"Maxine, whistling 'Help Me Rhonda' through her teeth" (p. 7)

[Kai Frederik Lorentzen]

Why this song? I don't see any relevance of the lyrics for the 
interaction of Dizzy and Maxine. And when the song appeared in 1965, 
Maxine was still a toddler. So it cannot be 'her song' in the emphatic 
sense of the phrase since it wasn't hot when she was a teenager or 
twen.  Neither is it likely that she associates early family memories 
with it, because Ernie and Elaine are opera fans. So my guess about this 
song here in the novel is that it is Pynchon's way to even out the very 
first musical reference. Earlier on the page we read "Oops, I did it 
again, as Britney always sez", which refers to a rather trashy smash 
hit. To me it seems that Pynchon did not want to finish the first 
chapter without balancing this out with a reference to a song of 
quality, a song he really likes. In the 1960s Pynchon met Brian Wilson 
personally and Beach Boys songs do pop up in Vineland as well as in 
Inherent Vice. The only reason for Maxine, who's not especially fond of 
Cali culture, to whistle 'Help Me Rhonda' seems to be that the song is, 
like so many from the Beach Boys, easy to whistle and fun. Or is there 
something happening on page 7 that I simply do not get?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Te_lCF69Aw

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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l