[BEACH BOYS] WILSON, Brian (1942–2025); HENN, Rick (b.1946)

Manuscript lyrics and score for ‘Soulful Old Man Sunshine’, composed by Henn and Wilson and recorded by the Beach Boys in 1969

Los Angeles, 1969

One ruled notebook leaf, 180 x 214mm; two printed and manuscript leaves of sheet music, 319 x 242mm; one folded printed sheet of music (lead sheet), 330 x 240mm

The original handwritten lyrics – together with the manuscript sheet music and printed lead sheet – for the Beach Boys’ song ‘Soulful Old Man Sunshine’, recorded in 1969 but only released in 1998.

The song was a collaboration between Beach Boys’ lead songwriter Brian Wilson and Rick Henn of the band The Sunrays. The circumstances of the composition are recounted in Christian Matijas-Mecca’s The Words and Music of Brian Wilson:

At the end of August [1969], Brian worked on ‘Soulful Old Man Sunshine,’ a jazzy, upbeat tune that first appeared in 1998 on Endless Harmony. […] They composed this song at Brian’s home and Henn led a session at Sunset Sound at the end of August. In the liner notes to Endless Harmony, Henn claims Brian did not come into the studio which left him to arrange the song and manage the session, though vocals were recorded at Brian’s home studio in November.

The present documents bear this out: they are all in the hand of Rick Henn, though the credit on both sets of sheet music reads ‘Words & Music Rick Henn / Brian Wilson’. We can surmise that the manuscripts originate from the Henn/Wilson session at Wilson’s home at 10452 Bellagio Road in Los Angeles. The lyric sheet has a number of corrections, not all of which ended up in the recorded version, and also directions for single/group vocals (the lead vocalist for the song was Carl Wilson). The manuscript sheet music is identical to the printed version, even down to the copyright statement, and therefore is likely to be the fair copy for the printer.

‘Soulful Old Man Sunshine’ lies squarely in the grand tradition of Beach Boys’ songwriting, with Wilson’s characteristic chord progression in fifths. The song was apparently suppressed owing to a vocal slip, but became the first track on Endless Harmony, issued to accompany the biopic of the same name. It is now hailed as one of the great ‘lost’ songs of the 1960s.

Very good condition: lyric sheet with a ragged edge where it has been removed from a notebook; printed sheet music age-toned.

References: Christian Matijas-Mecca’s The Words and Music of Brian Wilson, pp. 93–94.