Week 55: THE BEACH BOYS (420 to 30: A Music Retrospective)
Their fun, carefree, summer sound made them famous, and their harmonies are among the best ever, but it was their introspective and thoughtful compositions that made them acclaimed as well. I liked their radio hits well enough growing up, but it was when I was able to listen to their album Pet Sounds in full that I realized what a force Brian Wilson was as a songwriter and just how much there was to appreciate about The Beach Boys.
420 to 30: A Music Retrospective
Here's 7 of my favorites from The Beach Boys.
Week 55: THE BEACH BOYS
#380/420 - The Beach Boys, “In My Room”
Although we are from a different time and era and a different generation, Brian Wilson is one of the songwriters I have always felt most connected to on an introspective level. This is one such song that taps into certain feelings that I think make him such a great and unique writer. Few others have ever gone into the topics he did during his prime. There is a quiet boldness to his writing.
This song manages to be both lyrically simple and profound. It can be taken literally or abstractly, as your bedroom, or the room in your head. It conveys the value of privacy and time to yourself very well, the benefits and necessities of it. Over the years, this song has connected with me in both realms. Many times, my room was my sanctuary, but when the physical space is or hasn’t been available to me, during travels or shared accommodations, I always have the space in my mind to escape to, and it really is healing to have. Whether I am devastated, jumping for joy, or pensive, sometimes I need to be able to let those feelings out in solitude and have the space to think and reflect. What a great song to connect with all of that in just over two minutes.
Combine all that with excellent production value and the incredible sound that The Beach Boys were capable of, and you have a fantastic song.
#381/420 - Brian Wilson, “Caroline, No”
First released as the debut solo track from Brian Wilson, this soon after became the closing track to my favorite Beach Boys album, Pet Sounds, with which I identify it the most, in part because it is the only song on the album to feature actual “pet sounds” in its mix with the barking dogs at the end. And I should add, the sound of dogs barking is one of my top 10 most annoying/aggravating sounds I can think of, so that it works for me here is impressive.
My personal connection to this song is a bit divergent of the obvious meaning of the song, but the overall feeling it gives and gave me, and the words that stood out, made it impactful for me nonetheless. When my grandma, Carol Ann, was still alive, her health problems had begun to stack over the years. What started as diabetes became a number of other things that led to brain surgery and a tracheotomy, among other issues. Through this, I always considered her a best friend to me, who I could go to with any problem of my own and be heard. Nothing felt off limits or like I needed to hide it with her, and she was a great person in my life, happy, friendly, funny, and lovable to everyone she knew. As she got sicker, I began to lose this friend, her glow began to fade, and listening to this song, all I could hear was, “Carol Ann, no.” It was breaking my heart, and I was losing the girl I used to know.
I remember in her final year thinking about how music had helped me through tough times and lifted me up, and how little I had ever seen my grandma listening to music over the years. I decided to bring this album to her to listen together. We sat in the assisted living facility together and listened to the whole thing on a burned CD. I had hoped it would resonate with her and lift her up, but actually I don’t think she cared for it too much. Despite being in a safe facility in a town where crime was practically non-existent (and that it was a freaking burned CD, not even an original copy), she insisted I not leave it with her because she thought someone would steal it. I think it was her way of saying she wasn’t going to listen to it again. Oh, well. She would never want to directly hurt my feelings.
She was stubborn, but I loved her. I think that’s ultimately what this song is about, even if it wasn’t a romance in my case. People make their own decisions in life, and even if you love them and want better for them, sometimes you just have to live with who they are and where it leads them, even if it feels tragic. That’s what this song is, beauty in tragedy, and that’s what my Carol Ann was too.
Loved and always remembered.
#382/420 - The Beach Boys, “Heroes and Villains”
A song that comes out swinging from the very beginning, this track doesn’t waste any time in getting started. Intended for Brian Wilson’s unrealized Smile album as a follow-up to “Good Vibrations”, this song is surrounded in controversy and crushed hopes and dreams for Wilson, and he was never really the same following the disappointment of this release. It is a shame because it is one of my favorite songs from The Beach Boys, and one of my favorite compositions of his. It’s upbeat, zany, fun, and energetic while keeping the characteristic personality and quality sound The Beach Boys were known for.
I don’t know all the details of how everything came to be, but rather than appear on Smile, which was never made at the time (though Wilson would make a version much later in his career as a solo artist), it did appear on Smiley Smile, which is a respectable album in its own right.
