The Beach Boys song written as an ode to George Harrison
They say that you should chase the dream, not the competition. This is sound advice; however, when the dream is to overtake the competition, it is hard to dedicate time to your craft without keeping it in mind. This was a running theme for The Beatles and The Beach Boys, both huge bands who were constantly battling for the top spot at their peak.
A common rivalry between the two is often cited, and whilst this was the case, it was all relatively relaxed as most members of the bands got on pretty well. The head-to-head they had, if anything, spurred both groups on to continue creating excellent music and resulted in some of their respective best work. The Beatles and The Beach Boys might have ended up being very different acts if one of them didn’t exist.
There was always respect between them. They had different styles of music, but a unique and beautiful mastery of songwriting followed both around like a shadow, which meant they couldn’t be fans of their work without simultaneously complementing the others. Paul McCartney has been on record saying that ‘God Only Knows’ is one of his favourite tracks of all time, and different pieces by the artists went on to inspire each other’s work.
Due to their mutual appreciation of one another, it was a blow to the members of The Beach Boys when George Harrison passed away. He was not only an excellent musician to them, but he was a good friend. When it came to processing his loss, the band did it in the only way they knew how, through the medium they equally loved with Harrison: song.
Mike Love of the Beach Boys and George Harrison shared a star sign, and Love used that as the starting point for his homage to the late guitarist. He wrote ‘Pisces Brothers’ shortly after Harrison passed away; however, it wasn’t released until 2014, on what would have been Harrison’s 71st birthday.
“It’s a poem that I put to music,” said Love, “And I love doing it every night. It just takes me back to those times, you know. There’s very few songs touch me as emotionally as that.”
Love also stated that even though those times have passed, he is still grateful that people seem to enjoy their music. “They talked about Beatlemania, but The Beach Boys had their own kind of Beatlemania,” he said, “It was pretty fun. Nowadays, it’s not like that for us. Maybe it is for somebody else. But we still have multiple generations who love our music, and we love seeing that – entire families coming out to shows. It’s very uplifting to me.”
Despite the song not being released until 2014, ‘Pisces Brothers’ had been available long before that, thanks to internet leaks. While this annoys a lot of artists, the band just seemed happy that people were sharing their love for Harrison. They declared that the song was for anyone who loved George.
