Choral Choir (TTBB) - Level 4 - Digital Download
SKU: A0.928974
By The Beach Boys. By Brian Wilson and Gary Usher. Arranged by Donald A. Mills, 2019. A Cappella,Pop,Rock. Octavo. 3 pages. Donald A Mills #4351149. Published by Donald A Mills (A0.928974).
In My Room, by The Beach Boys.
This gentle song may be sung as a prayer, with tenderness. Your audiences will love the melody and harmonies.
This arrangement by Donald A. Mills is for barbershop as a quartet or chorus. It is TTBB (TLBB) a cappella, sung softly, sweetly, legato, singing the four dotted quarter notes as a 3/4 time. The Beach Boys have mentioned that they wrote In My Room in 12/8 time because they had tired of the 3/4 time many songs of the day were written in.
From Wikipedia, Gary Usher explained that 'In My Room found us taking our craft a little more seriously. Brian and I came back to the house one night after playing 'over-the-line' (a baseball game). I played bass and Brian was on organ. The song was written in an hour... Brian's melody all the way. The sensitivity... the concept meant a lot to him. When we finished, it was late, after our midnight curfew. In fact, Murry [the Wilson brothers' father] came in a couple of times and wanted me to leave. Anyway, we got Audree [the Wilson brothers' mother], who was putting her hair up before bed, and we played it for her. She said, 'That's the most beautiful song you've ever written.' Murry said, 'Not bad, Usher, not bad,' which was the nicest thing he ever said to me.
Gary Usher (who co-wrote the lyrics with Brian Wilson) further describes that Brian was always saying that his room was his whole world. Brian seconds this opinion: I had a room, and I thought of it as my kingdom. And I wrote that song, very definitely, that you're not afraid when you're in your room. It's absolutely true.
In 1990, Brian wrote, I also enjoyed producing 'In My Room'. There is a story behind this song. When Dennis, Carl and I lived in Hawthorne as kids, we all slept in the same room. One night I sang the song 'Ivory Tower' to them and they liked it. Then a couple of weeks later, I proceeded to teach them both how to sing the harmony parts to it. It took them a little while, but they finally learned it. We then sang this song night after night. It brought peace to us. When we recorded 'In My Room', there was just Dennis, Carl and me on the first verse...and we sounded just like we did in our bedroom all those nights. This story has more meaning than ever since Dennis' death.
