We continue our week-long look at music featured in the movie The Big Chill with the Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” This track, released as a single in July of 1966, peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #7 on the Cash Box Top 100.
“Wouldn’t Be Nice,” with music by Brian Wilson and lyrics by Tony Asher, was the lead track on the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds album. Pet Sounds was a major departure from the group’s previous albums, in a number of ways. First, it was conceived of as a complete album, not just a collection of singles with some filler thrown in. Second, it was essentially a solo project from Brian Wilson; he wrote, arranged, produced, and conducted all the sessions, using studio musicians for the instrumentals and selected Beach Boys only for the vocals. Third, it was an album both influenced by and that influenced the Beatles; Brian was spurred on by the Beatle’s groundbreaking LP Revolver and the Beatles were, in turn, encouraged by Pet Sounds to create Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
More important, Pet Sounds was a magnificent piece of work, one that influenced not just the Beatles but generations of musicians afterwards. While the album did not receive rave reviews on release, nor did it sell particularly well, it has garnered a reputation as one of the very best albums of the modern era, period. Multiple reviewers and publications have called it the greatest album of all time. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 and, in 2004, preserved in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Register.
The instrumental tracks for “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” were recorded on January 22, 1966, at L.A.’s Gold Star Studios, in one continuous take, no overdubs. That interesting shuffle-like accompaniment was achieved by having two accordions playing in unison, each positioned slightly off mic. Here’s how Brian remembers the recording:
“Listen for the rockin’ accordions and the ethereal guitars in the introduction. Tony and I had visualized a scene. We had a feeling in our hearts, like a vibration. We put it into music, and it found its way onto tape. We really felt good about that record.”
The musicians on the track included Jerry Cole on 12-string lead guitar, Barney Kessel on 12-string mando-guitar, Bill Pitman on acoustic guitar, Larry Knechtel on tack piano, Al de Lory on grand piano, Steve Douglas and Plas Johnson on tenor saxes, Jay Migliori on bari sax, Carol Kaye on electric bass, Ray Pohlman on Danelectro bass, Lyle Ritz on string bass, Frank Capp on timpani and other percussion, and the ubiquitous Hal Blaine on drums; Larry Levine engineered the session. Vocal tracks were added in multiple recording sessions over a three-month period from February through April.
The result is something resplendent. The track shimmers and percolates with instrumental sounds not previously heard on pop records. Brian heard things in his head that no one had heard before and somehow managed to translate those sounds into music. “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” is the lovely result of that effort.
As a side note, you’ll notice that Beach Boy Mike Love received songwriting credit on “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” alongside the real songwriters, Brian Wilson and Tony Asher. This is due to a 1994 lawsuit in which Love sued for songwriting credit on 34 separate Beach Boys tunes. Even though he was not physically present when Wilson and Asher wrote “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” Love’s attorneys made the ridiculous argument that he may have been consulted by Wilson by telephone during bathroom breaks. During the trial, Asher stated the Love’s sole contribution were the lines during the out chorus, “good night my baby/sleep tight my baby,” which is more of a throwaway performance thing than a piece of songwriting. This simply confirmed Love’s reputation as an unremittent glory hound who insisted on inserting himself into every creative aspect of the Beach Boys, when his real contribution consisted of standing around in a stupid hat and singing the occasional bass part.
The Big Chill used “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” in the Friday late night scene, after dinner; Jeff Goldblum and William Hurt are doing drugs in the living room while Mary Kay Place is trying to get Tom Berenger to father her baby, And that scene is your daily bonus video of the day. Enjoy.
