Why Brian Wilson Felt Some Beach Boys Songs Were Just ‘1 Big Song’ — ‘We Were Singing That Same Song’

Brian Wilson is one of the songwriters for the Beach Boys, earning recognition for originals like “Surf City,” “I Get Around,” and “Help Me, Rhonda.” At one point, though, this artist thought most of the Beach Boys tracks sounded like “one big song.” Here’s what we learned from I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir. 

The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson released ‘I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir’

Brian Wilson appeared as a founding member of the Beach Boys, writing original songs for the surf rock group — and earning international recognition in the process.

Wilson detailed his experiences with the Beach Boys thanks to I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir. That included his thoughts on Beach Boys hits, as well as the album All Summer Long.

Brian Wilson said some Beach Boys songs all seemed ‘like one big song’

In his memoir, Wilson described some of his musical misses, including “Guess I’m Dumb,” written with Russ Titelman. He gave that song to Glen Campbell, who then performed it in concert throughout his music career. The Beach Boys never recorded it. 

“There are so many songs from that period they seem like one big song,” Wilson wrote. “We’re singing that same song. All year long, I picked things up and tried to make them into songs. Usually, I didn’t even have time to really look at what I was picking up.” 

“In summer 1964, we put out All Summer Long,” he continued. “There is a real maturing of our sound on that record. There’s a start-stop cadence on ‘I Get Around’ with a driving bass. Nobody had done a record like that before. There’s a great instrumental break on the title song, all these subtle shifts that then feed back into a really stellar group harmony.” 

The artist added that for the original song, “Little Honda,” he used a fuzz-tone bass. Another member of the group, Carl Wilson, “thought it sounded like s***, but [Brian Wilson] knew it would be great” Now, the track is included on 50 Big Ones: Greatest Hits, earning over 4 million Spotify plays. 

Brian Wilson arranged songs for the Beach Boys

With The Beach Boys’ developing a unique (and rather specific) sound, Brain Wilson and other band members are heralded as innovative songwriters. Wilson detailed how his arrangement methods differed from Paul McCartney of the Beatles and other legendary artists. 

“When l think of an arrangement for a song, I don’t get it down on paper right away,” Wilson explained. “Other people take lots of notes. Paul McCartney did colorful drawings showing where all the instruments should go in the mix; some of them were published in the liner notes to one of his albums, and I thought they were amazing.” 

Wilson even released music as a solo artist, including his versions of “In My Room,” “Good Vibrations,” and “God Only Knows.”