God Only Knows
Encyclopedia
"God Only Knows" is a song by American rock
band The Beach Boys
. It is the eighth track on the group's 11th studio album, Pet Sounds
(1966), and one of their most widely recognized songs. "God Only Knows" was composed and produced by Brian Wilson
with lyrics by Tony Asher
and lead vocal by Carl Wilson
.
The song broke new ground in many ways. It was one of the first commercial songs to use the word 'God' in its title. The song was also far more technically sophisticated than anything the Beach Boys, or arguably any group, had ever attempted before — particularly the complicated melodic
structure and vocal
harmonies. As producer
, Brian Wilson also used many unorthodox instruments
, including the harpsichord
and French horns
that are heard in the song's famous introduction.
Mojo
magazine ranked the song as the 13th greatest song of all time. Pitchfork Media
named it the best song of the 1960s. The song is 25th on Rolling Stones list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
song that he had been listening to.
He has said that the song "was a vision that Tony [Asher] and I had. It's like being blind but in being blind, you can see more. You close your eyes; you're able to see a place or something that's happening." According to Wilson, "the idea summarized everything I was trying to express in a single song."
Asher felt confident when writing the song that it would be a big hit. As he explains, "This is the one [song] that I thought would be a hit record because it was so incredibly beautiful. I was concerned that maybe the lyrics weren't up to the same level as the music; how many love songs start off with the line, 'I may not always love you'? I liked that twist, and fought to start the song that way. Working with Brian, I didn't have a whole lot of fighting to do, but I was certainly willing to fight to the end for that. I was probably saying to myself, 'God, I hope I'm right about this,' because you're never quite sure. But I knew that it would work, because by the second part, the real meaning of the song has come out: 'I'll love you till the sun burns out, then I'm gone,' ergo 'I'm gonna love you forever.' I guess that in the end, 'God Only Knows' is the song that most people remember, and love the most."
Wilson "hated the opening line" of the song as "it was too negative." He eventually gave in after hearing the following lines in the song.
The opening French horn motif bears a very close relationship to a motif, also stated by the French horns, in Act II Scene 2, the "Hagen" motif (itself a variation of the "nature" motif) of Richard Wagner's Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods).
describes, "The first time I heard it, Brian played it for me at the piano. And I went, 'Oh my God, he's talking about God in a record.' It was pretty daring to me. And it was another time I thought to myself, 'Oh, boy, he's really taking a chance.' I thought it was almost too religious. Too square. At that time. Yes, it was so great that he would say it and not be intimidated by what anybody else would think of the words or what he meant."
Tony Asher also explains that he and Brian "had lengthy conversations during the writing of 'God Only Knows', because unless you were Kate Smith
and you were singing 'God Bless America
', no one thought you could say 'God
' in a song. No one had done it, and Brian didn't want to be the first person to try it. He said, 'We'll just never get any air play.' Isn't it amazing that we thought that? But it worked, and 'God Only Knows' is, to me, one of the great songs of our time. I mean the great songs. Not because I wrote the lyrics, but because it is an amazing piece of music that we were able to write a very compelling lyric to. It's the simplicity — the inference that 'I am who I am because of you' — that makes it very personal and tender.
Wilson explains that although he feared putting the word 'God' in the title of the song, he eventually agreed to keep it. He explains that he agreed to keep the word 'God' in the title firstly, "because God was a spiritual word, and secondly, because Brian and The Beach Boys would "be breaking ground."
: "Well, I thought I was gonna do it. As the song progressed, I said, 'Hey, I feel kind of natural doing this.' But when we completed creating the song, I said my brother Carl will probably be able to impart the message better than I could, so I sacrificed that one. But he had a good time singing it."
Carl Wilson later described how lucky he felt being given the opportunity to sing "God Only Knows": "I was honored to be able to sing that one. It is so beautifully written, it sings itself. Brian said something like, 'Don't do anything with it. Just sing it real straight. No effort. Take in a breath. Let it go real easy.' I was really grateful to be the one to sing that song. I felt extremely lucky."
