The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson Said His Favorite Beatles Song Is From ‘Sgt. Pepper’
The Beach Boys‘ Brian Wilson revealed he took inspiration from The Beatles’ songs. In addition, he revealed his favorite Beatles song is from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Notably, Paul McCartney said the creation of the song in question was very different from other songs he wrote.
What The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson thought about the songs from The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’
During a 2015 interview with The Daily Beast, Wilson discussed The Beach Boys’ supposed rivalry with The Beatles. “It wasn’t really a rivalry, though,” he said. “I was jealous!”
“It was really just mutual inspiration, I think,” Wilson added. “I would get to hear their records before they came out and I was totally blown away by Rubber Soul. And Sgt. Pepper’s? I was totally blown away by that. But it was inspirational, too.”
In a 2016 interview with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Wilson said the Fab Four inspired The Beach Boys’ album Pet Sounds. He said Paul McCartney was one of the artists to whom he still listened. Without explanation, Wilson said his favorite Beatles song is “She’s Leaving Home.”
Paul McCartney said the song was created without the Fab Four’s producer
In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed his thoughts about “She’s Leaving Home.” “I like it as a song, and when I showed it to John, he added the Greek chorus, long sustained notes, and one of the nice things about the structure of the song is that it stays on those chords endlessly,” he said. “Before that period in our songwriting we would have changed chords but it stays on the chord.”
Notably, Paul worked on the song without The Beatles’ producer George Martin. “I called Mike Leander, another arranger,” he recalled. “I got him to come over to Cavendish Avenue and I showed him what I wanted, strings, and he said, ‘Leave it with me.’ It is one of the first times I actually let anyone arrange something and then reviewed it later.”
How The Beatles’ ‘She’s Leaving Home’ and ‘Sgt. Pepper’ performed on the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom
“She’s Leaving Home” was never a single, so it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The track appeared on the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album topped the Billboard 200 for 15 weeks, remaining on the chart for 233 weeks altogether.
The Official Charts Company reports “She’s Leaving Home” did not chart in the United Kingdom either. Meanwhile, Sgt. Pepper was No. 1 for 28 weeks. The album stayed on the chart for 277 weeks in total.
“She’s Leaving Home” wasn’t a hit but it clearly had an impact on Wilson.
