Added: 4 years ago
From: sebastia2b
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  • this song makes me wanna have a girlfriend

  • this on repeat

  • Was very unselfish of Brian to allow his younger brother Carl to sing this song. I'll never forget a documentary I once saw about the Beach Boys were Carl recalls how privileged and grateful he was that Brian had let him sing this classic song. Classy move by Brian.

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  • 15 people dislike this and LOVE kid rock. sigh.

  • Brian Wilson was pure genius in his writings. From the beginning to Pet Sounds, he always hit the audience the right ways and that's why we still love the Beach Boys today.

  • Carol Kaye on bass

  • If you are a devotee of 'sixties music, then check out the book 'A Pop Revolution, the transatlantic music scene, 1965 to 1969' by the invisible man.

  • did brian really wear glasses?

  • does anyone know a guide for music like this? xD (besides the geniality guide :p)

    cuz i could realy use a hit like this :D

  • @kevin4peace This is Youtube.com and not the greatest sample of the song... Have not heard your greatest hits record yet Kevin4war

  • @kevin4peace The melody is "above average"...okay buddy...

  • @kevin4peace I actually agree with you... it's a good song but I can't really get into it like I can with some of the other Beach Boys songs. It's not the legendary piece of art that everybody says it is.

  • Here's a shocker, Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues wrote this song. The only way I know that you can verify this is through a video of Legend Of A Band; the Moody Blues

  • Love this song and the words and all the wonderful pictures of Brian and the guys. They were all good looking and so gifted and talented. Thanks for this post.

  • Thanks for posting this classic. The sheet music for the original piano part for The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" can be found at manymidi.com/sheetmusic.htm - a note-for-note transcription.

  • Mozart couldn't have even written this. Paul McCartney always wanted to write a song like this. Pet Sounds, when you get down to it, was nothing more than a Brian Wilson solo album. It's the most beautiful song ever written - old and new.

  • Brian Wilson looks like a teenager.....

  • I cant imagine what it was like to live in those days...... sigh. Such vigor and hope...... Not the distain that I grew up with....

  • Brian Wilson was Paul McCartney's favorite songwriter

  • Wilson is a genius.

  • Always has been and will be Americas answer to the Beatles...Happy 50th Anniversary to the Beach Boys

  • @rocksinger45

    Beach Boys came first.

  • @DonZabu OK, your right and the proud winner of a Beach boys invisible t-shirt, never needs washing never needs ironing...enjoy and wear it in good health...RS45

  • @DonZabu the beatles formed in liverpool in 1960, the beach boys formed in 1961; looks like you dont get the invisible t/shirt afterall.

  • @thedeadbeatdsg

    Surfin Safari was released in 62, and Please Please Me was released in 63. I at least deserve an invisible coffee mug.

  • @emiliajane71

    aaaaaw..... little hug sending  X :o)

  • This isn't my favorite Beach Boys song but it's still great and definitely one of the most well constructed songs of all time.

  • i just want to say... WOW. FANTASTIC.

  • A masterpiece.

  • I 'll give all my hopes to god.

    And my time to lovely music

  • For me amongst my absolute favorites, like Here, There and Everywhere/Yesterday/I'll Follow the Sun/Blackbird. I ran gopher at a couple NY studios starting late 60's - very young, but learned some engineering. But this is sort of common knowledge. Early stereo was capable, but with limited tracks and mixdowns done as planned mono, only so much could be done to later produce stereo. So instruments one track and voice the other. That's why it's sometimes better just to leave mono as mono.

  • this song is one of the best ever written.

  • One of the BEST EVER Popsongs ! (i'm NO beach boys fan ... ! )

  • PLEASE CHECK OUT MIIKE SNOW..I THNK ITS DEFF A PET SOUNDS WITH A TWIST OF NEW WAVE MUSIC.. MIIKE SNOW BURIAL ...OR MIIKE SNOW ANIMAL

  • Brian Wilson is a genius

  • @TRUEMAN8919

    True that Trueman, and how about a shout out to Tony Asher for the great Lyrics.

