Wouldn't It Be Nice
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| "Wouldn't It Be Nice" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by The Beach Boys | ||
| from the album Pet Sounds | ||
| Released | July 11, 1966 | |
| Format | Vinyl | |
| Recorded | Unknown | |
| Genre | Baroque Pop | |
| Length | 5 min 11 sec for both songs | |
| Label | Capitol Records | |
| Producer(s) | Brian Wilson | |
| Chart positions | ||
| The Beach Boys singles chronology | ||
| "Sloop John B"/"You're So Good To Me" (1966) ---- "Cool, Cool Water"/"Forever" (1971) |
"Wouldn't It Be Nice"/"God Only Knows" (1966) ---- "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (live at the Big Sur Folk Festival) (1971) |
"Good Vibrations"/"Let's Go Away For Awhile" (1966) ---- "Long Promised Road"/"Deirdre" (1971)" |
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" is the opening song on the classic 1966 album Pet Sounds and one of the most widely recognized songs by the American pop group The Beach Boys. It was composed and produced by Brian Wilson, with lyrics by Tony Asher, and the lead vocal was sung by Brian Wilson with Mike Love singing lead vocals on the bridge.
The layering of harmonies upon harmonies, and lyrics on top of harmonies make this one of the quintessential Beach Boys songs. In the Endless Summer documentary, Brian Wilson described this song as "what children everywhere go through… wouldn't it be nice if we were older, or could run away and get married".
Brian was quoted as saying "Listen for the rockin' accordions and the ethereal guitars in the introduction. 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."
In a 1996 interview Brian stated that "'Wouldn't It Be Nice' was not a real long song, but it's a very 'up' song. It expresses the frustrations of youth, what you can't have, what you really want and you have to wait for it."
Wilson also used the title of this song for the title of his autobiography.
Contents |
[edit] Album appearances
The song first appeared on The Beach Boys classic 1966 album Pet Sounds. It was also released on July 11, 1966 as a single with the B-side being "God Only Knows".
The song appears on several occasions from different stages of the recording process and in different formats on The Pet Sounds Sessions box set:
- It appears on disc one in the first original stereo mix of the song.
- On disc 1, the "Wouldn't It Be Nice" highlights from tracking date appears, which documents the progress of the recording of the instrumental track of the song. This track goes for over seven minutes.
- On disc 1, the complete backing track is featured.
- Also on disc 1, the stereo track with background vocals is featured.
- On disc 3, an A cappella (or vocals only) version of the song is featured.
- Also on disc 3 appears the song with a monophonic alternate version.
- Again on disc 3 appears the song with a different monophonic alternate version.
- The song also appears on the bonus disc, disc 4, in its original mono mix.
Live versions also appear on two of the band's live albums. The 1970 release Live In London and the 1973 release The Beach Boys in Concert.
On the Made in U.S.A. compilation, a slightly different vocals are used.
[edit] Cultural references
It was featured in the Michael Moore film Roger & Me and the 1994 Seinfeld episode "The Hamptons". It was also featured in the 1989 The Wonder Years episode "Summer Song" and in the 2003 Angel episode "The Magic Bullet". More recently, it was featured throughout the film 50 First Dates as the song that the character Lucy constantly sang. It was also featured in the 2001 Blair Hayes film Bubble Boy. It played over the closing credits in Hal Ashby's 1975 Shampoo .
It has also been featured in two advertisements in Australia, the first also shown in Canada - a Cadbury chocolate advert ("Wouldn't it be nice if the world were Cadbury") and a lottery advert ("Wouldn't it be nice to win a million").
[edit] Details
- Written by: Brian Wilson/Tony Asher/Mike Love
- Album: Pet Sounds
- Time: 2 min 22 sec
- Produced by: Brian Wilson
- Instrumental track: recorded January 22, 1966 at Gold Star Recording Studios, Hollywood, California. Engineered by Larry Levine.
- Vocals track: recorded March-April 1966 at Columbia Studios, Hollywood, California. Engineered by Ralph Balantin.
- Single: released July 18, 1966 under Capitol Records as single 5706. Entered Billboard "Hot 100" on July 30, 1966; remained on chart 11 weeks; peaked at #8 on September 17, 1966. It was originally released as the B-side of the "God Only Knows" single, but radio programmers flipped the record over and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" became the single and a top ten hit.
[edit] Performers
- Brian Wilson: Lead Vocals
- Mike Love: Lead Vocals on the bridge
- Hal Blaine: Drums
- Frank Capp: Bells, Tympani, Percussion
- Lyle Ritz: String Bass
- Carol Kaye: Electric Bass
- Jerry Cole: Guitar
- Bill Pitman: Guitar
- Barney Kessel: Mandolin
- Ray Pohlman: Mandolin
- Al de Lory: Piano
- Larry Knechtel: Organ
- Carl Fortina: Accordion
- Frank Marocco: Accordion
- Steve Douglas: Saxophone
- Plas Johnson: Saxophone
- Jay Migliori: Saxophone
- Roy Caton: Trumpet
[edit] See also
| Pet Sounds Track Listing |
|---|
| Wouldn't It Be Nice | You Still Believe In Me | That's Not Me | Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) | I'm Waiting For The Day Let's Go Away For Awhile | Sloop John B | God Only Knows | I Know There's An Answer | Here Today I Just Wasn't Made For These Times | Pet Sounds | Caroline No |
