Why did Brian Wilson call ‘Pet Sounds’ “everlasting”?
The influence that Brian Wilson has had on the music industry could be based on the pure magic that happened on Pet Sounds.
The Beach Boys were already a phenomenal act when they first began, but when Wilson started toying with what rock and roll could be, he knew that there was something more in his system that needed to get out beyond the songs that were strictly about the California sunshine. He had a message to share, and he knew that was going to last far longer than any car song.
Because let’s face it: The Beach Boys were always in danger of looking just a little bit goofy by the standards of the 1960s. There are many tunes from their early years that are great and hold up as classic pop songs, but when ‘She Loves You’ was being recorded half a world away, it’s hard to really take lyrics about surfing and going to school all that seriously without the band themselves coming off as a bit too preppy.
But lyrics weren’t what many people came to the group for. They wanted to hear the kind of symphonies that Wilson was writing, and looking through their catalogue, he was always willing to go out on a limb and make a few strange tunes. Sure, the lyrics were a little bit trite, but by the time that Rubber Soul came out, Wilson wanted to make the kind of music that would fit together the same way The Beatles did.
And while no one really eclipses The Beatles in the classic rock world all that often, Pet Sounds is still on par with anything the Fab Four had done at that point. ‘Good Vibrations’ may have been a one-off single later, but the pure beauty of the Wrecking Crew on the album was half the reason why it worked. It sounded absolutely beautiful, but Wilson said that the reason why the record worked went beyond anything that he did.
All the music was right there in his head, but he knew that it had to come from the heart first before anything else, saying, “I’m proud of [Pet Sounds]. I think it’s a very everlasting album. I’m very proud of the love that went into it. A lot of love went into that album. And people pick up on that too, and they really like it ’cause they feel the love.” The Beatles may have used the word “love” more often than anyone, but there are a lot of layers to what Wilson is saying there.
Because the love in the music exists on two separate fronts. First, let’s look at the instrumentation for a second. Not every musician is playing the most mood-altering music by any stretch of the imagination, but the way that they all manage to play off each through ‘God Only Knows’ and ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ are practically pulling on your heartstrings before even hearing a word that comes out any of their mouths.
Did the lyrics grow up? Well, yes and no. There are many adult love songs on the record, but there’s also a healthy amount of innocence about what Wilson is saying. It’s not as easy for someone to approach with this kind of simplicity, but when listening to tracks like ‘Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)’, Wilson’s approach is still about finding a connection between two people that goes much deeper than the surface level.
He wanted to create music that moved people in that way, and while Pet Sounds was one of the first records that had the lyrics to match the music perfectly, it was still about trying to give fans something to smile about. Not every song has to be about romance by any stretch, but rarely has any album had that same yearning feeling to every one of its tracks.
