"Big Sur" is the fourth single by

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Jack Johnson, and is featured on his 2017 studio album All the Light Above It Too. It was released as a single on September 18, 2017.

Release

The single was announced with its release on a live stream with

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on September 7, 2017. On the podcast, it was also announced that a CD Single of the song would be released which would feature a remix of the song by ex Beastie Boy

Mike D Michael Louis Diamond (born November 20, 1965), better known as Mike D, is an American rapper, musician, and music producer. He is a founding member of the hip hop group Beastie Boys. Early life Diamond was born in New York City to Har ...

. The song's remix premiered on episode 31 of Mike's show "The Echo Chamber" on September 14, 2017. The song was released with a live video of Jack performing the song on ''

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Composition

The song was written by Johnson for his wife Kim, which is his 15th love song to her. The song is not only a love song to Kim, but a song that is made to make you focus on other things other than the first five songs talked about. The first five songs talked about issues such as

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, and

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. The song describes fun times surfing and at the beach, and was written while Johnson was on a surfing trip. Johnson described the full meaning of the song on an interview at

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and said "driving away from all those things that can load up on your mind and weigh heavy on you. Big Sur is about escaping all of that. In the song, I refer to the lines of the road driving up — but it's also the lines of society that confine us. Big Sur is one of those places for me where you can find freedom."

Recording

The song was recorded at Jack Johnson's studio called "The Mango Tree" in

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just after the

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. It was produced by long time companion Robbie Lackritz, and was a mostly pure song with little to no post production.

Live performance

Jack Johnson performed the song live on ''

'' on September 9, 2017. The song was played prior to the album release several times during Jack's ''All the Light Above It Too Tour'', and has been played a total of 12 times in concerts.

Music video

A music video for the song which featured footage of one of Jack's surfing trips was released on his Vevo channel on December 18, 2017.

Track listing

Digital download

# "Big Sur" - 2:52 # "Big Sur (Remix) ft.

- 4:16

Charts

Release history

Mike D Remix

On September 7, 2018

announced on his

radio show "''The Echo Chamber,"'' that he had just finished. On September 18, 2018 the song was released on the "Big Sur" radio promo CD, but wasn't released to the public. On July 4, 2018 the song was released on Johnson's greatest hits album, '' Jack Johnson: The Essentials''. The song peaked at number 272 on the

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard Single (music), singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track down ...

. The song was released in Japan only, and has yet to be released to the rest of the world. Each purchase of the Jack Johnson at the Fuji Rock Festival 2018 came with a free download of the remix, and a metal reusable water bottle. The show was a part of his Asian leg of his "All the Light Above it Too World Tour."

Track listing

References

{{authority control 2017 songs Jack Johnson (musician) songs Songs written by Jack Johnson (musician)