by Howie Edelson
The Beach Boys' "Wouldn't It Be Nice" remains ingrained in our hearts for not only its birth of spring opening salvo, but for defining the emotion of innocent love growing up.
“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” famously served as the lead track of The Beach Boys’ masterpiece album Pet Sounds, which was issued on May 16th, 1966. The song was released as a single the following July 18th, eventually topping out at Number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and soaring to Number Two in the UK. Amazingly, the single’s B-side was no less an instant classic featuring the LP’s brilliant Side Two opener, the unforgettable “God Only Knows.”
Over the decades, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" has been a constant in The Beach Boys’ setlists, even earning a spot as their concert opener during the mid-‘70s. The song was also one of the tunes performed during the band’s historic five-song set at Live Aid on July 13th, 1985 at Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium.
Brian Wilson, who produced and co-wrote “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” with chief Pet Sounds lyricist Tony Asher, and his cousin, Beach Boys frontman Mike Love, explained the basis of the song:
“In a sense it was what youthful people will talk about. ‘Wouldn't it nice if we could get married?’ -- but they're young, y’know? The whole idea about, wouldn't it be nice if we could do this or that but they're not quite old enough to be able to do it! . . . 1966 was a very big year for The Beach Boys. I realized that the recording industry was becoming free and intelligent. We could go into new things – string quartets, auto-harps, and instruments from other cultures. I decided right then that I was going to try and make the greatest rock n’ roll album ever created. Pet Sounds was (aiming for a) more of an advanced kind of lyric. It wasn't about cars or surf or flashy ideas. It was more of an introspective album with very, very good lyrics. I would sit in my room and work for hours and hours on songs and then play them to Mike, Dennis, Al, Carl, and Bruce to see if they enjoyed them. Pet Sounds was an example of something advanced and experimental.”
Carl Wilson, Brian’s baby brother, always served as his deputy and closest creative confidante on the group’s studio sessions. He shed light on the work Brian put into the songs prior to introducing them to the band:
“When Brian presented a song to us, we would sense what our part would be. Mike always sang the bottom, I would sing the one above that, then would come Dennis or Al and then Brian on top. Al’s voice has a bright timbre to it; it really cuts. Brian’s voice is very complete. Our voices are like horn parts, the way those R&B records made background vocals sound like a sax section. They’re all within the same octave; that’s really the secret to it. We didn’t just duplicate parts; we used a lot of counterpoint, a lot of layered sound.”
Mike Love still maintains that the work The Beach Boys created for Pet Sounds was a peak for not only the band – but popular music in general:
“If you listen to the vocals on Pet Sounds, they’re some of the best ever recorded. I mean, they’re flawless. We worked long and hard on the vocals and if there was a hint of a sharp or a flat we would have to do it again until it was right. Every voice had to be right. The timing had to be right. We’d be about eight or nine bars into the song and Brian would stop us. Nobody else in the room would know what was wrong with it, but he’d know that a note was wrong, or somebody hadn’t played, out of all the bits that were going on.”
Bruce Johnston recalled the sheer athleticism of the band during the 1966 sessions:
“On the Pet Sounds album, we re-recorded (vocal takes) so many times. Our vocals for 'Wouldn't It Be Nice’ -- the rhythm was never right. We would slave at Western (Studios) here in Hollywood for a few days, singing this thing, and he'd say, ‘No, it's not right, it's not right.’"
Back in 1967, Dennis Wilson spoke to Hit Parader about his older brother Brian’s work ethic and creative growth:
“He has to keep moving all the time. But he drives himself so hard. As life progresses, so people learn. We've made the biggest advances in writing. You can't record unless you have a song. As life goes on, you learn a lot. It's the same here with the boys and Brian. He writes about his experiences in life. That's all you can write about. You can't write about things you don't know.”
For Al Jardine the magic has always laid in the music itself:
"If you could write, just, maybe the bridge to 'Wouldn't It Be Nice,' that would be an accomplishment for most writers for a lifetime. Just the bridge."
Over the years “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” has found a place on numerous Beach Boys hits compilations – along with some brilliant live versions on such concert collections as Live in London (1970); The Beach Boys In Concert (1973); Good Timin': Live At Knebworth England 1980 (2002); Songs From Here & Back (2006); The 50th Anniversary Tour (2013); Graduation Day 1966 (2016); 1967 – Live Sunshine (2017); The Beach Boys On Tour: 1968 (2018); and Live At Carnegie Hall as featured on Sail On Sailor: 1972 (2022).
Of all the incredible love songs in The Beach Boys’ catalogue, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” will always stand apart for the joy and hopefulness it coveys in discovering and embarking on new and true romantic love.
Spring has sprung!
Play The Beach Boys as often as you can!