The Beach Boys songs written by Carl Wilson: “He brought dignity to the song”
When thinking of the ‘face’ and principal creative force in the Californian surf-rock group The Beach Boys, one immediately thinks of Brian Wilson, and for good reason. Gifted with an impeccable mastery of vocal harmonies and complex pop arrangements, it was Wilson’s visionary creative ambitions that pushed the band away from ‘Surfin’ USA’ to Pet Sounds, ushering an innovative standard so influential it kicked Paul McCartney up the arse to step up The Beatles’ game after Revolver (and boy did they).
While middle brother and drummer Dennis Wilson has his fans (1977’s Pacific Ocean Blue a cult favourite), it’s younger brother and lead-guitarist Carl who was the unarguable ‘deputy’ of the group, stepping up as studio producer and creative force as Brian’s mental health issues took its toll.
While Carl had a few surf instrumentals under his belt, his composition work on ‘Long Promised Road’ and ‘Feel Flows’ from ’71’s Surf’s Up initiated a string of essential contributions to The Beach Boys’ early-’70s output, but Carl learnt from the best. In the band’s infancy, Brian would often pass his younger brother cuts or takes to complete in the studio, a bold and loving gesture from an artist who was known for a meticulous obsession in the studio that rivalled Phil Spector (minus the murderous gunplay).
He also was entrusted with lead vocals for two of their most classic hits. Ever the generous brother, Brian offered Carl the verses on the Electro-Theremin soaked ‘Good Vibrations’, but it’s 1966’s ‘God Only Knows’ that afforded Carl a truly eternal recording, Brian telling Record Mirror that year: “I gave the song to Carl because I was looking for a tenderness and a sweetness which I knew Carl had in himself as well as in his voice. He brought dignity to the song and the words, through him, became not a lyric, but real words.”
While Carl had a co-credit for ’65’s ‘Dance, Dance, Dance’, his co-writing credits on Surf’s Up truly signalled his confidence as a songwriter and arranger. As much invested in the studio as he was in its composition, ‘Free Flow’s melancholic traverse and studio, phasing effects is one of The Beach Boys’ greatest gems, a fantastic cut off a fine album which demonstrated an appetite for creative hinterlands to rival his more famous brother.
Telling Rolling Stone in ’71: “I played piano first and then I played organ. I played piano twice, overdubbed it, and used a variable speed oscillator to make the track different speeds so that the piano would be a little bit out of tune, sort of a spread sound…”
After the lacklustre Carl and the Passions – “So Tough”, the band decided to head to Baambrugge near Amsterdam for ’73’s Holland, which provided Carl and his co-writer Jack Rieley with another of The Beach Boys’ finest songs, side two’s ‘The Trader’. A gripping two-parter exploring America’s colonial plunder under ‘manifest destiny in its frontier history, Wilson shapes a synth-based sound that shimmers ahead of its time, harnessing that classic Beach Boys command of exquisite vocal harmonies and soaring melodies.
Tragically, Carl died in ’98 of lung cancer before he ever gave much in the way of a comprehensive interview. The songs and compositions he left serve a greater standing, crafting some of The Beach Boys’ secret weapons tracks and dutifully steering the ship during one of their most creative periods.
The Beach Boys songs written by Carl Wilson:
- ‘Good Timin’
- ‘Friends’
- ‘Dance, Dance, Dance’
- ‘Livin’ With a Heartache’
- ‘Free Flow’
- ‘The Trader’
