Creating Those Good Vibrations: An Analysis of Brian Wilson's US Top 40 Hits 1963–66

Abstract

Brian Wilson is widely acknowledged as one the most talented and influential artists in the history of popular music. Given his re‐emergence as a recording and concert artist after decades of illness and the recent fortieth anniversary (2006) of his best‐loved hit “Good Vibrations,” it seems timely to engage in a detailed examination of some of the work that established his reputation. This paper analyses all of Wilson's US Top 40 hits from 1963 to 1966—documenting and discussing lyrical and musical elements that characterize the work of this innovative writer‐producer.

Notes

1. Writers who typically worked as members of a particular team (e.g. Holland, Dozier and Holland) are included in their writing team, rather than listed individually (even if they occasionally wrote with others (e.g. Eddie Holland also wrote a number of songs with Norman Whitfield). Songs by Robinson and Wilson list a wide variety of co‐writers.

2. Examples of authors who have analysed aspects of Wilson's songs include Harrison, Badman, and Doe and Tobler. Harrison offers a detailed examination of a small number of Wilson songs—focusing on harmonic elements. Badman provides a range of detailed insights into recording studio practices, while Doe and Tobler make brief but insightful comments on selected aspects of Wilson's songs.

3. For the 1963 song “Be True to Your School,” for example, Wilson used fifteen of Spector's session players and employed an opening chorus of cheerleader chants (Gaines 126).

4. The Beatles were influential in effecting a gradual change in the public perception of popular music albums. After including a substantial number of cover songs on early albums, they began to rely upon songs by Lennon and McCartney, who, over time, were able to produce material of consistent quality. Hoffman argues that “the [LP] breakthrough came in 1967, with the release of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” (76).

5. Keightley (75–76) notes the common use of the term “filler” to describe this type of material, but questions its over‐use as a term of general disparagement in discussion of early albums.

6. Lyricist Roger Christian regularly worked with both Wilson and Berry. Christian is credited as co‐writer for eleven US Top 40 hits between 1963 and 1966—three with Wilson, two with Berry, four with both Wilson and Berry, and two with other writers.

7. Gaines (108).

8. Burns (26) notes the importance of distinguishing between a positive and negative lyric tone.

9. The term “disjunct” designates melodic movement by leap (minor third or greater). “Conjunct” movement is by step (semitone or tone).

10. The lyric hooks associated with this point in the songs of table 7 are as follows:

 “Shut Down”—“Tack it up, tack it up, buddy gonna shut you down”

 “Surf City”—“Two girls for every boy”

 “Little Deuce Coup”—“She's my little Deuce Coup, you don't know what I got”

 “Drag City”—‘Burn off that quarter mile’

 “Little Honda”—no particular lyric hook at this point

 “Dance Dance Dance”—“Dance, dance, dance”

11. Gaines (105).

12. Frankie Valli, for example, had a background in doo‐wop: “I came out of that whole doo‐wop, streetcorner environment” (cited in White Rock Lives 92).

13. Gribin and Schiff (16–22) provide a thorough summary of doo‐wop style.

14. Wilson employed a new lyricist (Tony Asher) for this album. Gaines says that “Asher wrote most of the actual lyrics for the new album, called Pet Sounds, although all of the songs were based on Brian's concepts” (176).

15. See Gaines (173).

16. The Beatles, in turn, acknowledged the influence of Bob Dylan on their move towards a more subjective, personal style of lyric writing (see Wenner 126).

17. According to Gaines (67–68) Wilson received a tape recorder for his sixteenth birthday, and began to experiment with overdubbing to create four‐part harmony arrangements.

18. Wilson (cited in Gaines 69) recalls, for example, harmonizing Christmas carols with his family from an early age. Carl Wilson (cited in Gaines 67) notes that the doo‐wop group the Four Freshmen “became something of an obsession for him [Brian]” during his teenage years, and he began writing his own vocal arrangements.