Sometimes, expectations can be a bad thing. I know as an artist that I have had expectations for works of mine that fell from what I imagined they would be. It can be crushing to an extent, but isn’t necessarily a slight on the work itself. While things of mine may have failed to reach the masses in ways I hoped, I know through feedback from fans, whether direct or by email or social media channels, that they resonated with people in ways I did hope, they just didn’t hit big, and some people at the gates to reach mass audiences may not have understood it as intended, or maybe my timing was just bad. As such, this is a song that resonates with me and many, many others, even still all these years later, and I am grateful for the work and heart Brian Wilson put into it.
#383/420 - The Beach Boys, “All Summer Long”
My favorite from the early days of The Beach Boys, this song, like many of their early hits, is a blast. The lyrics are descriptive delights, harkening back to a nostalgic time in American culture that permeates the landscape to this day in art and design around the country. It’s like a series of vignettes, jumping from one to another.
Its specificity is what makes it your memory. Even if it’s a moment you never lived, it treats it like you have, and takes you to that time and place as if you’ve been there. You’re reminiscing about summer, you’re there having fun. The music pulls you in.
This song was used to great effect at the end of George Lucas’ film, American Graffiti, cutting into the end credits. It’s one of the earliest examples of such stylized end credits, and I love how it cuts on the music with the edits. It’s also a poignant choice. Well done, George Lucas, and well done Beach Boys.
#384/420 - The Beach Boys, “God Only Knows”
The centerpiece to my favorite Beach Boys album, this track has all the pleasantness of the entire album wrapped up into it. It’s a beautiful composition, a delight, and one of the great love songs of its era, asking the burning question anyone in love will feel towards the other, “what would I be without you?”
It has a jovial, baroque sound to it that found its way in to many of 1966’s best works from the best musicians of its era, a little flash of a bygone style that came and went quickly, but left behind some of the most memorable music of its time.
It twists and winds with an eclectic collection of instruments for a rock song, featuring cello, viola, French horn, accordion, sleigh bells, and of course, the harpsichord. Carl Wilson has lead vocals and Brian Wilson and Bruce Johnston back him up wonderfully. It’s a rare kind of song and a rare kind of assembly and one I enjoy very much.
In the same way I found different meaning in “Caroline, No”, I recall at one of my best childhood friend’s weddings that this was the song he danced to with his mother. I never considered this song in more than a romantic way, but knowing the ups and downs of their relationship over the years as parent and child, I found it transcended my initial interpretation, and made for a really nice moment. The mark of brilliant writing, and a great piece of music from The Beach Boys.
#385/420 - The Beach Boys, “Do It Again”
I love the energy from this song and its pace and rhythm. A callback to The Beach Boys’ earlier surf rock style, written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, they really did do it again with this one, and in my opinion, did it better than ever. It features the full classic lineup, plus Bruce Johnston, and really shines for it. Rarely do bands come together for such harkening backs as a unit, and even though it was only a few years out, it’s still a very special song for that reason.
Shades of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons with the stomps and claps and high-pitched harmonies, the song isn’t overly speedy, but it is commanding and electric. The distortion on the bass sounds like it is being transmitted through summer heatwaves. The vocals rise and fall like the sun and ocean waves they bring to mind. They are genuine in their delivery, it really feels like they are speaking of a time they all loved, and the advantage of only being a few years later is that there is a strong feeling they can get together and do it again.
The carefree quality of songs The Beach Boys made like this one are unmatched. The fun, surf, summer vibes are so well put together and so well performed that what could be otherwise corny is infectious and hard not to like. While the introspective qualities that took over as they matured are what really rounds the band out for me, these songs and this one in particular are undeniably the easiest to put on and have a great time with.
#386/420 - The Beach Boys, “I Just Wasn't Made for These Times”
This song is one of the reasons I wanted to make and share this list. It’s the rare kind of song that I connect with on a very personal level. It expresses part of who I am without having to use my own words. It doesn’t just seem to describe my own thoughts and feelings, it does describe them, exactly, and puts the music behind them to convey the emotion as well. It’s a song that really elevates Brian Wilson as a songwriter for me for his ability to put into recording feelings that I have otherwise felt fairly isolated by. Over the years, I have occasionally shared this song with people close to me, but the reaction has never quite been what I wanted or expected or hoped for, which is to understand me better, but usually feels like sadness or pity for me. It’s actually a lot of happiness that I find in hearing this song because it tells me I am not the only one who had felt this way, with each word.
This isn’t a song about someone without any friends or love in their life, it’s a song about someone who can’t seem to find their place in the time they live in, or support for their passions. It’s a song about someone who gets their hopes up about making changes, creating new things in the world, taking on daring projects, and failing to get the people they need to realize their vision behind them. It’s about the sadness of being unable to pull out of yourself what you believe you have to offer to world because your surroundings are ambivalent or repressive to what you want to do.
