[sndean]

Just related to Pet Sounds, I remember God Only Knows has been cited by Paul McCartney and others as their favorite song of all time. Even though the song is very odd in many ways.

[dailyplanet]

Brian Wilson cited "Strawberry Fields Forever" by The Beatles as one of his favorite songs -- he apparently had to pull over because he was having a nervous breakdown after hearing it on the radio, and he was in tears and said "They got there first." Pet Sounds was the response to Rubber Soul, and then Sgt. Pepper was The Beatles response to Pet Sounds.

[tayo42]

I remeber reading about him writing songs and the effort he put into it, I think pet sounds, and then realizing the Beatles were releasing music at the same time. I felt a little bad because it seems like he was just in the shadow of the Beatles.

So much musical talent at the time, crazy to think about

[amanaplanacanal]

Yeah, John Lennon had that magic too, but certainly in a darker way.

[10729287]

The Beatles wouldn’t have been the band they became without The Beach Boys. And vice versa. The competition was tough between those guys back in the days. Surf’s up.

[xeromal]

The problem was it was Brian Wilson vs the beatles who all were pretty talented. He had no backup

[WalterBright]

The interesting thing about McCartney & Lennon is they competed with each other and critiqued each other, and that resulted in their greatest songs. After they went their own ways, there songs weren't as good. I suspect there was nobody else who dared to criticize their work.

[daveevad]

You reminded me that one of Brian Wilson's favorite songs was "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_My_Baby#Effect_on_Brian_Wil...

[hansthehorse]

I'm not sure he loved the song as much as he loved the production.

[insaneirish]

Here is a great analysis of God Only Knows from the podcast “Strong Songs”: https://strongsongspodcast.com/blogs/episodes/god-only-knows...

[steeleduncan]

> Even though the song is very odd in many ways

I suspect it is precisely because the song is very odd in many ways that it is so interesting

[basisword]

It's a brilliant song. In which ways is it odd though? I've always thought of it as just a classic 60's pop song. Listening again nothing jumps out as particularly unusual.

[sndean]

This might be referenced in one of the replies but basically 1) it doesn’t have the normal verse-chorus structure, 2) not really any drums, 3) the chord progression don’t follow an obvious pattern for the time and genre, and 4) the end just fades out where you can imagine it simply continuing forever. I really like the song, and maybe it stands out as a favorite because of these features like someone commented above. I just wanted to point out that it’s unusual unlike nearly every other pop song.

[recursive]

One more. Most of the song is in triplet swing, but there's a harpsichord(?) interlude in straight 8th-note feel, that's also completely harmonically disconnected from the rest of the song.

[DavidPiper]

8-Bit goes into some of the unusual music theory of God Only Knows while talking about the (equally unexpected) a cappella cover in Bioshock Infinite - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p-GFTfGdLE

[soulofmischief]

It's definitely one of my all-time favorites. It's literally a perfect song in every respect. Wilson was a songwriter's songwriter