The 1963 song that convinced Brian Wilson he had to “create a new kind of music”
The Beach Boys’ debut album, Surfin’ Safari, was practically a cheap holiday.
Brimming with sunshine, sand, and girls called Sandy, the record effectively invented the notion of ‘California’ to folks all over the suddenly shrinking world. So, it is not without irony that Brian Wilson didn’t even see the album as surf rock, let alone a regional encapsulation.
“I wasn’t aware that those early songs defined California so well until much later in my career,” he revealed to Uncut in 2006. “I certainly didn’t set out to do it.” As it turns out, the bastard wasn’t even into surfing. The jargon was fed to him by Dennis, the only member of the band who ever actually waxed a board, and the inspiration came from Capitol’s nod of approval.
The latter has tragic undertones. Throughout their youth, the Wilson brothers had been subject to the brutal management of their father, Murry Wilson. He ruled the household with an iron fist, simultaneously encouraging the boys to practice music, but almost never affording them anything other than harsh criticism.
So, when Capitol gave Brian Wilson the thumbs up for surf songs, he was more than happy to keep writing them without much forethought. “I just wrote and wrote,” he said. “I didn’t want to quit while we were ahead.” That’s not to say that they were mere ‘product’ or devoid of sincerity, after all, the catharsis of writing was central to the Wilson way of being.
However, when Wilson rattled off ‘Lonely Sea’, he knew his soul was tingling a little closer to the bone. The anthem came about thanks to his next-door neighbour, Gary Usher, who Wilson said “taught me how to really get into songwriting, to really involve myself in it. The feel of a song was always a big part of writing for me. It’s more important then getting things exactly right musically.”
The first time he felt that was on ‘Lonely Sea’, from the band’s sophomore album in ‘63. From the very inception of the soulful tune, Wilson knew the song “was on a different tack”. Rather than placing Wilson rolling around in the waves, it more honestly depicts him surveying the morose quality of the sea, where the soft hush against the shore prompts a more worldly reflection.
“It was very mellow and soft,” he said. “I felt like I needed to express myself more. I always wanted to produce records myself, even then.” He would continue to thunder ahead at great pace – remarkably, Pet Sounds was the band’s 11th album – but all the kernel of ‘Lonely Sea’ would always linger in the back of his mind, eventually germinating into entirely organic masterpieces like ‘God Only Knows’.
It might have taken some time to get there, with Wilson reflecting, “Up until 1966, we were just making car songs and surf songs.” But when they did, he became the most revered pioneer in American music history, and few folks were surprised, because he had always been littering at least one ‘Lonely Sea’ on each album.
“I wanted to try something new,” he said of his insatiable desire to return to those soulful heights in the years that followed. “I needed to create a new kind of music.” Thankfully, he did just that.