  • @TRUEMAN8919

    True that Trueman, and how about a shout out to Tony Asher for the great Lyrics.

  • love the song but i whant live =( but tnx alot m8 for the song love it!!!

  • Now whenever I hear this song, I think of the movie "Love Actually". GREAT movie! GREAT song!

  • As if God wrote this...

  • If it's a mystery to you why Pet Sounds was initially only released in mono, it's because it was Brian Wilson's pet project, & he can only hear with 1 ear, With old school mono recordings, vocals & instrumentals were mixed onto separate master tapes. It was not until digital technology in the 1990s that these original masters could be synchronized that a true stereo mix was made, & the worthiness of the effort shows especially in the musical round at the end of this song.

  • @thecarolinamudcat Also back in 1966 mono was still the main way of listening to music - at least as far as the UK was concerned. I think a lot of 1960s music sounds better in mono as 1960s technology meant that stereo mixing was rather primitive compared to today's standards with rather weird spacing between the 2 channels (drums on left, vocals on right). That's why I am glad all The Beatles records are now also available in mono (apart from Abbey Road & Let It Be), they sound much better.

  • @brooker712008 There must be something different about you to prefer mono to stereo.Is it an autism thing? I don't agree that earlier stereo was more primitive to today's standards. They put much more effort into making use of it especially in the late 60's , early 70s whereas today it is rather bland stuff.

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  • @brooker712008 Right. Youtube is just full of nicer people than me. My apologies for offending your extremely sensitive personality and for not liking your music.

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  • @perryfan10 Looks like I am sticking my nose in where it may not belong but the way I interpret what brooker said is this. The Beatles stereo records in particular had very bizarre arrangement. One track (say, the left) has instrumental track and no vocal while the right has the vocals and virtually nothing else.

  • @olytanis I used to listen to music with stereo headphones a lot because my parents were quite old. When you closed your eyes and all the instrumental was coming from one side and the vocals from the other, it was like the band was right in your living room. The Stones used to have demos played by the local radio station so they could listen on a crummy mono car radio to see if it still sounded good. Some people like liver, some people hate it.

  • This is one of the most beautiful songs ever written....sigh

  • You're a moron -- it'd called BRILLIANCE and PERFECT HARMONY. It's also called FALSETTO, you dirt bag.

  • thank you, if i'm carry on listening to music is just because someone had the brilliant idea to written something like this..and i'm not a big beach bloody boys fan, but this album is amazing!!!

  • Boogie nights

  • i love this song

    <3 S3

  • Gave me goosebumps when it first came out - still has the same effect. Not entirely sure that Brian Wilson is a genius, as a number of you assert, but from a classical musician's standpoint this has to be the most wonderfully constructed and inspirational of pop songs ever made.

  • RICHELDIS4.. I challenge you : go back & listen to "TilI I Die" ;Surf's Up"; the albums 20/20 and

    FRIENDS; and tell me Brian Wilson is not a genius!! One of the GREAT musical minds of the

    Century, to be sure.. right up there with Arlen, Rogers & Hammerstein & Lennon & McCartney.

  • I love this song on Love Actually. Best movie.

  • brilliant

  • my very favorite beach boys song!

  • Thank you for this share dorabum! Absolutely a great song.

  • I love the beach boys,saw them in concert in spokane WA in 1977 with the love of my life and this song brings back that night THANKS guys

  • this is a great song....... a true lover of music would only understand that...... you better thank God for the beach boys

    your listening to the last days of great music..... music is dead as we know it...... ive read some of the dumb comments on this group......and get this....im an african american...... and this group is one of the greatest of all time.....GOD ONLY KNOWS...

