"Chug-A-Lug" is a song written by Brian Wilson,

Gary Usher Gary Lee Usher (December 14, 1938 – May 25, 1990) was an American rock musician, songwriter, and record producer, who worked with numerous California acts in the 1960s, including the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and Dick Dale. Usher also produced fict ...

and

Mike Love Michael Edward Love (born March 15, 1941) is an American singer and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys with his cousins Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson and their friend Al Jardine. Characterized by his nasal tenor and occasional bas ...

for the American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...

. It was released on their 1962 album '' Surfin' Safari''.

Composition

"Chug-A-Lug" is in a standard verse-chorus form, which is the most common song structure in the Beach Boys' music. The lyrics of the song are about the members of the band hanging out at a root beer stand and drinking mugs of

root beer Root beer is a sweet North American soft drink traditionally made using the root bark of the sassafras tree '' Sassafras albidum'' or the vine of '' Smilax ornata'' (known as sarsaparilla, also used to make a soft drink, sarsaparilla) as the ...

while talking about girls, cars, and music.Lambert, Philip: Inside the Music of Brian Wilson, pages 43-44. Continuum Publishing, 2007. The song begins with a truncated statement of the hook, before leading directly into the verse. The verse consists of a lead melody, sung by Love, set against a background choir of "Oohs." The chorus sounds for six bars in a blues progression, before moving directly into the hook, resulting in an eight-bar phrase that is balanced with eight bars of the verse. The song was originally credited to just Wilson and Usher. Mike Love's name was added as a result of a lawsuit filed by him against Wilson in 1994.

Recording

"Chug-A-Lug" was recorded at Capitol Records with " Ten Little Indians" and "The Shift" on August 8, 1962. The session was officially produced by Nik Venet, though many of the participants claim that Brian Wilson was just as responsible for the production as Venet.

Personnel

–

lead vocal The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

David Marks David Lee Marks (born August 22, 1948) is an American guitarist who is best known for being an early member of the Beach Boys. While growing up in Hawthorne, California, Marks was a neighborhood friend of the original band members and was a freq ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

* Brian Wilson –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, organ,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* Carl Wilson – guitar, vocals *

Dennis Wilson Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best remembered as their drummer and as the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. ...

– drums, vocalsBadman, Keith: The Beach Boys, pages 25-26. Backbeat Books, 2004.

References

{{authority control 1962 songs The Beach Boys songs Songs written by Gary Usher Songs written by Brian Wilson Songs written by Mike Love Song recordings produced by Nick Venet