Good Vibrations

"Good Vibrations"
Song

For the song by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, see Good Vibrations (Marky Mark song).

"Good Vibrations" is a pop single produced by Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. The song itself was composed by Brian Wilson (music) and Mike Love (lyrics).

Released as a single in November 1966 (backed with Pet Sounds instrumental "Let's Go Away For Awhile"), it was the band's third US #1 hit, after "I Get Around" and "Help Me Rhonda", reaching the top of the Billboard chart in 1966 as well as being their first British chart topper.

Significance

Considered revolutionary at the time of its release, its success is legendary and it is still widely regarded as one of the most important and influential pop singles ever released. When it came out in late 1966, it was without question the most technically advanced single yet recorded, as well as being the most expensive American single ever released up to that time.

Beach Boys leader, composer, and producer Brian Wilson described "Good Vibrations" as a "pocket symphony," and the composition is indeed symphonic in structure, with multiple movements and layered instrumentation. It featured instruments unusual for a pop song, including prominent use of the cello playing triplets and a simplified version of the theremin, called an electro-theremin.

Composition

The genesis of the phrase/title Good Vibrations has been recounted by Wilson on numerous occasions, including his 1995 biopic, "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times". When he was a child, his mother told him that dogs could pick up "vibrations" from people, so that the dog would bark at "bad vibrations". Wilson turned this into the general idea of "good" vibrations, and developed the idea of people being able to do the same with emotions.

Music

For a detailed musical analysis of the completed work, see Greg Panfile's Analysis of Good Vibrations.

Lyrics

Wilson first enlisted the help of Pet Sounds lyricist Tony Asher for help in putting words to the idea. Soon after they met, Brian asked his new writing partner Van Dyke Parks to pen lyrics for the song, but Parks declined.

Beach Boys frontman and bandmate Mike Love supplied the final version of the lyrics around August 24 1966 (see Badman, page 145).

Interestingly, when Wilson re-recorded "Good Vibrations" for his 2004 version of Smile, he used the original lyrics written by Tony Asher. From Mike Love's lyrics, he kept just the opening line, "I, I love the colorful clothes she wears," and the chorus, "I'm pickin' up good vibrations."

Recording

Originally composed during the Pet Sounds sessions with original lyrics by Tony Asher, Wilson recorded the song in sections, at different studios in order to capture the sound he heard in his head. Building upon the layered production approach Wilson had begun to use with the Pet Sounds album, Wilson devoted months of effort to this single track.

The first version of the song was recorded on February 17, 1966. It was described in the session log as #1 Untitled (Badman). After 26 takes, a rough mono mix completed the session. Wilson was only 23 years old at the time. Rough guide vocals are recorded the following day. By February 25, Wilson places the recording on hold in order to devote attention to the Pet Sounds album. The track was to be revisited on May 24 1966, and worked on (with Asher's lyrics) until June 18, at which time he put it aside again until August 24. The various sections were edited together in a sort of musical collage, similar to The Beatles' later Strawberry Fields Forever record.

The distinctive "woo woo" sound was created with an electro-theremin, played by Paul Tanner. First used by Wilson on the track "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times", the device effectively creates a sonic representation of those mysterious vibrations of the title.

The production of the song is reported to have spanned seventeen recording sessions at four different recording studios, and used over 90 hours of tape, with an eventual budget of $50,000. Wilson is credited with developing the use of the recording studio as an instrument: he the Beach Boys and dozens of top studio musicians, including members of The Wrecking Crew, recorded and rerecorded seemingly unrelated musical and vocal sections for the song, then edited and mixed these sections into a 3:35 pop single.

The recording and production style used on the Good Vibrations single established Wilson's new method of operation: the recording and re-recording of specific sections of music, followed by rough mixes of the sections edited together, further recording as required, and the construction of the final mix from the component elements. This was the modular approach to recording that was next to be used on SMiLE.

Albums

Inspired by the success of the song and the positive reaction to Pet Sounds, and wanting to top The Beatles' recently-released Revolver album, Wilson and lyricist Van Dyke Parks embarked on the Smile project, intended as an entire album using the writing and production techniques devised for "Good Vibrations." A legendary failure, that album was never released as Wilson spiraled into depression and paranoia; several tracks salvaged from those sessions were re-recorded in greatly simplified versions for the Smiley Smile album instead, on which "Good Vibrations" made its first LP appearance. (A re-recorded version of Smile was finally completed by Wilson and Parks, with The Wondermints replacing the other Beach Boys and the studio musicians, in April 2004. It was released five months later.)

Chart Position/Sales

According to Badman, the single sold over 230,000 copies in the first four days of it's release, and entered the Cash Box chart at number 6 on October 22nd.

Critical Response to "Good Vibrations"

Both the New Musical Express and Melody Maker gave positive reviews at the time of the single's release.

Praise was not universal, however, and Pete Townsend of The Who was quoted at the time as saying "Good Vibrations was probably a good record but who's to know? You had to play it about 90 bloody times to even hear what they were singing about", and feared that the single would lead to over-produced records in general.

"Good Vibrations" earned The Beach Boys a Grammy nomination for Best Vocal Group performance in 1966 and the song was eventually inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1994. It has featured highly in many 'Top 100 records of all time' charts and was voted #1 in the Mojo Top 100 Records of All Time chart in 1997.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Good Vibrations" as the sixth best song of all time.

References

Badman, Keith The Beach Boys, The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio, Backbeat Books, ISBN 0-87930-818-4