  • I agree this is a good song, and the beach boys has some great albums! However, I don't think music started to suck in general until the 1980's. All of the music of the 70's was great too. I guess overprocessing and corporate killed it.

  • you don t know how right you are!!!!!

  • one ot the most perfect songs ever written period.

  • This song is perfect as the theme for "Big Love".

  • How about this song is perfect!

  • Kind of genius.

    The Beatles listened to pet sounds then went on to record Sgt Pepper...  :-)

  • i can appreciate that but this song doesn't do anything for me. I'm a huge Beach Boys fan, so it's strange to me that their (arguably) most acclaimed work is one that i always skip over as uninteresting. i revisit the song every once in a while to give it a chance to click, but so far nothing.

  • i know where you are coming from... sloop john B always gets skipped for me... i just don't like the tone and structure of it, it never made me want to pick an instrument up and play it I'm afraid.

    Fair comment made by yourself though.

  • I think your comment is very interesting. Like many BB fans, this is my fave. Fell for it on first listen. I like it that you concede it is much acclaimed but I'd love to know what you don;t like bout it -- if you can put your finger on it that is!

  • brian listened to rubber soul then wnet out to make pet sounds.

  • sin duda Paul, es el mejor de The Beatles, siempre reconocio el gran talento y superioridad de Beach Boys, mas los otros no opinaban por ego y por EMI.

  • Por favor, john...c'mon, man...quien habla de superioridad? simplemente no hay comparacion, cada grupo es el mejor en su obra, para comparar con justicia, tendriamos que oir a Brian o Carl Wilson y los demas Boys cantar, por ejemplo "Because" de The Beatles y estos mismos cantar "Good Vibrations" de The Beach Boys, y esto nunca va a suceder! cuando comparamos a este con otro, siempre hay alguien mejor y a ese tambien alguien lo superara, entonces, cual es la razon de poner uno contra el otro?

  • One of the greatest songs of all time written by one of the greatest song geniuses......

  • this is not a Beatles song, this one's by the Beach Boys.

  • I understand the irony (if was ironic). Sargent Pepper was, basically, based in this song. It moved Mccartney to a new style.

  • I don't see why y'all are flaming Mr. Parquar down there.

    There really is very little musical or even aesthetic similarity between Beethoven and the Beach Boys.

    I'm sure you're like " I knew that", but to draw a comparison just based on "greatness" (or imminence, IMO), isn't of much value.

    A lot of people know who Beethoven is.

    A lot of people know who the Beach Boys are.

    So?

    I guess you could argue that Beethoven favored relative simplicity, but I don't think that's what we were doing.

  • I can't stop listening to this. I just keep restarting it.

  • My all time favourite ! Fantastic song.

  • paul mccartneys fav song if he says its good then it must be

  • My heart flutters when I listen to just about any song on this album. Wow!

  • lo maximoooo!!!

    geniaaaaal!!!!!!!!

  • If you understand the mid -major harmony in Brian Wilson's songs, you would realize his contribution to modern music, not just rock.

  • thats over my head, what do you mean?

  • Undoubtebly, the most beautiful song in the world never made up.

    Incontestablement la plus belle chanson au monde jamais écrite à ce jour !

    (suivie de près par 'Good Vibrations')

    Lors de la séance d'enregistrement, les managers et ingénieurs du studio comprirent très vite qu'ils entendaient là une perle exceptionnelle et furent abasourdis !

  • it's pretty beautiful but it's no close to the edge or to here knows when.

  • say what?

  • brian wilson is the Beethoven of our time

  • one of the dumbest posts of all time

  • haha

  • hey fuckface, what's stupid about his post? Brian wilson's really a genius and probably the most brilliant composer of the 20th century. If you look deeper within the music Brian made you'll see what I mean.

  • You, knowing anything about music, can't compare the compositional skill of the man who wrote this simple music to one of the greatest composers of all time. Of course you have the right to subjectively prefer his music, but that does not mean he is the "greatest composer of the 20th century". Listen to Dmitri Shostakovich...

