“One of the mystery songs”: The song Brian Wilson could never figure out
Songwriting inspiration can strike at any point for any given reason. For a songwriter as prolific as The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, sometimes inspiration can come from the most unexpected of places. Many of his tracks have taken time to fully develop and craft, culminating in a plethora of groundbreaking classics. However, some of Wilson’s compositions have emerged from his mind fully formed without explanation, remaining a mystery even to the man himself.
When Wilson first formed The Beach Boys along with brothers Dennis and Carl back in 1961, he was hardly the most gifted songwriter out there. In fact, during those early years, the sound of The Beach Boys was little more than a repackaged version of early rock ‘n’ roll stars like Chuck Berry, often lifting melodies and chord progressions directly from those old records. As they progressed, however, Wilson’s songwriting prowess began to emerge, coming to define the distinctive sound of the California group.
There is no doubt that Wilson’s magnum opus came with the 1966 album Pet Sounds. Completely redefining perceptions of the album as a format, the record saw The Beach Boys enter a bold new era of innovative pop music, with Wilson’s songwriting reaching an all-time high. Of course, the album features a plethora of Wilson’s most renowned compositions, like ‘God Only Knows’ or ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’, but the music of Pet Sounds is best enjoyed as a collection rather than individual songs.
An album like Pet Sounds does not occur naturally. To get the album off the ground, Wilson had to work tirelessly on its songwriting and composition, crafting these complex arrangements and trailblazing sounds over time. As opposed to the majority of the pop music in America at the time, the songs taken from Pet Sounds were deeply personal, often introspective efforts that explored the innermost recesses of Wilson’s mind as an artist. Seemingly, though, some of those songs were buried so deep in his subconscious that he was largely unaware of their origin.
“‘Here Today’ was probably one of the mystery songs on the album,” Wilson recalled years later. “I don’t really know what it’s about,” he explained, “I liked it, but yet I didn’t.” On a surface level, the song tells a fairly standard pop music tale detailing the inevitability of heartbreak. In terms of composition, however, the track, written by Wilson alongside Tony Asher, is anything by standard.
Recording ‘Here Today’ was a colossal undertaking for the band, requiring 12 studio musicians to complete Wilson’s orchestral vision, including trombone, upright bass, and even a tack piano. Despite being one of the final tracks recorded for Pet Sounds, the song quickly became one of the album’s highlights, rightly commended for its innovative arrangement and twist on the usual heartbreak theme of pop music.
Nevertheless, the song has always remained a mystery in the mind of Wilson, who never seemed all that keen on it. “I don’t really identify with that song like I do with ‘You Still Believe In Me’ or ‘Caroline, No,’” the songwriter explained. “It was just one of those songs in there, one little song.”
Wilson may be at risk of not giving himself enough credit in that quote, as it seems ludicrous to call any of the songs on Pet Sounds “little”. Perhaps more so than any album previously, the 1966 release trimmed the fat, abandoning superfluous filler tracks and using every available second on the LP to craft a profound overarching narrative.
