“God Only Knows”
There was no shortage of Beach Boys trivia a year ago when Brian Wilson passed away, so I waited to share some tidbits about one of my favorite songs.
Along with being regarded as one of the most beautiful pop songs ever written, Wilson’s masterpiece, God Only Knows, has an interesting history. Here are some things you may not know about this iconic track.
- It was banned on release in parts of the U.S.
Strange as it seems today, there was a huge worry about using the word “God” in the title. Wilson said, “I was scared they’d ban playing it on the radio because of the title…” And, although it did get banned on the radio in some areas (mainly in the south) it generally escaped censorship.
- It was originally a B-side
The record company issued God Only Knows as a single but then decided to put it on the B-side (as the flip to Wouldn’t It Be Nice), perhaps through fear of it being banned. This could be interpreted as a commercial mistake as it only reached 39 on the U.S. charts, whereas in Europe, Australia and Canada it was the A-side and a massive hit, reaching Number Two in the UK.
- Brian Wilson isn’t the singer on the track
Brian Wilson is not the lead singer on God Only Knows. He originally tried singing the lead but later handed vocal duties over to his brother Carl, whose silvery tenor voice was better suited to the piece.
- It was written in 45 minutes
The song is regarded as one of the most complex and unusual to have been written at that point in pop music’s history, but Brian Wilson claimed that he and Tony Asher (who usually wrote jingles) wrote it in just 45 minutes. Not bad for a song universally acclaimed as one of the greatest ever written.
- It’s Paul McCartney’s favorite song
Sir Paul has commented on several occasions about his love of the song, and The Beatles were inspired to write Here, There and Everywhere after hearing Pet Sounds for the first time.
Do yourself a favor and give it a listen if you haven’t heard it in a while. You won’t be disappointed.
Another tidbit. Richard Curtis used this as the song for the closing credits of the film Love Actually. Curtis was the writer and director. In an interview years later he said he knew the closing song choice was important but had no idea which one to use. So he decided to just start alphabetically. He went through the A’s then hit the Beach Boys. He went no further. Love Actually is a Christmas tradition in our house.
Thanks for the addition, Tony! And great tradition 💕