Band member Al Jardine sings the lead vocal, a rarity for this era in the Beach Boys.
This new version, featuring a different arrangement and slightly different lyrics, was released as a single in April 1965 and appeared on Summer Days later that same year.
[1] In his memoir, Wilson claimed the song was inspired by Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife", which he was playing on the piano when he came up with the music for "Help Me Rhonda".
"[5] Though Brian Wilson initially intended to perform the lead vocal for the song himself, he instead assigned the part to Al Jardine.
"[8] The vocal overdub session for the second version of this song was notable for resulting in a particularly heated confrontation between Wilson and his father Murry, who at the time had been dismissed as the group's manager for nearly a year but was still present in the studio on occasion.
After Murry (while inebriated) continually critiqued and ridiculed the group's singing throughout each take, Brian complained and got into a tense argument which ultimately led to a physical altercation over control of the soundboard.
The first version, recorded in January 1965 and featuring a ukulele-driven arrangement, was included on the band's The Beach Boys Today!
[11] Brian Wilson, however, felt the song had hit potential and the band rerecorded the track in 1965 with a punchier, guitar-led arrangement and some minor lyrical tweaks.
[8] Released as a single in March 1965, the "Help Me, Rhonda" rerecording was a commercial smash hit, reaching number one in the US and knocking the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" from the top spot.
Upon release, Billboard described the single version as "an intriguing off-beat rouser" which "can't miss.
"[13] Cash Box described it as "a power-packed hard-driving romantic surfin’-rocker with an extremely infectious danceable back-beat.
"[17][18][nb 5] In a retrospective review, William Ruhlmann of AllMusic said of the song, "It remains one of the best examples of [Brian] Wilson's ability to turn the turmoil of his life into stirring music.