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Wouldn’t It Be Nice

“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” is the opening track on the 1966 album Pet Sounds by the American rock band the Beach Boys. It was composed, arranged, and produced by Brian Wilson with words largely by Tony Asher. Later, the song’s credit was amended to include Mike Love for its coda’s vocal arrangement and lyric. It was released as a single two months after the album’s release with “God Only Knows” as its B-side.

Its lyrics describe a couple in love lamenting about being too young to run off to get married, fantasizing about how nice it would be if they were adults. Like other tracks for Pet Sounds, Wilson constructed the song’s symphonic Wall of Sound arrangement using a variety of instruments not normally associated with pop music of its time. The music contains classical music devices that are unusual for a pop song, such as bitonality and ritardando. After recording the instrumental track, the Beach Boys overdubbed their voices according to Wilson’s exact specifications.

Pitchfork Media placed it at number 7 on its list of “The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s”. (Read more on Wikipedia)

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2 Comments

  1. Rob
    17. March 2016
  2. Sunset Cowboy
    17. March 2016

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