Unlike most of the music I have reviewed thus far, this tune was made popular by various major artists and vocal groups throughout the second half of the 20th century and is probably well known among several generations of American music fans. However, I thought this piece worth mentioning here exactly because it serves as an important link between styles, eras and traditions, and is incredibly valuable to our understanding of pop music today. Besides, who doesn’t like a good four part harmony?

Here is the first recording of “Their Hearts Were Full of Spring,” a song composed by Bobby Troup (husband of Jazz vocalist Julie London) and recorded by Jimmie Rodgers in 1957:

This soft crooning style ballad a la Elvis Presley provided an easy-listening B-side to Rodgers’ first big hit single, “Honeycomb,” a hard driving early Rock’n’Roll hit that sold over a million records and won a “gold disc” award. Within four years, however, the song received a very different treatment at the hands of The Four Freshmen, an up-and-coming vocal group that adopted the Jazz close-harmony “barbershop quartet” style. The Four Freshmen consisted then of two brothers, Don and Ross Barbour, who together with Bob Flanagan and Ken Albers created a sound all their own - an unmistakable blend with a creative arrangement style that inspired musicians across the board. Here is their arrangement:

Among the many who were inspired by The Four Freshmen was the young Brian Wilson, who took it upon himself to learn and transcribe every tune of every Freshmen album he could get his hands on. Brian was then forming and leading a band of his own: The Beach Boys, one of the major Rock’n’Roll bands who employed rich vocal harmonies and elements of Jazz and classical music. Like The Four Freshmen, The Beach Boys was a family affair, and Brian remembers teaching his two brothers, cousin and neighborhood friend their parts around the piano: “Ok Carl, you follow my pinky, and Mike, your voice is my fourth finger…” The Beach Boys’ music was rooted in the sound of Rock’n’Roll, and yet they’d been working on this song from before they had any of their own music, and they went on to perform and record it many times throughout their career - a testimony to the well of information it provided them and their fellow Rock musicians. Here is an early performance from The Andy Williams Show, 1966:

I came across the following transcription on a Beach Boys website that is no longer available, so I thought it would be nice to share it and keep the music going, as it is a very inspiring and informative piece of music history. To me it is about connecting to a tradition bigger than myself, learning to use the past in ways that enrich the present and bridge the generational gap, opening my mind to greater creative opportunities and most of all, creating harmony between people.