Bruce Johnston
explains that "Brian really worked a lot on 'God Only Knows', and at one point, he had all the Beach Boys, Terry Melcher
and two of the Rovell sisters [Brian's wife Marilyn
and her sister Diane] on it. It just got so overloaded; it was nuts. So he was smart enough to peel it all back, and he held voices back to the bridge, me at the top end, Carl in the middle and Brian on the bottom. At that point, Brian's right move was to get subtler. He had a very tender track here. 'God Only Knows' is a very small masterpiece with a major heartbeat, and he was right to peel everybody back and wind up with the three parts. In fact, it's probably the only well-known Beach Boys track that has just three voices on it."
, with the session engineered by Chuck Britz
and produced by Brian Wilson. The instrumental part of the song took 20 takes to achieve what is the master take of the song. Present on the day of the instrumental recording were Carl Wilson
on twelve string guitar
, Hal Blaine
on drums
, Jim Gordon
on percussion
, Lyle Ritz on string bass
, Carol Kaye
on electric bass
, Ray Pohlman on danelectro
bass
, Don Randi on piano
, Larry Knechtel
on organ
, Carl Fortina and Frank Morocco on accordion
, Leonard Hartman on clarinet
and bass clarinet, Bill Green and Jim Horn
on flute
, Alan Robinson on French horn, Jay Migliori on baritone saxophone
, Leonard Malarsky and Sid Sharp on violin
, Darrel Terwilliger on viola
and Jesse Erlich on cello
.
According to Brian, many of the musicians who were present at the 'God Only Knows' sessions claim that those sessions were some of "the most magical, beautiful musical experiences they've ever heard." According to Brian there were 23 musicians present during the 'God Only Knows' sessions, though only 16 are credited as being present on the actual take that was used for the final song. At the time, 23 musicians was an astounding number of musicians for a pop record. All the musicians played simultaneously, creating "a rich, heavenly blanket of music."
The vocal track was recorded between March and April 1966 at Columbia Studios, Hollywood, California, with the session engineered by Ralph Balantin and produced by Brian Wilson. The song features three voices on the track. Carl Wilson is featured on lead vocals, with Brian Wilson and Bruce Johnston backing him. Bruce Johnston explained that, "The really cute thing is that at the end of the session, Carl was really tired, and he went home. So Brian ... remember, this was 8-track, so, he now has these extra tracks at his disposal. But there were just the two of us. So in the fade, he's singing two of the three parts. He sang the top and the bottom part and I sang in the middle." Brian used the production technique of double-tracking Carl's voice, so that his voice is simultaneously singing the same part twice, to give the vocal a fuller and richer sound; Brian Wilson used this technique often during the recording of Pet Sounds.
ranked the song 13th greatest song of all time, when first released it only reached No. 39 on the US charts in 1966. Treated as the A-side across Europe, it was a great success scoring No. 2 in the UK, and in national charts cited contemporarily by Billboard, No. 3 in Ireland, No. 4 in Holland and Belgium, No. 6 in Norway, No. 22 in Germany; and No. 2 in Australia.
The song was also recognized by Pitchfork Media
as the number one "greatest song of the 1960s" in their feature on the 200 Best Songs of the 1960s.
Paul McCartney
has expressed on a number of occasions his love for the song. In an interview with David Leaf in 1990 he stated, "It's a really, really great song — it's a big favorite of mine. I was asked recently to give my top 10 favorite songs for a Japanese radio station ... I didn't think long and hard on it but I popped that [God Only Knows] on the top of my list. It's very deep. Very emotional, always a bit of a choker for me, that one. There are certain songs that just hit home with me, and they're the strangest collection of songs ... but that is high on the list, I must say ... God Only Knows' ' lyrics are great. Those do it to me every time."
Speaking on a special Radio 1 show to mark the British station's 40th anniversary, McCartney said "'God Only Knows' is one of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it. It's really just a love song, but it's brilliantly done. It shows the genius of Brian.
