese verse and did not feature the instrumental ending present on the later released 45 or the re-released CD version of the album. The original LP version of the song was approximately four minutes and seven seconds.

Single release

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In the U.S., "Sumahama" was released as a B-side to the single "It's a Beautiful Day".

"Sumahama" was released as a single in the UK backed with "Angel Come Home", charting at number 45.[2]

Personnel

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Per Craig Slowinski.[3]

The Beach Boys

Additional musicians

  • Murray Adler - violin
  • Roberleigh Barnhart - cello
  • Myer Bello - viola
  • Alfred Breuning - violin
  • Isabelle Daskoff - violin
  • Earle Dumler - oboe
  • Jesse Ehrlich - cello
  • Bryan Garofalo - bass guitar
  • Igor Horoshevsky - cello
  • Bill House - guitar
  • Bernard Kundell - violin
  • William Kurasch - violin
  • Gayle Levant - harp
  • Joy Lyle - violin
  • Brian O’Connor - French horn
  • Earl Palmer - drums
  • Joel Peskin - flute
  • Jay Rosen - violin
  • Sid Sharp - violin
  • Barbara Thomason - cello
  • Tommy Vig - vibraphone
  • Jai Winding - Fender Rhodes
  • Herschel Wise - viola
  • Tibor Zelig - violin

References

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  1. ^ a b Love, Mike (2016). Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 446. ISBN 978-0-698-40886-9.
  2. ^ "beach boys | Album Search | Official Charts". www.officialcharts.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
  3. ^ Slowinski, Craig (Spring 2015). Beard, David (ed.). "THE BEACH BOYS' - L.A. (Light Album)". Endless Summer Quarterly Magazine. No. 109. Charlotte, North Carolina.
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