Chart Flashback

Whitney Pastorek gives past pop hits another listen
Chart Flashback

Chart Flashback

How do 42-year-old hits by the Supremes, the Beach Boys, and Manfred Mann hold up today? Whitney Pastorek gives 'em another listen
| Oct 23, 2006
Going way, way back! This week in '64 | 165243__beach_boys_l
Beachboys: Michael Ochs Archives.com

9. When I Grow Up to Be a Man

The Beach Boys

Hey! It's the song that may have led to Brian Wilson's nervous breakdown — and this tiny trifle of sweet harmonies, boyish charm, and harpsichord can now be a part of your personal collection! (Oh, dang. If you click through that link to the store, you'll see it's sold out. Shucks. But ''Sloop John B'' is still available!) Anyway. Cute song. Oddly prescient in some way, if you think about it: This fluffy number about how the things you liked as a kid might not be your bag when you're older is the beginning of the end of the Beach Boys' happy-fun-surfy time, and the beginning of the road toward Pet Sounds, which, as everyone knows, is The Most Visionary Album of All Time Ever (especially when mashed up with other stuff). And sure, this is no ''Help Me Rhonda,'' and it's certainly no ''Wouldn't It Be Nice,'' but it'll do in a pinch. Don't like the counting, though. The counting is weird. B-

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