  • This ain't no simple music damnit. God only knows is an amazing composition containing 18 instruments and you'll be amazed how everything is build up if you split it into pieces Also Brians music was very different from other musicians if you look into the harmonies, instruments used, recording techniques and chords used in the songs (of that time). I will listen to Dmitri Shostakovich but anyways, Brian's music ain't simple.

  • 18 instruments for their timbres, they're not a part of deeply layered music by any means :22 - :30 as an example, it is mainly a vocal melody with chord accompaniment. The part before 1:30 is closest to being complex but it is just with different parts, there still aren't any hard to compose modulations. Other than subjective opinions regarding the quality of the music, it is still stupid to say he is the Beethoven of our time when Beethoven singlehandedly changed the course of western...

  • music for more than one hundred years. If anybody, the beetles would be given that credit today, although they weren't alone and elementary garbage commercial music is not comparable to true genius which takes years of studying music, rather than having little musical knowledge whatsoever as with many people referred to as genius today (kurt cobain, etc). Also, Beethoven made innovations in music itself, using key changes never before made, etc. This, years later, has none of that

  • I hear what you say, and sure Beethoven really changed the music itself but Brian has in the 20th century made alot of things too. Brian is famous for his unique use of vocal harmonies, his trademark style of lyrics and incessant studio perfectionism. He used alot of strange key changes and tempo changes very skillfully. He was half-def. Sure Beethoven and Brian are not even close compared in musicstyle but many things they did are similar as with key changes etc. Paul McCartney say's...

  • God only knows is his favourite song of all time. And that is a Beatle speaking. ^^ Brian is incredibly skilled in using chords you won't usally have in pop songs. Like Adim in God only knows.

  • Well I see no credibility in the Beatles in anything other than business and marketing, but this song does have some harmonies unconventional for the genre, however they aren't necessarily odd when analyzed musically. Anyways, I just don't like it when people who don't know music throw around comparisons to great composers they haven't listened to

  • Parquar, you are incredibly pretentious. Simplicity can be a good thing. Your comments make me wonder why you're on this post. "Knowing music" is great, I prefer to enjoy music as opposed to deconstructing it. You're dismissing whole genres of music (punk, reggae,etc.) if you claim that you have to have a thorough "musical knowledge" to be a valid artist. You are the worst kind of elitist.

  • I was basing everything I said on the fact that the only way to objectively classify the greatness of a composer or make a comparison is through that. Deconstructing music is much easier than constructing it... There is no elitism because anybody can learn about music, and people can use that knowledge in any genre. If the artist doesn't know how to paint, their passion won't be reflected in the painting. Also, music is different when you have spent hours every day for years involved with it...

  • also, simplicity is but one aspect of music, and there is no reason that upon learning music, one would not be several times better at composing even simple things. I see many commercial 'artists' as bringing shame to music because they are creating merchandise, not art. I say this because they sell their bodies and clothing as much as their music. Anyway, an example of the greatness of simplicity but not simplicity alone is the ending of Also Sprach Zarathustra. It is a pure vi V I but amazing

  • You just did..The Beatles and The Beach boys are both awesome

  • well you can think what you want about the quality, but again, you could mathematically rate the intricacy of the parts (not even getting into the keys) and they would be much simpler than Beethoven. (The more complex the music is you write, the harder it is to sound good) My main point against the original statement is that it is a terrible comparison between this guy and Beethoven because they have nothing alike. They just said Beethoven because of his reputation, not because they listened to

  • He said "God" in a pop song! Burn him at the stake! Or better yet, ostracize him and drive him into isolation for for 20 years.

  • Just remember this song when Baby Boomers tell you what a horrible place America was before they "changed" it.

