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The Beach Boys Make God Only Knows ALL About YOU (Patreon)

Published:
2025-01-23 12:48:26
Imported:
2026-06
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Videos

Content

Yes, this song instantly gets added to my favorites list! What a great piece of music writing in so many different ways!

Bernstein and Gould: https://youtu.be/9ZX_XCYokQo?si=mCewkIgUePvjjwBL

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Comments

TangoEliott

I think instrumentally this song is full of many sweet sounds. As a kid I was confused as he said he might not always love you but you never have to doubt that he does love you. Because of that I felt it made no sense. Therefore, I avoided the song. When I heard McCartney loved it I listened again and years older I still did not understand. So I write this before Amy is done hoping she can explain it to me.

Rea Lavi

Very glad you'll be doing an in-depth on this. It's in my top 100 songs playlist. It is so good

Deborah June

I’m so glad that you returned to The Beach Boys!

Ron

Amy- I have SO looked forward to your analysis of one of my all-time favorite songs, and you didn't disappoint! I can't wait until the time when you do a deeper dive into Brian Wilson's pop/rock masterpiece!

TONY SURRATT

Enjoyed that I seen the BB at a Padres game. p.s. Without Me

Martin Poli

Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson bought admit they were bought influenced by the other. Sargent Peppers was the Beatles answer to Pet Sounds which was released one year earlier.

Ron

Amy- You touched on the unusual instrumentation and melodic structure of this song, and I look forward to your later exploration of the equally unusual (and I think brilliant) harmonic structure of it as well.

Pedro Macedo

This is a very inventive song in terms of harmony, melody, and arrangement.

Eric (bucketfootbaseball)

Brian knew that Carl's voice was absolutely perfect for this song. As usual he was right.

mer2

I think this is the greatest 60s song, and Pet Sounds, the album it is on, the best 60s album. I always feel that the Beach Boys in this particular era is unique because they went in opposite direction to where music would be headed later in the late 60s. Session musicians were used less and less by bands, arrangements were looser, and improvisation like guitar solos became more important. Also you hear less vocal harmonies in the late 60 than in the mid 60s. The music of Pet Sounds on the other hand, is composed through and through, most instruments are played by session musicians, using a very large amount of players. I don't think there is any improvised solo, and the only guitar solo is I think on the instrumental title track. And vocal harmonies are of course very important for the Beach Boys So Pet Sounds to me sounds like an endpoint of a certain direction of music. If you want to make intricate 60 pop music with lots of instruments, the Beach Boys of this era took this as far as you can go. After this, most people looked in different directions. A few stray remarks: 1) The Beach Boys are a band which has made some brilliant music, but also a lot of absolute stinkers. In the beginning this was because they released a lot of music, 3 albums a year, so most albums were mostly fillers. In the end though it was because they became quite bad, and Summer in Paradise, of 1992 is probably the worst album ever released by a major band. 2) Brian Wilson wrote most of their original music (they also released quite a few covers, as most bands their generation did). He collaborated with others, either fellow band member Mike Love, or outside writers, for the lyrics. Later on, others started to contribute as well, and especially Brian's brothers Dennis and Carl turned out to be very good songwriters. That said, Brian Wilson's use of harmony in their chord progression is quite unique, and is what made The Beach Boys so great in my opinion. 3) The Beach Boys is also a band with a lot of drama, including members suing each other. Brian Wilson had a lot of mental health issues, leadership of the band changed hands a few times, and there was a tension between Mike Love, the frontman who had more commercial instincts, and the Wilson brothers, who wanted to follow their muse wherever it went. (this is a simplification of course, but my comment is already long)

Gary Sjoberg

My favorite song (along with Somewhere over the Rainbow). Each to me is like a musical painting. Wilson’s song blends all of those colors at the end into a kaleidoscope, swirling, your ears captured by this and then that sound, as a kaleidoscope does with colors. Absolutely gorgeous.

