In 1966, The Beach Boys released their iconic studio album Pet Sounds. The album opens with the beautiful “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, one of the band’s signature tracks. The song is highly regarded for its innovative production, complex harmonies, and sentimental lyrics, and is seen as one of the greatest pop records ever made. In this article, we will dive into the story, meaning, and legacy behind the song.
The Story Behind the Song
The Beach Boys’ bandleader Brian Wilson wrote “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” (and most of Pet Sounds) together with songwriter Tony Asher. And even though the two barely knew each other before partnering up, they had great musical chemistry from the get-go. “Tony Asher had the ability to put into words what I felt in my heart”, Brian Wilson commented on their partnership.
Wilson’s idea for “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” was to write a song about lovers who were too young to get married. According to Asher, Wilson was extremely appealed to the innocence of this situation. Wilson composed the melody of the song, after which Asher wrote lyrics to it. This method was different from most other songs on Pet Sounds, where the melody and lyrics were written simultaneously.
While the other members of The Beach Boys were touring, Brian Wilson headed into the studio with the Wrecking Crew – a talented collective of sessions musicians based in LA – to record the instrumental backing track of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”. Wilson himself stopped touring with The Beach Boys in January 1965 to exclusively focus on songwriting and producing.
For the instrumental backing track, Wilson used unique and unusual instruments for pop productions, like a glockenspiel and a mando guitar (an electric 12-string guitar tuned an octave higher than a regular guitar). A total of 22 instrumental takes were recorded, which required a total of 16 session musicians.
After the instrumental of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” was recorded, the members of The Beach Boys headed into the studio to record the vocals of the track. The sessions were one of the most difficult and extensive in the band’s career, with Mike Love stating Wilson was aiming at something ‘mystical’ that was ‘out of the range of hearing’. Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and Carl Wilson had similar accounts as Love, with Carl Wilson stating they allocated at least 10 sessions to the song.
The tough sessions paid off, as Wilson was delighted with the finished version of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”. “Tony and I had visualized a scene. We had a feeling in our hearts, like a vibration. We put it into music, and it found its way onto tape. We really felt good about that record.”
The Meaning of the Song
“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” is a song about young lovers who fantasize about the freedom they gain as romantics when they’re older. “It expresses the frustration of youth,” Brian Wilson said about the song in an interview. “What you can’t have, what you really want and you have to wait for it.”
Tony Asher had similar remarks about the song as Brian Wilson. “I can remember in ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ that we’d both had the experience of being too young to have what the rest of the world would call a serious relationship with a girl and yet wanting to be able to have it taken seriously. So that would have come out of a conversation that we would have had. So surely, it was autobiographical from the point of view of both of us.”
Read more: The 10 Best Beach Boys Songs of All Time
The lyrics of the song are seen as more mature than The Beach Boys’ previous releases. Whereas early Beach Boys songs addressed love based on fun, looks, and aesthetics, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” addressed more serious themes such as longing for togetherness and marriage.
The Legacy of Wouldn’t It Be Nice
“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” was eventually released as a part of Pet Sounds on May 16, 1966. 2 months later the song was released as a single with “God Only Knows” as a B-side. The single knew moderate success and reached number 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Upon its release, Pet Sounds was received surprisingly poorly in the US. Brian Wilson, whose aim was to make ‘the greatest rock album ever’, was deeply hurt by the reception and allocated all his energy towards finishing “Good Vibrations” (which would become a big hit).
It would take decades before Pet Sounds received the recognition it deserved. Nowadays, the album is considered one of the greatest albums ever made. And its opening track, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, is one of the album’s absolute highlights.
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