Which ‘Pet Sounds’ song features Beach Boy Dennis Wilson on drums?
When the rest of The Beach Boys returned from their tour of Japan on February 9th, 1966, they found that lead songwriter and producer Brian Wilson had been making his own album without them. He’d enlisted drummer Hal Blaine’s session group later dubbed the ‘Wrecking Crew’ to record a set of otherworldly instrumental tracks onto which he wanted his bandmates to record vocal overdubs.
The Wrecking Crew musicians had actually been used sporadically for Beach Boys studio sessions as far back as 1964 but never had their presence taken over the band’s sound so comprehensively. There was some reluctance among the band, particularly from lead singer Mike Love, to go along with this new approach. Nevertheless, eventually, Brian won them around.
What’s more, the album’s instrumentation wasn’t quite finished. There was still time for Carl Wilson to overdub lead guitar parts onto a couple of songs. And for the original Beach Boys members to record one song in its entirety themselves a week after they returned to the studio.
That song sees Brian Wilson return to the bass duties he’d undertaken on most of the group’s earlier albums, and his brother Dennis picks up his drumsticks again. Not that the difference from Blaine’s jazz-influenced percussion is noticeable.
The middle Wilson brother does a commendable job behind the drum kit, particularly with the rapid-fire change-up pattern he applies to the floor tom and bass drum at irregular intervals. It’s arguably one of the best drumming performances on the entire record.
What song are we talking about?
Dennis’ turn on the drums came on ‘That’s Not Me’, which features all Beach Boys members on their primary instruments with the exception of rhythm guitarist Al Jardine. The third song on Pet Sounds expresses bittersweet sentiments of nostalgia towards the simpler life its writer left behind. Probably the life Brian left behind to become the genius behind The Beach Boys.
It cleverly contrasts the narrator’s “dream” of making it big to a wistful yearning for home once he realises that the reality he aspired to “wasn’t so pretty”. This contradictory lyrical theme is reflected in the ascending modulations within the song’s chord progression, which remain unresolved through to its fade-out.
Dennis’ occasionally thunderous drums are an essential factor in revealing the unsettling underbelly of the narrator’s ambivalence towards his new life. Beneath Carl’s colourful guitar jangles and Brian’s dreamy hammond organ part, there lurks a conflict brewing in the depths of the singer’s mind.
His playing on ‘That’s Not Me’ was arguably one of Dennis Wilson’s most important drumming contributions to a Beach Boys song. And alongside the celebrated parts he recorded for the 1964 single ‘I Get Around’ and its B-side ‘Don’t Worry Baby’, it has to be one of his best.
