God Only Knows

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God Only Knows
The Beach Boys
publication 1966
length 2:49
Genre (s) Pop song
Author (s) Wilson / Asher
album Pet sounds

God Only Knows is a song by the American pop group The Beach Boys . It was released as the eighth song on their album Pet Sounds . The song was composed and produced by Brian Wilson . Tony Asher wrote the lyrics . The lead vocal for this song was sung by Carl Wilson , who was completed in the final canon by Brian Wilson and Bruce Johnston .

The song was released in the US as the B-side of the single Wouldn't It Be Nice and reached number 39 on the American Billboard charts. In the UK , it was published as the A-side and came in at number 2.

God Only Knows

Citing Brian Wilson and Beach Boys historian, God Only Knows was the first pop song to include the word "God" in the title. The song, the melody structure and the recording were technically the most complex production of the Beach Boys to date. Brian Wilson, who completely arranged and produced the song, used instruments that were rather atypical for the time, such as French horns , for this piece .

Music and lyrics

The lyrics are from the English lyricist Tony Asher, with whom Brian Wilson worked on the entire Pet Sounds album. Asher stated in several interviews that although he had written all the lyrics for the album, he only put into words what Brian Wilson had told him in hours of conversation.

The song is designed as a love song. What is very unusual about the song is that it starts with the line “I may not always love you”. Brian Wilson thought this line was too negative to start with, but Asher struggled to get it started. The sense of this negative becomes apparent in the second line when Asher adds “but as long as there are stars above you”. Whereby both lines together make sense of “I will love you until the sun darkens - forever”.

What is striking about this song is that there is no rhyme structure, but this is not necessarily noticeable to the listener. Lines 1, 2 and 5 end with a 'you', while lines 3 and 4 end with an 'it'. In the second stanza, lines 1 through 4 end with the word 'me'.

Brian Wilson wrote the music for this piece. For this song, he first used a technique that would later become his trademark. Wilson did not compose the piece in the usual standard chords, but added an additional bass note, which made for a very unusual sound. This means that the deep bass - played on the piano - has its own melody line.

The song also has a pure instrumental area in the middle and then another part, which the Beach Boys underlay with their voices, but without words. The song ends, also very atypically, with a canon .

Singing to God Only Knows

On the first recordings, Brian Wilson sang the lead vocal. However, he decided to have his brother Carl sing the song. “Don't do anything with the song. Sing it straight as it is. Take a deep breath and be completely relaxed, ”Brian Wilson instructed his brother.

Both in the middle section and in the canon, Brian Wilson initially had problems finding the right singer. In addition to the now six Beach Boys, he also had Terry Melcher , as well as his wife Marilyn and her sister Diane Rovell, who were present at the vocal recordings. This made the voices seem too cluttered. So Brian Wilson decided to reduce the voices again and implement the canon with only three voices, his own, that of Carl Wilson and that of Bruce Johnston.

Recordings

The instruments were recorded on March 10, 1966 at Western Studios in Hollywood, California. Chuck Britz was the sound engineer . The piece was recorded live in the studio and required around 20 attempts.

The chants were recorded on several days between March and April 1966. Columbia Studios were used for this. The sound engineer for these recordings was Ralph Balantin.

Participating musicians

reception

The Mojo magazine chose the song at number 13 of the "best songs of all time". Rolling Stone magazine named the song 25th on their list of the 500 best songs of all time . Pitchfork Media named the piece as "the best song of the 1960s".

Paul McCartney said in various interviews that he thinks God Only Knows is the most beautiful song that has ever been written. During a BBC interview, he said:

God Only Knows is one of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it. It's really just a love song, but it's brilliantly done. It shows the genius of Brian. I've actually performed it with him and I'm afraid to say that during the sound check I broke down. It was just too much to stand there singing this song that does my head in, and to stand there singing it with Brian. "

“ God Only Knows is one of the few songs that makes me cry every time I hear it. It's just a love song, but it's brilliantly done. It shows what a genius Brian is. I performed it with him once and I'm afraid to say that I collapsed during the soundcheck. It was just too much to stand there and sing that song that gets me down and stand there and sing it with Brian. "

BBC Radio 2 listeners chose God Only Knows as one of three songs that changed their lives.

Cover versions

The song has been interpreted by numerous artists. Glen Campbell , Jack Jones , Neil Diamond , David Bowie and Andy Williams are some of the best known. Joss Stone released a cover version of this piece in 2005 . Brian Wilson released a new version of this song on the CD New Music from an Old Friend , which was produced by Phil Ramone.

List of cover versions (excerpt)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 37
  2. ^ Nugent, Stephen / Fowler, Anne / Fowler, Pete: Chart Log of American / British Top 20 Hits, 1955-1974. In: Gillett, Charlie / Frith, Simon (eds.): Rock File 4 . Frogmore, St. Albans: Panther Books, 1976, p. 80
  3. ↑ Andrew G. Doe
  4. ↑ Kingley Abott, Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys
  5. ^ I Just Wasn't Made for These Times: Brian Wilson and the Making of Pet Sounds by Charles L. Granata. Published by Unanimous Ltd, 2003. ISBN 1-55652-507-9
  6. ^ The Pet Sounds Sessions: "The Making Of Pet Sounds" booklet
  7. ^ The Pet Sounds Sessions: "The Making Of Pet Sounds" booklet
  8. ↑ www.pitchforkmedia.com: The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s . ( Memento of March 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Accessed September 11, 2012.
  9. ^ The Pet Sounds Sessions: "The Making Of Pet Sounds" booklet