“Sometimes I feel very sad,” is such an honest admission. “I guess I just wasn’t made for these times,” isn’t sincere, it’s giving in. It’s genuinely how you can be made to feel in these conditions. It’s having hopelessness beaten into you despite your inherent optimism. “Each time things start to happen again, I think I got something good going for myself, but what goes wrong?” It’s someone who has been knocked down again and again. And why? What happened this time? Everyone seemed so on board…
“They say I got brains, but they ain’t doing me no good. I wish they could.” The number of times I have heard this sentiment in my life. It is comforting to hear it expressed in disdain from someone else.
The way the end winds into voices on top of voices, all the feelings swirling around, only to resolve, “I guess I just wasn’t made for these times.” It’s so very well done.
It’s not the end. The end of the song isn’t it for the narrator. It wasn’t it for Brian Wilson, and it’s not it for me. But the song captures a moment in time of emotions that I have strongly felt many times over many years and many projects with many groups of friends and collaborators, even since this list began, and its relatability and ability to put those feelings into words is something I am very grateful for. Pet Sounds is a really special album for the honesty of emotions it presents, and its calmness and pleasantness make it one of my favorites of all time.
The Beach Boys were America’s good guy rock band when Britain’s bands had all the edge with The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones, and The Who, and The Kinks, etc. The Beach Boys were not those bands, and I can’t listen to The Beach Boys in the same way. American bands would never be the same after the British invasion, and never as innocent as the time The Beach Boys represented and represent still. What they captured with their talent and cleanliness in both image and sound is definitely a treasure, and with Brian Wilson’s unique songwriting ability at the center, they are an all-time band for sure.
What’s next? We are in the final stretch. Only five artists remain. I saved these five for last because they are my indisputable five favorite musicians from the first 30 years of my life that have undoubtably received more playtime than any others by a significant margin. In reverse order, I will countdown from 5 to 1 for the next five weeks to finish off the list. 30 is closing in, and I am excited for the future and excited to finally share some of the music of my very, very favorites.
To start off the top five, I start with the one which was actually the hardest to choose a favorite seven from. These guys have one of the most even discographies ever, and even picking a favorite from a single album of their 20 or so they have made since the mid 80s is a challenge. Nonetheless, I have done it, and I am excited to share one of the most unique, creative, zany, daring, and colorful bands there has ever been. I have seen them live twice and they are a wonder to behold in that setting as well, perhaps the best showmen of any band I have ever been fortunate enough to see. I am so glad I discovered them early in my life to have had their music around for so much of it, one of my very favorites, The Flaming Lips.
420 to 30: A Music Retrospective
Week 2: The Jackson 5/The Jacksons
Week 3: A Tribe Called Quest
Week 4: Weezer
Week 5: Bob Dylan
Week 6: Led Zeppelin
Week 7: 2Pac/Makaveli
Week 8: Billy Joel
Week 9: Electric Light Orchestra
Week 10: Elvis Presley
Week 11: Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band
Week 12: The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Week 13: Nirvana
Week 14: The Doors
Week 15: The Rolling Stones
Week 16: Gnarls Barkley
Week 17: Gábor Szabó
Week 18: Galaxie 500
Week 19: Simon & Garfunkel
Week 20: Gorillaz
Week 21: Ennio Morricone
Week 22: The Moody Blues
Week 23: Koji Kondo
Week 24: Rob Zombie/White Zombie
Week 25: Paul McCartney/Wings
Week 26: George Harrison
Week 27: Phil Spector
Week 28: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
Week 29: Public Enemy
Week 30: The Love Language
Week 31: Barry White
Week 32: Frank Sinatra
Week 33: David Bowie
Week 34: Queen
Week 35: The Offspring
Week 36: Louis Prima
Week 37: The Notorious B.I.G.
Week 38: Nancy Sinatra
Week 39: Stevie Wonder
Week 40: Roger Miller
Week 41: Röyksopp
Week 42: N.W.A
Week 43: Sly and the Family Stone
Week 44: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
Week 45: Supertramp
Week 46: "Weird Al" Yankovic
Week 47: The Kinks
Week 48: Eminem
Week 49: Mort Garson
Week 50: Foster the People
Week 51: Pink Floyd
Week 52: David Wise
Week 53: Sam Cooke
Week 54: Wu-Tang Clan
View the full list of "420 Songs" here: https://tinyurl.com/y8fboudu (Google spreadsheet link)
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