Al Jardine has spent the vast majority of his long life in California, and as a founding member of the Beach Boys, he embodies the state like very few others. But he was actually born in the small town of Lima, Ohio, and lived there during his early childhood years. When Jardine returned to the state of his birth on Aug. 15 for an intimate show with the Pet Sounds Band at the Robins Theater in Warren, Ohio, he began the encore by telling the crowd they were about to do something they’d never done before.
“I think I did it with the Beach Boys back in 1973,” he said. “After about 50 years of not performing it, we had one little rehearsal today. It’s all about coming back to Ohio.”
Jardine was slightly off by dating it to 1973, but that’s understandable since the history of “Back Home” is oddly complicated. Brian Wilson wrote the song in 1963 with his buddy Bob Norberg, and the band cut a version that year during the Surfer Girl sessions that eventually leaked out to bootleggers. 