"I've actually performed it with him and I'm afraid to say that during the sound check I broke down. It was just too much to stand there singing this song that does my head in and to stand there singing it with Brian."
Bono
said in October 2006 during Brian Wilson's induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame that "the string arrangement on 'God Only Knows' is fact and proof of angels". Jimmy Webb
, an American popular music composer, has also stated his love for the song, stating, "I love 'God Only Knows' and its bow to the baroque that goes all the way back to 1740 and J.S. Bach. It represents the whole tradition of liturgical music that I feel is a spiritual part of Brian's music. And Carl's singing is pretty much at its pinnacle — as good as it ever got."
Brian's mother, Audree Wilson, believes that "God Only Knows" was one of Brian's finest ever compositions as she stated in an interview: "'God Only Knows' ... What can you say about it? I still think it's one of his greatest pieces."
In a 2003 solo concert in Tel Aviv
, Steven Wilson
, frontman of Porcupine Tree
, declared "God Only Knows" as his favorite song of all time. On the insurgentes listening party that took place in Mexico City in 2009, Steven Wilson said it was a perfect song. In a poll on the MTV
station, Vh1
, it was placed No. 28 on the U.K's Nation's Favourite Lyric. It was voted by the Listeners of BBC Radio 2
as one of the three songs that changes people's lives.
Simon Neil
of Scottish band Biffy Clyro
has the lyrics "God only knows what I'd be without you" tattooed across his chest.
The song inspired songwriter Margo Guryan
to move into writing "pop" music. She said: "I thought it was just gorgeous. I bought the record and played it a million times, then sat down and wrote 'Think of Rain.' That's really how I started writing that way. I just decided it was better than what was happening in jazz."
Jake Burns
, the lead singer of Stiff Little Fingers
, thinks "God Only Knows" is the best song of all time.
in monophonic
sound format. It was also released July 11, 1966, as the B-side of the "Wouldn't It Be Nice
" single. The song appears in several stages of the recording process on The Pet Sounds Sessions
box set, including its original monophonic mix; the first ever original stereo mix of the song, which was mixed by Mark Linett
; highlights from the tracking dates, which documents the progress of the recording of the instrumental track; the finished instrumental track; an a cappella
mix of the song; an alternate version, with a saxophone solo; another alternate version with an a cappella tag; and a version with Brian singing lead vocals.
Live versions appear on two of the band's albums: Live In London
and Good Timin': Live at Knebworth England 1980
.
In the documentary I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, there is a version of Brian Wilson playing the song at his piano with his mother by his side and with Carl Wilson singing lead vocals. Live versions of the song were also recorded and released on two of Brian Wilson's live albums: the 2000 release Live At The Roxy Theatre
and the 2002 release Pet Sounds Live
.
There is another live version of this song on Al Jardine's solo album, Live in Las Vegas, which has lead vocals by Carnie Wilson
.
, Glen Campbell
, Jack Jones
, Claudine Longet
, Andy Williams
, Neil Diamond
, David Bowie
, Olivia Newton-John
, Athlete
, Jonatha Brooke
, Natalie Maines
, Rivers Cuomo
, Judie Tzuke
, as well as many others. David Bowie recorded a version for his 1984 album
Tonight. The 2004 film Saved!
features a version by the film's star Mandy Moore
over the opening credits, and a duet of the song by Moore and Michael Stipe
(one of the film's producers
) over the end credits. The 2003 film, Love Actually
also includes the Moore/Stipe version as its closing number. In 2005, Joss Stone
recorded a version for a CD produced by Gap
, on which various artists sang their own favorite songs. Brian Wilson also released a live CD version of Pet Sounds entitled Pet Sounds Live
which featured "God Only Knows". A Spanish version of the song by Charly García
and Pedro Aznar
is included in their 1991 album Tango 4. The Shadows
did an instrumental version of the song in 1975 on the album Specs Appeal
. Main character from Skins series 1 (Tony) also covers this song. Natalie Maines's version of the song is produced by Rick Rubin
and it appears on the series finale of the HBO series Big Love. In 2009, Helen Reddy
released a version of the song as a single available on iTunes
. Helen's version was supposed to be included on her 1971 debut album I Don't Know How to Love Him
, but was not selected for inclusion on the album.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
. It is the eighth track on the group's 11th studio album, Pet Sounds
Pet Sounds
Pet Sounds is the eleventh studio album by the American rock band The Beach Boys, released May 16, 1966, on Capitol Records. It has since been recognized as one of the most influential records in the history of popular music and one of the best albums of the 1960s, including songs such as "Wouldn't...
