Beach Baby
"Beach Baby" is a song by the British band the First Class. It was written by John Carter and his wife, Gillian (Jill) Shakespeare; the song became the band's only substantial hit. Background. Carter and Shakespeare wrote "Beach Baby" in their home in East Sheen, South West London. Shortly afterward, Carter hired Tony Burrows and session singer Chas Mills to record it under the band name The First Class. Towards the end of the song, there are two instrumental quotations, both on the French horn: the main theme from the last movement of Sibelius's Fifth Symphony  and the tune of the title line from one of Carter's previous compositions ("Let's Go to San Francisco", a hit in 1967 for The Flower Pot Men). Lead singer Burrows attempts to sing in an American accent, reflecting the song's setting in California. Because the running time was over 5 minutes, several AM radio stations edited "Beach Baby" by fading it out during the second instrumental bridge. The estate of Jean Sibelius filed a lawsuit against the song's writers, for infringing on the Sibelius piece. The case was settled out of court, with the Sibelius estate  receiving half of the song's proceeds. The radio-play fade outs then took on some importance, helping to avoid further legal implications. On the 31 August 1974 edition of "American Top 40", Casey Kasem claimed: The 21 September 1974 edition added the detail that the song was recorded in London on 24 December 1973. An engineer who was involved in the recording session recalls: "The recording was made in February 1974 at Lansdowne Studios, Holland Park, London. Tony Burrows was singing, John Carter producing & Paul Holland engineering. At the time, I was a house assistant engineer & remember being very  impressed with the high level of professionalism and ability of the visiting engineer Paul Holland, who I had never met before. I don't believe that he sat down at any time during the session ! - If my memory serves me right, the recording was completed in one evening session." - (source:- Mark Dearnley) Although the band went on to release two studio albums and a multitude of singles, they were unable to recreate the success of "Beach Baby". Chart performance. In 1974, the song became a hit in the UK (where it peaked at #13), and in the US, where it  peaked at #4. In Canada, "Beach Baby" was a #1 hit.