{{more citations needed|date=May 2013}} {{Infobox song | name = Sumahama | cover = | alt = | type = single | artist = the Beach Boys | album = L.A. (Light Album) | released = September 1979 | recorded = | studio = | A-side = It's a Beautiful Day | genre = Pop | length = 4:07 (album)<br />4:28 (single) | label = Caribou | writer = Mike Love | producer = Bruce Johnston, The Beach Boys, James William Guercio | prev_title = Lady Lynda | prev_year = 1979 | next_title = Goin' On | next_year = 1980 }}
"'''Sumahama'''" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1979 album ''L.A. (Light Album)''. Written by Mike Love, it was lyrically inspired by his fiancée at the time, a woman named Sumako. The lyrics describe "a young girl who wants to go with her mother to a place called 'Sumahama' in search of her father."<ref name="Love"/> Although some of the lyrics are in Japanese, Sumako was of Korean descent.<ref name="Love">{{cite book|last=Love|first=Mike|author-link=Mike Love|title=Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy|url=https://archive.org/details/goodvibrationsmy0000love_u3b0/|year=2016|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-698-40886-9|url-access=registration|page=446}}</ref>
Sumahama is also the name of a popular beach in Kobe, Japan. 'Hama' is the Japanese word for 'beach'.
==Background== It was originally written by Mike Love for his unreleased solo album, ''First Love''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Doe|first=Andrew|date= |title=Bellagio10452|url=http://bellagio10452.com/unreleased.html|website=The Ones That Got Away...|location= |publisher= |access-date=2025-07-04}}</ref> When the release of that project fell through, the song was rerecorded by the Beach Boys.
The original United States LP release of the ''L.A. (Light Album)'' featured a version of "Sumahama" that faded out early during the final Japanese verse and did not feature the instrumental ending present on the later released 45 or the re-released CD version of the album. The original LP version of the song was approximately four minutes and seven seconds.{{cn|date=June 2025}}
==Single release== In the U.S., "Sumahama" was released as a B-side to the single "It's a Beautiful Day".
"Sumahama" was released as a single in the UK backed with "Angel Come Home", charting at number 45.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.officialcharts.com/search-results-album/_/beach+boys |title=beach boys {{!}} Album Search {{!}} Official Charts |website=www.officialcharts.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202133334/http://www.officialcharts.com/search-results-album/_/beach+boys |archive-date=2014-02-02}} </ref>
==Personnel== Per Craig Slowinski.<ref name="Slowinski2015">{{cite magazine |last=Slowinski|first=Craig |date=Spring 2015 |title=THE BEACH BOYS' - L.A. (Light Album)|issue=109|volume=|magazine=Endless Summer Quarterly Magazine |location=Charlotte, North Carolina|editor-first=David|editor-last=Beard}}</ref>
'''The Beach Boys''' *Mike Love – lead vocals *Carl Wilson - backing vocals *Bruce Johnston - backing vocals
'''Additional musicians''' {{div col}} *Murray Adler - violin *Roberleigh Barnhart - cello *Myer Bello - viola *Alfred Breuning - violin *Isabelle Daskoff - violin *Earle Dumler - oboe *Jesse Ehrlich - cello *Bryan Garofalo - bass guitar *Igor Horoshevsky - cello *Bill House - guitar *Bernard Kundell - violin *William Kurasch - violin *Gayle Levant - harp *Joy Lyle - violin *Brian O’Connor - French horn *Earl Palmer - drums *Joel Peskin - flute *Jay Rosen - violin *Sid Sharp - violin *Barbara Thomason - cello *Tommy Vig - vibraphone *Jai Winding - Fender Rhodes *Herschel Wise - viola *Tibor Zelig - violin {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{The Beach Boys singles}} {{The Beach Boys}}
Category:1979 songs Category:The Beach Boys songs Category:Songs written by Mike Love Category:Song recordings produced by Bruce Johnston Category:Song recordings produced by James William Guercio