"Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)"
"I Just Wasn't Made For These Times"
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(1966) Pet Sounds
Pet Sounds
by Beach Boys (1966)
Written by H-Seldon (2)
Although the Beach Boys' music was fairly unsophisticated at the start of their careers, it matured very quickly. Their first top-10 hit, "Surfin' USA", was released in 1963, and it was essentially Chuck Berry, albeit with some nice vocal harmonies on top. By the end of 1965, they were producing pop gems with sophisticated melodies and chord changes, and creative arrangements, like "California Girls", which featured an unusual, almost orchestral-sounding intro.
Throughout this time of musical growth, however, the music they created remained essentially "Beach Boys" music. Girls, cars, surfing and fun in the California sunshine were still the dominant themes, and the music, for the most part, was happy and upbeat. It was a formula that kept the Beach Boys on top, even in the face of the Beatles and the British Invasion.
By 1965, Brian Wilson, the band's principal songwriter and producer, was no longer touring. He worked in the studio, writing the songs and producing the backing tracks, while the rest of the band would go on the road. When a tour ended, the rest of the Beach Boys would go to the studio and add their vocals to the tracks. In early 1966, following a tour of Japan and Hawaii, the Beach Boys listened to the tracks Brian had produced for their next album. They were totally unprepared for what they heard.
This was unlike anything the Beach Boys had done before. The complex arrangements included strings, accordions, harmonicas, kettle drums, sleigh bells, flutes, harpsichord, banjo, a bicycle bell, and even a theramin (a device used to create sci-fi movie sound effects). The lyrics were introspective and bittersweet, and the music was often hauntingly sad.
There was resistance at first. The Beach Boys were uncomfortable with the idea of changing the formula that was working so well for them. Still, as different as the music was, it was also undeniably beautiful. In the end, they all agreed to work on the project.
Pet Sounds was released on May 16, 1966, and reached #10 on the US album charts. "Sloop John B" reached #3 and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" reached #8 on the singles charts. Compared to the success the Beach Boys were used to, this was actually considered a somewhat disappointing performance. The folks at Capitol Records hadn't been completely sold on the new musical direction of the Beach Boys, and they didn't promote the album as heavily as they might have.
Today, Pet Sounds is widely recognized as the masterpiece that it is. Mojo magazine called it "The Greatest Album Ever Made", and Rolling Stone magazine put it at #2 on their list of the Greatest Albums Of All Time. Paul McCartney said "I figure no one is educated musically 'til they've heard that album."
Beach Boys — Pet Sounds: Track-by-track review
1. "Wouldn't It Be Nice"
Listening to the first track, it isn't immediately apparent that this album was going to be much different from what had come before. The intro to "Wouldn't It Be Nice" is a little unusual, but "California Girls" had also used an usual intro. The music is upbeat and bouncy. It sounds like a Beach Boys record.
Lyrically, however, the lyrics are just slightly more sophisticated than usual. The subject, teenage love, is a common pop music theme, but these teens don't want to dance, hold hands or kiss. They are wishing they were older so that they could sleep together. Not just have sex, but spend the night together, and wake up next to each other the next morning. The Rolling Stones didn't record "Let's Spend the Night Together" until 1967, and that song was a bit controversial even then. It was a bit bold for the Beach Boys to address the subject in 1966. Still, perhaps because of the Beach Boys' clean-cut image as "America's band", no one seemed to mind.
2. "You Still Believe In Me"
This song opens with Brian Wilson singing falsetto, and a single piano playing the same sad melody Brian is singing. The piano isn't playing any chords or other accompaniment, just single notes. Heavy reverb is used, and the effect is almost ghostly. The song itself is quite Baroque-sounding, using a harpsichord and woodwinds, and various percussion instruments, including a timpani.
After two verses, Brian sings "I wanna cry" in the same sad melody that started the song. That melody is then repeated several times as the song fades out, with the rest of the Beach Boys, sounding more like a choir in a cathedral than a surf band, sing a counterpoint melody.
As the song fades out, the listener is left either in a state of amazement or one of annoyance at the fact that the Beach Boys have never sounded like this before. Adding to the incongruity, a beeping bicycle horn becomes part of the arrangement before the fade out is complete. The effect of the bicycle horn is to take the listener from a state of "Wow, the Beach Boys have never sounded like this!" to "What on earth is going on here?".
3. "That's Not Me"
I went through all kinds of changes, took a look at myself and said 'that's not me'.
For most of the songs on Pet Sounds, including "That's Not Me", Wilson was working with a new lyricist, Tony Asher. Asher has said that the themes of the lyrics were always Brian's, however, so any degree of autobiography that exists on Pet Sounds relates to Wilson, not Asher. The desire to explore, deeper, more mature and introspective themes definitely came from Wilson.
