Beach Boys Didn’t Have a Deuce Coupe or a 409

Not exactly earth shattering news but interesting nonetheless as I always thought that Brian Wilson and his cousin Mike Love wrote most if not all of their music and lyrics but they did not which explains why their car racing and hot rod tunes were actually penned by a LA disc jockey who it turns out also wrote some of Jan and Dean's top drag racing hits as well.. (plenty of Beach boys videos here btw)

The real hot-rod hero was Roger Christian, Mr. Wilson said. Mr. Christian, a Los Angeles radio D.J. and record producer, wrote many of the lyrics to the Beach Boys songs. He was known as the “Poet of the Strip.”"

Nonetheless, it's a miracle that Brian Wilson is even alive today as one of if not the most prolific musical genius of modern times and one can only imagine what he could have achieved if sober the entire time.

Beach Boys Didn’t Have a Deuce Coupe or a 409

Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com:"Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys recently performed at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles for its 15th annual gala. The theme for the evening was “California Dreaming.”

“We’re going to do a series of car songs because this place has a lot of cars,” Mr. Wilson announced, before singing some of the group’s classics: “Little Deuce Coupe,” “409,” “All Summer Long” and “Shut Down.”

Few groups were as prolific in shoving cars into their lyrics as the Beach Boys, except for maybe Jan and Dean (”Drag City”).

But before the gig, Mr. Wilson told AutoWeek that neither he nor his brothers were interested in drag racing.

“No, we never did, never went to the races,” Mr. Wilson said.

He added that there was no particular 409 or little deuce coupe. “I didn’t know much about cars, anyway,” he said.

The real hot-rod hero was Roger Christian, Mr. Wilson said. Mr. Christian, a Los Angeles radio D.J. and record producer, wrote many of the lyrics to the Beach Boys songs. He was known as the “Poet of the Strip.”"

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