A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

WHEN I GROW UP TO BE A MAN: My sons love the Beach Boys. As a result, we have been listening semi-constantly in the car to a CD entitled The Very Best of the Beach Boys, which includes the song “When I Grow Up to Be a Man”.

The song is one of the most significant transitional-period Brian Wilson songs, as the composer shifted his focus from the youthful surf tunes of the early Beach Boys to the complex and occasionally darker themes of his later songs. "When I Grow Up" is one of Wilson’s first songs to deal with his emotional disquiet. Basically, it’s a somewhat childlike song about maturing. The lyrics express the doubts and anxieties about the process. The refrain where the band counts off the ascending years passing between adolescence and adulthood, is an extremely effective hook.

The song consists of ten questions about growing up, while the background voices tick off the years. Recently, my sons completed this “questionnaire” on my behalf (see comments). I figured I’d present the questions here for your enjoyment (with minor changes all of these questions can be answered by either gender).

1. Will I dig the same things that turn me on as a kid?
2. Will I look back and say that I wish I hadn't done what I did?
3. Will I joke around and still dig those sounds (still dig those rock & roll sounds)?
When I grow up to be a man

4. Will I look for the same things in a woman that I dig in a girl (14, 15)?
5. Will I settle down fast or will I first want to travel the world (16, 17)?
6. Well I'm young and free but how will it be?
When I grow up to be a man

7. Will my kids be proud or think their old man is really a square (18, 19)?
8. When they're out having fun yeah, will I still want to have my share (20, 21)?
9. Will I love my wife for the rest of my life?
When I grow up to be a man?

10. What will I be?