Pet Sounds

Writing the songs

Most of the songs on the album were written during December 1965 and January 1966. While most were composed with Tony Asher, one song was co-written by another new associate, Terry Sachen.

Related Topics:
1965 - Terry Sachen

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Mike Love is co-credited on the album's opening track, "Wouldn't It Be Nice", and on "I Know There's An Answer" (the only song with lyrics by Terry Sachen) but with the exception of his co-credit on "I'm Waiting For The Day", his contributions are thought to have been minimal.

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Love's main contribution to "I Know There's An Answer" is reputed to have consisted of his strenuous opposition to the song's original title, "Hang On To Your Ego" and his insistence that it be partially rewritten and retitled. The original lyrics created quite a stir within the group. "I was aware that Brian was beginning to experiment with LSD and other psychedelics," explained Mike. "The prevailing drug jargon at the time had it that doses of LSD would shatter your ego, as if that were a positive thing... I wasn't interested in taking acid or getting rid of my ego." Al recalled that the decision to change the lyrics was ultimately Brian's. "Brian was very concerned. He wanted to know what we thought about it. To be honest, I don't think we even knew what an ego was... Finally Brian decided, 'Forget it. I'm changing the lyrics. There's too much controversy.'" Terry Sachen, who co-wrote the revised lyrics to this song, was the Beach Boys' road manager in 1966.

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Love's co-writing credits on Pet Sounds and beyond are the artefact of recent changes to the group's publishing, the result of a counter-suit filed against Wilson by Love, following Wilson's successful legal bid in the 1990s to regain control of the Beach Boys' publishing company, Sea of Tunes, established in the early Sixties by Brian's father (and the group's then manager) Murry Wilson, to administer the band's songs. But Brian signed away all his rights to the catalogue in 1967 during the early stages of his well-publicized breakdown; in the late 1990s he successfully sued to regain them.

Related Topics:
1990s - Sea of Tunes - Murry Wilson - 1967

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Asher's lyrics brought a new level of nuance and maturity to Wilson's work and provided the perfect complement to the dazzling music and arrangements that Wilson was creating. Although Pet Sounds is not strictly speaking a concept album, it can be argued that the ten tracks are united by broadly connected themes, reflecting Wilson's personal concerns with the difficult transition from youth to adulthood in Sixties America, the exciting but often fleeting nature of love, and the yearning for a better future.

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These concerns are skillfully mirrored by Asher's lyrics, which contain many elements written in the negative, in future tense or in future conditional tense -- evidenced in titles like "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "You Still Believe In Me", "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" and "Caroline, No".

Related Topics:
Future tense - Future conditional tense

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The album also broke new ground for a pop recording by including two very sophisticated instrumental tracks -- the wistful "Let's Go Away For A While" and the title track, "Pet Sounds". Both had been recorded as backing tracks for existing songs, but by the time the album neared completion Wilson had decided that the tracks worked better without vocals, so they were left in that state. Another fully recorded backing track for an untitled song, known as "Trombone Dixie", was also recorded, but it remained in the vaults until the album was remastered for CD release in 1990.

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