‘God only knows’ by the Beach boy is one of the great songs of the 20th century. Yea, that’s what I said. A big statement, I know, but just have a listen to it. What you have here is the consequence of a musical genius, Brian Wilson. This ballad appears on the monumental Pet Sounds (1966).
Brian is the eldest of the Beach Boys and their default leader, being the primary songwriter. And the one singing the everpresent falsetto—that’s Brian too. Brian suffers from depression, exacerbated by his drug habit. But the Lord has been merciful to him in that he has retained his musical chops.
Read some of their wraps, facts:
§ “Allmusic has stated that their ‘unerring ability…made them America’s first, best rock band’”;
§ The group have had over eighty songs chart worldwide, thirty-six of them United States Top 40 hits (the most by an American rock band), four of those reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (‘I get around’, ‘Help me Rhonda’ ‘Kokomo’, and the magical ‘Good Vibrations’ (US & UK).
§ The Beach Boys have sold in excess of 100 million records worldwide and are listed at number 12 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 2004 list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”;
§ In 1995, nearly thirty years after its release, a panel of top musicians, songwriters and producers assembled by MOJO magazine voted Pet Sounds “The Greatest Album Ever Made.” It was number one in New Musical Express’s list “The 100 Best Albums”. In 1997, Pet Sounds was named the 33rd greatest album of all time in a poll conducted in the United Kingdom by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 2006 Q magazine readers voted it the 12th greatest album of all time; critics of German magazine Spex voted it the best album of the 20th century; in 2001 the TV channel VH1 placed it at number 3. The Times magazine ranked it the greatest album of all time.
§ It also placed number two on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time behind only Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles. In 2004, it was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. The album has inspired many progressive rock bands and was later named as one of Classic Rock magazine’s “50 Albums That Built Prog Rock”. Brian Wilson’s desire to remove himself from the popular music scene of the mid-1960s into more creatively enriching and artistically fulfilling album led to Rolling Stone Magazine ranking Pet Sounds as the second greatest album of all time.
The Beach Boys began as a family band out of Hawthorn, California (where the heck is that, you ask! It’s a suburb of Los Angeles). The band consisted of three teenage brothers (in order of age) Brian, Dennis, and Carl, their cousin, Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Who was the singer? They all sang, lead or harmony. That was their strength. They are arguably the best harmony band ever (other candidates are Crosby, Still and Nash, and The Hollies). Father Murry was the initial manager; he signed them to the huge Capitol label.
The BB’s wrote the American Song Book for a generation, albeit mostly based on that favourite, western commodity, surf. Take a listen to some of their early offerings, such as ‘In my room’, ‘Little Surfer (a girl)’, ‘Wendy’, ‘Little Deuce Coupe’, ‘All Summer Long’, ‘Girls on the Beach’. It’s a mosaic of summer, surf, cars and romance: no wonder they appealed to teenage America. They were also popular in Oz (with surf beaches to rival the US): ‘Good Vibrations’, ‘Do It Again’, ‘Cottonfields’ and ‘Kokomo’ all went #1 here. And there’s the classic ‘Surfin’ USA’, which brilliantly sums up their oeuvre.
As I said, ‘God only knows’ was on the legendary Pet Sounds set (1966), which went platinum in the US. It’s a well-known fact that it heavily influenced the Beatles, who in the next year released their epochal ‘Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band’. By way of alternative, Brian was enthralled with The Beatles Rubber Soul (1965): great musicians feed off one another. Other hits on Sounds are the gorgeous ‘Wouldn’t it be nice’, a real tear-jerker: I love it so much. It was co-written by Brian and Tony Asher, a young lyricist Brian met in a Hollywood studio. He sure writes nice lyrics. Another popular hit was ‘Sloop John B’. Then there’s the ethereal instrumental, ‘Let’s Go Away For A While’, with Brian’s sparkling orchestration the highlight.
For you songwriters out there, here’s some technical stuff: It was a traditional Caribbean folk song that had been suggested to Wilson by group member Al Jardine. Al updated the chord progression by having the IV, D♭ major, move to its relative minor, B♭ minor before returning to the tonic, A♭. Brian did the rest.
Paul McArtney selected ‘God only knows’ as his favourite song ever—I’m in good company! This serene ballad begins with a brilliant intro: man, Brian is so damn good! Just feel that strong bass enter. Carl (guitar), has the lead vocal, as usual. The verse is so pretty, it rivals Shakespeare. Then comes the chorus, with the sensational BB’s harmonies, something to die for! The song’s ending is pure joy: 3 or 4 (count ‘em’) voices harmonising, so cool! These guys are definitely one of the great bands of our time.
PS. Note, on the live video there’s no Brian. Probably writing another classic.
Blessings,
Ralph
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Ralph Gilbert
421 Grange Rd
Seaton, 5023
South Australia
mob. 0448 899 224
Ralph's World of Music 