Ding Dang (song)

Brian recorded "Ding Dang" in the studio on numerous occasions during the mid-1970s.[10] One of these versions, recorded in late 1974, is known as "Rollin' Up to Heaven", although it was labelled as "Brian's Tune" on the tape box.[11] Biographer Peter Ames Carlin characterized it as "a funky rock 'n' roll song with blazing guitar from Carl, in-the-pocket drums from Dennis, and full group vocals chanting a rudimentary but instantly memorable chorus of: 'Alley-oop—fuck her! Big tits!'"[9]

In 1976, another version of "Ding Dang" was recorded under the title "Clangin'". It has a riff similar to Wilson's "I'm the Pied Piper" from Mount Vernon and Fairway (1972). Brother Records archive manager Alan Boyd explained the contents of the recording, "Brian has overdubbed himslef [sic] a couple of times singing 'Clangin' clangin', dingin' a dangin' and-a clangin' clangin'....' over and over and over again. And again. And again."[11] In a 1976 interview with the group, members of the band began reciting a background part, "Mow mama yama holly hallelujah". Asked what song it belonged to, Brian answered, "That's from a song called 'Clang.' [sic] We haven't really got it together yet, so we can't talk about it. It's a spiritual sort of rock 'n' roll song."[12]

For the 1976 television special The Beach Boys: It's OK!, the band were filmed performing two takes of "Clangin'", but this footage was not used for the program.[13] Andrew Sandoval, an archivist for the Monkees, reported that Micky Dolenz possessed a recording of "Clangin'" that featured some participation from Harry Nilsson.[7]

Band engineer Earle Mankey recalled that his first session with the Beach Boys had involved a recording of "Ding Dang", as he said, "At one session of Carl's, somebody said to Brian, 'Let's cut a track,' and he said, 'I have this great song, it's called "Ding, Dang."' It was a legendary track, and it was around, as I understand it, for a long time."[14] Wilson again revisited the song, by then a few years old, during the recording of Love You.[3][4] Mankey noted that "everybody who showed up [to the sessions] got subjected to 'Ding Dang'."[6] It appeared on the album with a less than one-minute runtime, virtually unaltered from how Wilson and McGuinn originally left it.[3]