| Deirdre | |
| Cover: | Beach Boys Deirdre center label.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | the Beach Boys |
| Album: | Sunflower |
| A-Side: | Long Promised Road |
| Released: | May 24, 1971 |
| Recorded: | February 21March 21, 1969 |
| Studio: | Gold Star, Hollywood |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Length: | 3:27 |
| Label: | Brother |
| Producer: | The Beach Boys |
| Prev Title: | Wouldn't It Be Nice (Live) |
| Prev Year: | 1971 |
| Next Title: | Surf's Up |
| Next Year: | 1971 |
"Deirdre" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1970 album Sunflower. Written primarily by Bruce Johnston, it is a love song named after the sister of one of his ex-girlfriends, and is one of his two song contributions on the album, the other being "Tears in the Morning". Johnston has claimed that co-writer Brian Wilson's contributions were limited to a few lyrics, although music historians Andrew G. Doe and John Tobler wrote in 2004 that "Deirdre" had been "developed from a musical theme first used in 'We're Together Again,'" a 1968 composition credited to Brian Wilson and singer Ron Wilson (no relation).[1]
In 1971, "Deirdre" was issued as the B-side of the "Long Promised Road" single. The single never charted in the US or the UK. In 1977, Johnston rerecorded the song for his solo album Going Public.
"Deirdre" was named after the sister of one of Bruce Johnston's ex-girlfriends (and may also have alluded to Deirdre Shaw, the daughter of Angela Lansbury and a onetime peripheral member of the Manson Family).[2] Biographer Timothy White described the song as "a stroll-tempo devotional to an idealized, red-haired goddess; its stippled use of flutes plus the spacey filtering and compression techniques in the vocal mixes giving the track a celestial grandeur."
In an undated interview with the New Musical Express, Johnston credited Brian with only contributing four lines to the lyrics to "Deirdre".[3] Asked about the song in 2013, Johnston explained:
The song was recorded at Gold Star Studios on February 21 and March 21, 1969.[4] In 2021, the instrumental track was included on the band's box set Feel Flows.[5]
In their review of Sunflower, a Rolling Stone critic mentioned that the song "could be Beach Boys-influenced anybody".[6] Reviewing the song for AllMusic, Matthew Greenwald wrote, "Taking his cues from 1930s-'40s musicals, this lighthearted pop gem is a great example of Bruce Johnston's musical style and fine overall pop sensibility."[7]
Later in the 1970s, after he had launched a solo career, Johnston said in an interview that he regretted recording the song as a track by the Beach Boys.
Sourced from Craig Slowinski[9] and Timothy White.[10]
The Beach Boys
Additional personnel
Production staff