10 Best Covers Of Beach Boys Songs
6. Don't Go Near The Water – Kirsty MacColl
Recently celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, Don't Get Near The Water first appeared on the Beach Boys' 1971 album, Surf's Up. If you're not familiar with that wonderful record, it's worth seeking out almost for the striking cover art alone.
The Beach Boys were a band who often seemed at odds with themselves, treading a delicate line between beauty and sadness, the ephemeral and the deep. Don't Go Near The Water, one of the earliest 'environmental' records, appears, at first sight, a direct contradiction to their earlier celebrations of beach life.
The song, written by Mike Love and Al Jardine, lamented man-made pollution in oceans, rivers, lakes and streams. It is a strange and lovely song, with as much dissonance as melody, and remains highly affecting to this day.
The daughter of renowned folk singer, Ewan MacColl, Kirsty MacColl was one of the best-loved British artists of the '80s and '90s, with a string of solo hits and a notable collaboration with The Pogues on one of the most-played Christmas songs of all time, Fairytale Of New York.
The perfect artist for this track, MacColl adds an elegance and pathos of her own.