  • man i totaly agree with yoou

  • I wanna cry every time i hear this song. The harmonies at the end are so beautiful. When I was little i didnt appreciate my dad blasting the Beatles ad Beach Boys through the house now i cant get enough of them

  • The Beatles and The Beach Boys are my two favourite bands. I'm glad my dad is a fan of both.

  • What about the Kinks? Make it a threesome?

  • Yuck what are you saying ? and who is this directed too anyways?

  • im crying U.U

  • I totally agree with you about the harmonies and not being able to get enough of The Beach Boys and The Beatles..

    All the best

    Keith Moon

  • THIS SONG IS SO COOL!!lol

  • Oliver,you are so sweety...!!!!!!

  • best beach boys song .....

  • only one i really rate as great.

  • Beautiful!

  • Ranked #25 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs Ever.

  • yeah but i mean rolling stone, come on, that magazine is so political and just not good. IM NOT DISSING THIS SONG AT ALL, its one of my favorites, i just think rolling stone magazine is a joke

  • They can be a little too political once in a while. Okay, all the time.

  • should be #1

  • As long as you like him, then thats ok.

  • piligcp, I know that, read further down the page, someone said paul mccartney likes this song, I said so What I cant stand the bloke.

  • Paul is one of the most creative musicians ever. If he had played more solos, he'd be a guitar god like Hendrix, Clapton and others. I think the short solos in songs like Good Morning and Carry That Weight are mindblowing. He's a nice guy too.

  • he's more show off on the guitar but compared to george he's average.

  • carry that weight is a classical HARRISON solo.

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  • McCartney wasn't in the beach boys, he was in the beatles, how can you confuse those bands??

  • they were both reffering to a previous comment about McCartney liking this song

  • he isn't liking this song, pet sounds is one of his favbortie albums of all time and god only knows his favorite track of the album, here's what he said:

  • Bian Wilson: Genio!!!  Genius!!!

  • Brian Wilson for one.

  • Who gives a toss if paul mccartney likes it or not.

  • For everyone who loves this song--your in good company. Paul Mccartney said it's one of his favorite songs and it "brings me to tears every time I hear it."-- I think it's Brian's greatest song----Miss you Carl!

  • he also said he would never be able to write the best pop song ever, cause brian already did

  • sebastia2b i love this song so thanks for posting it. peace, paul

  • Thanks Paul, loved it.. xxx

  • as John lennon said.maybe the greatest song ever written............?

  • Paul said that I think.

  • fucking qualo

  • There will never be another song this sweet.

  • never

  • daaannnkk

    so good

  • One of the most moving and well-composed pieces of the 20th century. The pinnacle of Beach Boys talent. Beautiful.

  • One of the best songs ever made.

  • genius

  • The ultimate Teenage Symphony to God.

  • love this song

  • This is the real good pop

    timeless

  • This is such a great song. It really "moves" me. The photos accompanying it here are really cool.

  • yeah.cool song :) !!

  • Beautiful song, wonderful video. Thanks Gina for sharing.

  • Lovely Song.....

  • did brian ever sing this song with the boys onstage

  • Yes, it's on Youtube I believe it was in the early 80s. The performance isn't that good I'm sorry to say.

  • EXCELLENT

  • Quite possibly the best pop song ever written.

  • Perfection. Musical Perfection - period!

  • Beach Boys is much good for the world. Their musics is much pretty in my heart.  Everyone can must hear it. (apologize for my english. I am of Lithonia)

  • don't apologize! I don't even know what language is spoken there. much less how to speak. I apologize for Americans that might complain.

  • Perfection. Carl sing this beautifully.

  • not only is this the perfect song its from the perfect album,very little that is better and we got to remember brian wilson was only 24 writing it!

  • This song was my father's favourite song, he passed away on 24/10/08 after a long and difficult battle with Multiple Sclerosis, MRSA and pneumonia, this was played at his funeral and was a wonderful tribute to him, RIP Dad x

  • If there is a God, this is his theme tune. It's the most perfect song ever written.