Kristina Mathesen

Before I heard you say you were going to do a second listen, I was planning to come to the comments to ask for just one more listen straight through together… just because it’s such a lovely song and it deserves our full attention!

Chris H.

"Teenage symphonies to god" - Brian Wilson describing the music he was composing at this point in his life.

Dd

The outro to this beautiful song never gets old. Just the best

John Golterman

The song is rapturous, and has been at the top of my “Amy wish list” from the beginning. I’m so delighted, I haven’t even watched the video yet!

Lynn Poole

At the time it was released, Paul McCartney said that it's his favorite song and continues to say that. There is a video on youtube of Brian and Paul singing it together at a benefit concert in 2002. Paul said that he was awestruck to sing this song with Brian.

Paul D. Hoffmaster III

One of those songs that I now know the answer too that I hoped that I would never know. I don't play it now because of that. But, I do love the song but it hurts now. Sorry for the downer. Good review Amy, once again.

John Golterman
>>162233092

Outstanding! A special thank you for this one Amy. It made my day, and that’s a tall order right now here in Los Angeles. (And I can look forward to a deep dive as well?!) 🎆🎉🎆

Rea Lavi

I don't think of this song as rock but as pop with perhaps touches of rock. There's no angst, rebellion, distortion, etc. in it or anything that feels like rock to me.

Rea Lavi
>>162205326

Paul also said it was their Freakout (Zappa's 1965 album), so there were (as was always the case with The Beatles) multiple influences.

Graeme Frew

This is likely to be a bit controversial but I just don't connect with the Beach Boys. I can recognise that they write good songs but they just leave me cold. Not sure why and its almost certainly just down to me.

Rea Lavi
>>162270313

Funnily enough even though this song is one of my favorites of all time by anyone, I feel the same way about everything else I've heard. Though I think it might just be me not exploring more songs / giving another listen to a few I think I don't like.

Rea Lavi
>>162270313

there could be something too neat/clinical about it I suppose. But this song's lyrics and melody are so great.

Rea Lavi
>>162214441

I'd love for Amy to listen to a few version of SOTR.. maybe do a weekend with 2 of those songs.

Jordan Crosno

That whole Pet Sounds album got many listens from me

Graeme Frew
>>162270313

I think the word clinical captures it for me. They make very good and melodic songs but to me they lack soul and a connection to normal life.

Julian Ortiz

The Beach Boys have always rivaled The Beatles for my personal favorite band of all time. This song is one of the main reasons why. I think The Beatles were a bit more consistent in keeping up the high quality factor, so they hold the edge. That said, I just might prefer this song overall because it’s so good. It’s special in a way that my favorite Beatles songs aren’t. Many Beach Boys songs are like this for me. That might sound like sacrilege to some, but I maintain Brian Wilson was and is a genius. He heard all the things Amy mentioned about the specific melodies and harmonies and instrument choices in his head, while suffering from co-occurring disorders and being deaf in one ear. He heard them before putting pencil to paper. Amy’s statement about the vocal melody is far more profound than she may have known. Brian Wilson was like a modern day Bach. He had a similar spirituality and his songs were meant to uplift our human conditions to another realm of existence. Some days I’m amazed he’s still with us after all he’s been through and done. The man is an American treasure, which brings me to another point I hope people won’t take exception to. The Beach Boys are a uniquely North American band that couldn’t have come into being anywhere or during any other time than the United States in the 1960s. That part of their identity tends to either attract fans or is a turn off and even a raison d'être for their detractors. Even back in the 60s people wrote them off as some sort of jingoist group that celebrated American culture and excess. I admit I can sort of see that, but I also think that misses the point. The point always was this is what teenagers in Southern California were into. Their music provides a peek into what was going on at the time. It maybe was a little contrived early on with the Surfer image and car culture, but as time went on and the novelty wore off, Brian Wilson wanted to do something more substantive and he knocked it out of the park on Pet Sounds. You could hear their music going in this direction as far back as 1963, it just took 5 or 6 albums to finally get there. My point is, I think too many people overthink the simplicity and forget to just listen and have fun. That’s what their music provides for me. Fun, Fun, Fun. I really enjoy this video. I’m happy to hear Amy will be revisiting it for a more in depth analysis. Thank, Amy.

