The Four Freshmen

There is a moment on The Beach Boys’ Concert album where Mike Love announces Graduation Day, and he says that it was a hit for The Four Freshmen, who are an important group to them (said Beach Boys) “because they influenced Brian Wilson.” And that rather academic rendering is probably the only inkling that many people had of the existence of The Four Freshmen – which is just as well I suppose, because in spite of their alleged popularity, and their proven longevity (they are still around) they don’t offer much. Some barber shop harmony. Enjoy.

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The Four Freshmen

• Day By Day – A song of love and devotion. Not much depth to this, but then this is The Four Freshmen, not Billie Holiday. From the fall of 1955.
• It’s A Blue World – Sung by a fish? No, because the ocean is only blue from the outside! A bird? No, because the sky is only blue from the ground! It’s a sad world. Okay.
• This Could Be The Start Of Something Big – A standard. Don’t ask me who made it famous though, I could not tell you.
• Girl Talk – This would not fly in today’s world. Also done by Chris Montez.
• Route 66 – A hit for Nat King Cole, and covered by The Rolling Stones and by Them. The Freshmen do a kind of syncopated thing on this which is different.
• Graduation Day – The big hit, as hokey as you would expect. A hit in 1956, in the late spring – perfect timing. Covered, as I said, by The Beach Boys.
• It Could Happen To You – This is meant to be wistful, but really it’s just wimpy…
• Poincieta – I think that’s a flower…