Ya sang along with it and ya KNOW ya did!!!: Little Honda by The Beach Boys

Little Honda

1964

The Beach Boys/The Hondells

Ok, this one's just for fun! Which Beach Boys was supposedly written as a commercial for a vehicle, actually did boost the sales of the ride it was written about, but was never used used in a commercial by the company that made said vehicle.? Another hint...the song was covered by another group whose version was actually way more successful that the Beach boys version.

Figured it out yet? The answer'd be 'Little Honda', originally by The Beach boys, who released it on October 17^th, '64 and took it to # 65 on the Hot 100 on it's fifth and final week on the chart. The song was also covered by The Hondells, whose cover of the tune was released on September 12^th, '64 and peaked at #9 eight weeks in to a twelve week chart run.

I know...Whoa Rob...if The Hondells covered the song, how the heck did they release it before The Beach Boys??? Truth of the matter is, I'm trying to figure that one out myself, and what Info I could find was kinda confusing, at best. Brian Wilson supposedly wrote it as a jingle for Honda, to promote their insanely popular (And still in production) Honda Supercub, but Honda decided not to use it. (Their iconic ‘You Meet The Nicest People On A Honda’ ad campaign was used instead) The song was however included on both their album 'All Summer Long' and a 4-song EP, '4 By The Beach Boys’…both released during the summer of ’64. 'All Summer Long' was released in Mid-July of '64, and 'Little Honda was one of the tracks that DJ's liked to spin...but it wasn't released as a single off the album. It was however, ultimately released as a single off of the E.P. And to be honest, it kind of sounds like their hand got forced… inadvertently…by one of their own.

Somewhere along the way, Gary Usher buttonholed Brian Wilson and asked him if he'd sing lead with a group of session musicians on a cover of the song, as a single for an as of yet unnamed group. (Interesting little factoid…among those session musicians was a then not yet well known fella named Glen Campbell.) They recorded it, the song was released under the name 'The Hondells (Who, again, didn't actually exist as a group yet) and the song shot up the charts to #9.

Why do I have the feeling that Brian Wilson may have heard something like 'Let me get this straight...you helped another group crack the Top Ten with our song?!?' The 'Boys version was on both their album, and the just-released EP, so they released their original version of ‘Little Honda’ almost a month after the Hondells released their cover version…on the same day, ironically, that it cracked the Hot 100’s Top 20.

SOOOO, even though The Beach Boys' version was the original, it actually looked like a cover...and performed like one, too. The two versions sounded pretty similar as well, at least to the untrained ear, and The Beach Boys' version had been all over the radio during the wind-down half of the summer of ‘64 so it wouldn't surprise me if some people actually thought The Hondells' version was The Beach Boys at first (Especially with Brain singing lead). Of course, one difference was the instrumentals...the Fuzzy Guitar that was becoming a Beach Boys trademark was included in their version of 'Little Honda', but their version was and in fact still is over-shadowed by The Hondells version. You'll Hear the song fairly regularly on Oldies stations...and it's usually the Hondells version that you hear!

Its still a fun, peppy, catchy little tune, no matter which band you hear singing it...and you will hear it if you listen to Oldies stations long enough. And it's still just as much fun to listen to now as it was 50 years ago!

So Enjoy...The Beach Boys Usurped Single! Little Honda by The Beach Boys!