The Beach Boys song Mike Love insisted on changing
Everything great about The Beach Boys normally comes down to the songwriting genius of Brian Wilson. Outside of the lyrics about having fun in the sun, the sonic complexity of the band’s greatest material usually came from Wilson working away in the studio, using The Wrecking Crew as an instrument to create the sounds he heard in his head. Although their magnum opus, Pet Sounds, would eventually be heralded as one of the greatest pieces of music in rock history, one of the album’s deep tracks involved tinkering from Mike Love.
Then again, Wilson’s approach to sonic reinvention didn’t happen overnight. When making the first handful of Beach Boys albums, Wilson took inspiration from bands like The Four Freshmen, pioneering the now-trademark harmonies that would come to epitomise the sounds of summertime.
Even though Wilson could have spit out different odes to cars, girls, and summer throughout his career, he had the urge to go even further when listening to The Beatles Rubber Soul for the first time. Being the first time that the lovable moptops moved out of the traditional pop environment, Wilson wanted to create something that had the same effect as his English friends.
Rather than spend his energy working on the road, the band would eventually tour without Wilson as he stayed behind in the studio, working on every song he could with various contributions by lyricist Tony Asher. Even though the songs were still in the spirit of the group’s earlier material, Love took issue with one song that went too far from their usual wheelhouse.
Seeing how Wilson was experimenting with acid and transcendental practices, he came up with the song ‘Hang On To Your Ego’, featuring some of the greatest harmony parts on the album. Even though the tune was terrific, Love thought that the band had no business getting involved in drug references in their songs, thinking that it would turn off most of their target audience.
When talking about the song on Classic Albums, Love thought that Wilson was too informed by substances with that song, saying, “That was a little too drug-influenced. So I came up with the alternative lyric, ‘I Know There’s An Answer’.” Even though the song would become a foundational piece of Pet Sounds regardless, this would be far from the first time that Love disagreed with Wilson’s direction.
For all of the great melodies that he wrote, Love thought that the band should have continued playing surf-focused music, going so far as to mock the lyrics to ‘Hang On To Your Ego’ in between takes. Even with the additions from Love, Wilson had already created a masterpiece, using complex musical pieces to create some of the most beautiful tunes ever written, like ‘God Only Knows’.
Although ‘I Know There’s An Answer’ is still regarded as one of the classics from Pet Sounds, Love practically missed a golden opportunity for The Beach Boys. As the world was about to enter The Summer of Love, ‘Hang On To Your Ego’ could have been the first time surf rockers indulged in the sounds of psychedelia before The Beatles had even made Sgt Pepper.