(1966), and one of their most widely recognized songs. "God Only Knows" was composed and produced by Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
with lyrics by Tony Asher
Tony Asher
Tony Asher is an American lyricist who co-wrote much of The Beach Boys 1966 album Pet Sounds in conjunction with front man Brian Wilson, including such classic songs as "God Only Knows" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice"...
and lead vocal by Carl Wilson
Carl Wilson
Carl Dean Wilson was an American rock and roll singer and guitarist, best known as a founding member, lead guitarist and sometime lead vocalist of The Beach Boys...
.
The song broke new ground in many ways. It was one of the first commercial songs to use the word 'God' in its title. The song was also far more technically sophisticated than anything the Beach Boys, or arguably any group, had ever attempted before — particularly the complicated melodic
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
structure and vocal
Human voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...
harmonies. As producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, Brian Wilson also used many unorthodox instruments
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
, including the harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
and French horns
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
that are heard in the song's famous introduction.
Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
magazine ranked the song as the 13th greatest song of all time. Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
named it the best song of the 1960s. The song is 25th on Rolling Stones list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Writing
Brian Wilson explains in his autobiography Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story that the melody of "God Only Knows" was inspired by a John SebastianJohn Sebastian
John Benson Sebastian Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and autoharpist. He is best known as a founder of The Lovin' Spoonful, a band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000...
song that he had been listening to.
He has said that the song "was a vision that Tony [Asher] and I had. It's like being blind but in being blind, you can see more. You close your eyes; you're able to see a place or something that's happening." According to Wilson, "the idea summarized everything I was trying to express in a single song."
Asher felt confident when writing the song that it would be a big hit. As he explains, "This is the one [song] that I thought would be a hit record because it was so incredibly beautiful. I was concerned that maybe the lyrics weren't up to the same level as the music; how many love songs start off with the line, 'I may not always love you'? I liked that twist, and fought to start the song that way. Working with Brian, I didn't have a whole lot of fighting to do, but I was certainly willing to fight to the end for that. I was probably saying to myself, 'God, I hope I'm right about this,' because you're never quite sure. But I knew that it would work, because by the second part, the real meaning of the song has come out: 'I'll love you till the sun burns out, then I'm gone,' ergo 'I'm gonna love you forever.' I guess that in the end, 'God Only Knows' is the song that most people remember, and love the most."
Wilson "hated the opening line" of the song as "it was too negative." He eventually gave in after hearing the following lines in the song.
The opening French horn motif bears a very close relationship to a motif, also stated by the French horns, in Act II Scene 2, the "Hagen" motif (itself a variation of the "nature" motif) of Richard Wagner's Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods).
Naming the song
"God Only Knows" was one of the first pop songs to use the word "God" in its title (a decision that Wilson and Asher agonized over, fearing it would not get airplay as a result). As Brian's former wife MarilynMarilyn Rovell
Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford, née Rovell, is an American singer. She was a member of groups The Honeys and Spring with her sister Diane Rovell...
describes, "The first time I heard it, Brian played it for me at the piano. And I went, 'Oh my God, he's talking about God in a record.' It was pretty daring to me. And it was another time I thought to myself, 'Oh, boy, he's really taking a chance.' I thought it was almost too religious. Too square. At that time. Yes, it was so great that he would say it and not be intimidated by what anybody else would think of the words or what he meant."