Ben G.

So glad to hear that you plan to do a deep dive! When the video was more than halfway through and you were still talking about the lyrics, I was like what are we doing here? With so many interesting elements to this song that one could talk about, really? But you pulled it out in the end. Phew! I think you’ll find the deep dive very rewarding which means so will we. I always thought this was just a nice pretty little song until i tried to learn to play it and first really looked into the harmonic progressions from the inside. My respect for Brian Wilson exploded exponentially. It’s now one of my faves from a songwriting perspective.

Lynn Poole
>>162270313

I agree. I have read that after Pet Sounds, Brian Wilson wanted to continue in this direction but the other members of the band shot that down. They wanted to get back to their roots. Pop songs but no focus on innovation because that was more commercial. I have also read that they were adversely affected by their name, "Beach Boys". A certain type of music was expected by their fans. I liked the early pop music but I don't go there now. There is no question that this is a great song.

Ricardo Roth

quite impressive to speak 10+ minutes about the meaning of a song where you only heard 1 minute of

Vitor Zimmerer

Amy and Vlad, I am curious to find out whether you have Burt Bacharach on your list of artists at all. He's such an influential writer and provides a lot of context to what is happening in this period.

DJ Marquis Marc Rambeau du Tacoma

A truly beautiful song. I can think of others in a similar category: HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE; BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER; WITHOUT YOU (Harry Nilsson's hit version) - poignant themes, beautiful voices, appropriate instrumentation. [Addendum: You did WITHOUT YOU this weekend... fabulous!] As for another great Beach Boys song: try HEROES AND VILLAINS... Brian's final masterpiece... following GOOD VIBRATIONS, and was the centerpiece of his ambitious SMiLE album of 1967, but wasn't completed until the 2000s. The Beach Boys - God Only Knows (isolated tracks) https://youtu.be/OXBHqcZbm9I

Bruno de Koning

Happy to see you returning to the Beach Boys! They're my favourite band of all time. A very famous band, but most people don't realize how interesting their music really is. Both in the sense that their music often sounds simple on the surface but is actually quite complex, and in the sense that they made a lot of interesting and beautiful music after their decline in popularity post-1966. Would love to see you cover the entire Pet Sounds album some time. Few albums are as rewarding as Pet Sounds when you really listen closely, so I'm sure it would be worth it. (I mean... you could "easily" do a Beach Boys 50/100 series on their discography, they're that kind of band. Lots of different periods to cover: early surf and car stuff, early gems like In My Room and Don't Worry Baby, big hits like I Get Around and California Girls, intricate productions and beautiful ballads from the Today album, Pet Sounds, the unfinished SMiLE, the kinda quirky "lo-fi" album trilogy, the more democratic 20/20 to Surf's Up period, their R&B/Soft Rock era, the Brian's Back era which has some Outsider Music vibes. From 1978 onwards their music is a bit hit or miss, in my opinion, and actually sounds more dated than their earlier stuff. But there's still plenty of great recordings from this time.) But that's a big undertaking when there's so much other great music to discover. And their mid-60s recordings are generally the most interesting to analyse anyway, I'd imagine.

Jazz C.

Probably one of the only times you can say oh this reminds me of the Beatles and the answer is that’s because Paul was deeply influenced by The Beach Boys not the other way around lol! I mean obviously they inspired each other but sgt pepper was a direct response to pet sounds. I’ve always found it a funny image to think of Paul repeatedly listening to this album in 66 and really forcing John in to hearing god only knows over and over again, quite cute to picture

kevin coleman

This whole album deserves a series of extra vids like the Beatles! Can't wait to hear you dig into the harmonies of this song