Is "That's Not Me" autobiographical? Has fame and success left Brian Wilson unfulfilled and disappointed? The lyrics that repeat as the song fades out seem to suggest so:
I once had a dream so I packed up and split for the city
I soon found out that my lonely life wasn't so pretty
4. "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)"
This beautiful love ballad is one of the very few Beach Boys songs that have no backing vocals. Brian Wilson sings, with an accompaniment that features organ and strings. None of the other Beach Boys are on this track. The recognizable sound of Wilson's falsetto is the only hint a listener would get that this is the Beach Boys.
5. "I'm Waiting For The Day"
The tempo picks up with "I'm Waiting For The Day". It's a bouncy, happy-sounding song, but still quite different from the pre-Pet Sounds Beach Boys. There are no electric guitars. Among other instruments, the arrangement includes timpani, strings, flutes, and an English Horn.
This is another song where Brian Wilson is the only vocalist. There are background vocals, but Brian sang all the parts himself. In fact, Pet Sounds can almost be considered a Brian Wilson solo project. It was clearly a very personal project for him, one which the other Beach Boys had reservations about, and to which they contributed very little creatively.
6. "Let's Go Away For Awhile"
An instrumental, and another track on which the other Beach Boys played no part. This is a lush-sounding track, with strings, woodwinds, trumpet and vibraphone, and it's musically interesting, with unusual chord changes, but it sounds slightly unfinished. There is no prominent melody or lead instrument. It sounds like it could be the backing track for a song to which vocals were never added.
7. "Sloop John B"
The only song on the album not written, or co-written, by Brian Wilson. "Sloop John B" is based on an old folk song, which Al Jardine suggested could be rearranged for the Beach Boys. The best known earlier version was by the Kingston Trio. Some of the chords and lyrics were slightly modified in the Beach Boys' version.
"Sloop John B" was one of the two singles taken from Pet Sounds. The two singles, "Sloop John B" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice", are the songs on Pet Sounds that come the closest to the "old" Beach Boys sound.
8. "God Only Knows"
In this writer's opinion, "God Only Knows" is the best song Brian Wilson ever wrote, and one of the best songs that anyone, anywhere has ever written. Paul McCartney said "'God Only Knows' is one of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it."
The arrangement includes harp, strings, French Horn, woodwinds, and a sleigh bell (which somehow works beautifully). The melody and harmonic structure are quite sophisticated (especially for a pop song in 1966), and very beautiful. Carl Wilson sings lead, and his sensitive vocal perfectly captures the feeling of the lyrics:
If you should ever leave me
Though life would still go on, believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me?
God only knows what I'd be without you
9. "I Know There's An Answer"
Yet another unusual mix of instruments, including banjo and bass harmonica. This song was originally titled "Hang On To Your Ego", but the other Beach Boys objected, believing it was a reference to LSD use, and the effects the drug was said to have on the user's ego. The title and some of the lyrics were changed. The original version is available as a bonus track on some CD releases.
10. "Here Today"
The lyrics of "Here Today" are in the form of one person speaking to another, offering a warning:
A brand new love affair is such a beautiful thing
But if you're not careful think about the pain it can bring
Mike Love handles the lead vocals well on this track, but, as with much of Pet Sounds, the instrumental backing is at least as interesting as the lead vocals. On this track the interplay between the bass and the organ is particularly noteworthy.
11. "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times"
Though he may not have known it at the time, Brian Wilson was writing his own theme song with "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times."
He'd suffered emotional breakdowns in the past, which is what forced him to give up touring with the Beach Boys. He was met with resistance on Pet Sounds, and his next project, "Smile", would fall apart and remain unfinished for decades, mainly because the other Beach Boys couldn't see what he was trying to do, and never really fully signed on to the project.
The lyrics of "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" express Brian's growing frustration:
Every time I get the inspiration
To go change things around
No one wants to help me look for places
Where new things might be found
Where can I turn when my fair weather friends cop out
What's it all about?
When Brian sings "Sometimes I feel very sad", he foreshadows the decades of mental and emotional problems, intensified by drug and alcohol abuse, that he was on the verge of falling into in 1966.
12. "Pet Sounds"
Another instrumental. If the Ventures had dropped acid, they'd have sounded just like this. Not that that's a bad thing.
13. "Caroline, No"
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" opens Pet Sounds with young lovers looking toward the future, wishing they could be there now. Perhaps the album's final track, "Caroline, No" shows us that future:
Could I ever find in you again
Things that made me love you so much then
Could we ever bring 'em back once they have gone?
Pet Sounds is not a concept album, but as the album ends with the sound of a train departing, leaving a barking dog behind, one feels as though a story of sorts was indeed being told, and has now ended.
Thanks. I just added Sunflower to the database. It's from 1970, and I think it's a relatively unknown gem of an album from the Beach Boys. If the admin OK's the album, I'll submit a review.
NathantheCynic Jan 11, 2010 7:34 PM Quote ↓
Was wondering if someone would get around to this. Well done.