Sophia Michaels
Fifty years after it was left off Holland, the Beach Boys have finally released “Carry Me Home,” a longtime fan favorite written and sung by Dennis Wilson.
The late Beach Boy, who died in 1983, shares vocals with Blondie Chaplin over serene pedal steel and piano. The poignant track tells the story of a soldier dying in the Vietnam war as the band’s harmonies blanket each verse. “Life is meant to live, and I’m afraid to die,” Wilson sings.
The deep cut has been bootlegged for years and requested by fans for official release, but the band never felt the timing was right — until now.
“It’s eerie listening back to this song after all these years,” Chaplin tells Rolling Stone. “It’s how Dennis felt at the time. I see him struggling with his own worries. The voice is really sensitive, and you can feel the emotional pain. War on the battlefield and inside, it’s always very combustible inside. He was the real surfer, rowdy and sweet.”
“Carry Me Home” will be released off the massive box set Sail on Sailor – 1972, out Dec. 2. It focuses on Holland and Carl and the Passions – “So Tough” and contains 80 unreleased tracks. The collection will be released in a variety of formats, including a super deluxe edition that contains a 7-inch reproduction of the Brian Wilson EP Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairytale), originally released alongside Holland.
“Carry Me Home” follows “A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone,” recorded live at Carnegie Hall on Nov. 23, 1972. Prior to Sail on Sailor, the band released 2021’s Feel Flows – The Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions 1969-1971. Last June, they reissued their 2003 compilation Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys.
