Carol Kaye is still around, and runs a bass blog-type site. I’ve chatted with her online over the last year or two, and she sent me a nice signed pictures.
She was prolific to say the least. I had never even heard her name until maybe 10 years ago and now when I hear some of these iconic riffs she always comes to mind.
Carol Kaye is an awesome lady! What talent. :)
Back in the 60s the average person like myself had no clue about the Wrecking Crew or Funk Brothers.
Amazing woman, amazing career, brought the bottom to the Wrecking Crew playing on so many classics.
Any bass player who don’t know who Carol Kaye is isn’t a bass player!
Brian Wilson and the “Wrecking Crew” (though Carol hates that term) were an incredible combination. Their work together on “California Girls”/Pet Sounds/”Good Vibrations”/Smile stands up well against as any body of work in popular music before or since. Such a shame that Brian burned out after that explosion of creativity. But when this one-of-a-kind musical genius teamed up with the most capable studio musicians in L.A., it was truly a magical, unbeatable combination.
Bfl
Was she able to benefit financially from any of her better known work? Some fantastic musicians are very poor business planners.
The documentary about the Wrecking Crew was well done, IMO. Never heard of her until watching that. Impressive woman with an impressive talent.
When they did not get a third lyric for “Wichita Lineman”— Glen Campbell asked to borrow Carol’s 6 String Danelectro Bass, and played the melody with it with vibrato....for the third verse, a legendary simple and beautiful low guitar “twangy” sound. It made the song, over AM playback radio-— this awesome sound. Carol Kaye— simply a genius musician.
Repeat of the 2nd chorus-— “And I need you, more than want you....and I want you for all time”-— iconic line for the era— the loneliness and emotional need for duration of life,expressed as “want”. “And the Witchita Lineman...is STILL on the line”.
The awesome bass line in Sonny & Cher’s hit “And The Beat Goes On”
was created by Carol Kaye.