Tony Asher also explains that he and Brian "had lengthy conversations during the writing of 'God Only Knows', because unless you were Kate Smith
Kate Smith
Kathryn Elizabeth "Kate" Smith was an American Popular singer, best known for her rendition of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". Smith had a radio, television, and recording career spanning five decades, which reached its pinnacle in the 1940s.Smith was born in Greenville, Virginia...
and you were singing 'God Bless America
God Bless America
"God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938. The later version has notably been recorded by Kate Smith, becoming her signature song ....
', no one thought you could say 'God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
' in a song. No one had done it, and Brian didn't want to be the first person to try it. He said, 'We'll just never get any air play.' Isn't it amazing that we thought that? But it worked, and 'God Only Knows' is, to me, one of the great songs of our time. I mean the great songs. Not because I wrote the lyrics, but because it is an amazing piece of music that we were able to write a very compelling lyric to. It's the simplicity — the inference that 'I am who I am because of you' — that makes it very personal and tender.
Wilson explains that although he feared putting the word 'God' in the title of the song, he eventually agreed to keep it. He explains that he agreed to keep the word 'God' in the title firstly, "because God was a spiritual word, and secondly, because Brian and The Beach Boys would "be breaking ground."
Choosing the vocalists
Brian Wilson originally intended to sing lead vocal on "God Only Knows" but in the end sacrificed the lead vocal to his brother, CarlCarl Wilson
Carl Dean Wilson was an American rock and roll singer and guitarist, best known as a founding member, lead guitarist and sometime lead vocalist of The Beach Boys...
: "Well, I thought I was gonna do it. As the song progressed, I said, 'Hey, I feel kind of natural doing this.' But when we completed creating the song, I said my brother Carl will probably be able to impart the message better than I could, so I sacrificed that one. But he had a good time singing it."
Carl Wilson later described how lucky he felt being given the opportunity to sing "God Only Knows": "I was honored to be able to sing that one. It is so beautifully written, it sings itself. Brian said something like, 'Don't do anything with it. Just sing it real straight. No effort. Take in a breath. Let it go real easy.' I was really grateful to be the one to sing that song. I felt extremely lucky."
Bruce Johnston
Bruce Johnston
Bruce Arthur Johnston is a member of The Beach Boys and a songwriter, remembered especially for composing "I Write the Songs". Johnston was not one of the original members of the band...
explains that "Brian really worked a lot on 'God Only Knows', and at one point, he had all the Beach Boys, Terry Melcher
Terry Melcher
Terrence P. Melcher was an American musician and record producer, who was instrumental in shaping the sound of American West Coast rock music. His greatest contribution to the culture of the time was producing The Byrds' innovative hits "Mr Tambourine Man" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and his...
and two of the Rovell sisters [Brian's wife Marilyn
Marilyn Rovell
Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford, née Rovell, is an American singer. She was a member of groups The Honeys and Spring with her sister Diane Rovell...
and her sister Diane] on it. It just got so overloaded; it was nuts. So he was smart enough to peel it all back, and he held voices back to the bridge, me at the top end, Carl in the middle and Brian on the bottom. At that point, Brian's right move was to get subtler. He had a very tender track here. 'God Only Knows' is a very small masterpiece with a major heartbeat, and he was right to peel everybody back and wind up with the three parts. In fact, it's probably the only well-known Beach Boys track that has just three voices on it."
Recording
The instrumental section of the song was recorded on March 10, 1966, at Western Recorders, Hollywood, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, with the session engineered by Chuck Britz
Chuck Britz
Charles "Chuck" Dean Britz was a recording engineer who most famously worked with Jan and Dean, Brian Wilson, and The Beach Boys on numerous albums between 1962 and 1967....
and produced by Brian Wilson. The instrumental part of the song took 20 takes to achieve what is the master take of the song. Present on the day of the instrumental recording were Carl Wilson
Carl Wilson
Carl Dean Wilson was an American rock and roll singer and guitarist, best known as a founding member, lead guitarist and sometime lead vocalist of The Beach Boys...
on twelve string guitar
Twelve string guitar
The twelve-string guitar is an acoustic or electric guitar with 12 strings in 6 courses, which produces a richer, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar...
, Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine played on numerous hits by popular groups, including Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and...
on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, Jim Gordon
Jim Gordon (musician)
James Beck "Jim" Gordon is an American recording artist, musician and songwriter. The Grammy Award winner was one of the most requested session drummers in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of the time, and was the drummer in the blues-rock supergroup Derek...
on percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, Lyle Ritz on string bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, Carol Kaye
Carol Kaye
Carol Kaye is an American musician, best known as one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists in history, playing on an estimated 10,000 recording sessions in a 55 year career....
on electric bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, Ray Pohlman on danelectro
Danelectro
Danelectro is an American manufacturer of musical instruments and accessories, specializing in rock instruments such as guitars, bass guitars, amplifiers and effects units.-History:...
bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, Don Randi on piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, Larry Knechtel
Larry Knechtel
Lawrence William "Larry" Knechtel was an American keyboard player and bassist, best known for his work as a session musician with such artists as Simon & Garfunkel, Duane Eddy, The Beach Boys, The Mamas & the Papas, The Partridge Family, The Doors, and Elvis Presley, and as a member of the 1970s...
on organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, Carl Fortina and Frank Morocco on accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, Leonard Hartman on clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
and bass clarinet, Bill Green and Jim Horn
Jim Horn
Jim Horn is an American saxophonist and woodwind player. He was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for five years, playing sax and flute on the road, and in the recording studio...
on flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, Alan Robinson on French horn, Jay Migliori on baritone saxophone
Baritone saxophone
The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
, Leonard Malarsky and Sid Sharp on violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, Darrel Terwilliger on viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
and Jesse Erlich on cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
.
According to Brian, many of the musicians who were present at the 'God Only Knows' sessions claim that those sessions were some of "the most magical, beautiful musical experiences they've ever heard." According to Brian there were 23 musicians present during the 'God Only Knows' sessions, though only 16 are credited as being present on the actual take that was used for the final song. At the time, 23 musicians was an astounding number of musicians for a pop record. All the musicians played simultaneously, creating "a rich, heavenly blanket of music."
The vocal track was recorded between March and April 1966 at Columbia Studios, Hollywood, California, with the session engineered by Ralph Balantin and produced by Brian Wilson. The song features three voices on the track. Carl Wilson is featured on lead vocals, with Brian Wilson and Bruce Johnston backing him. Bruce Johnston explained that, "The really cute thing is that at the end of the session, Carl was really tired, and he went home. So Brian ... remember, this was 8-track, so, he now has these extra tracks at his disposal. But there were just the two of us. So in the fade, he's singing two of the three parts. He sang the top and the bottom part and I sang in the middle." Brian used the production technique of double-tracking Carl's voice, so that his voice is simultaneously singing the same part twice, to give the vocal a fuller and richer sound; Brian Wilson used this technique often during the recording of Pet Sounds.
Recognition and influence
While Mojo MagazineMojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
ranked the song 13th greatest song of all time, when first released it only reached No. 39 on the US charts in 1966. Treated as the A-side across Europe, it was a great success scoring No. 2 in the UK, and in national charts cited contemporarily by Billboard, No. 3 in Ireland, No. 4 in Holland and Belgium, No. 6 in Norway, No. 22 in Germany; and No. 2 in Australia.
The song was also recognized by Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
as the number one "greatest song of the 1960s" in their feature on the 200 Best Songs of the 1960s.
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
has expressed on a number of occasions his love for the song. In an interview with David Leaf in 1990 he stated, "It's a really, really great song — it's a big favorite of mine. I was asked recently to give my top 10 favorite songs for a Japanese radio station ... I didn't think long and hard on it but I popped that [God Only Knows] on the top of my list. It's very deep. Very emotional, always a bit of a choker for me, that one. There are certain songs that just hit home with me, and they're the strangest collection of songs ... but that is high on the list, I must say ... God Only Knows' ' lyrics are great. Those do it to me every time."
Speaking on a special Radio 1 show to mark the British station's 40th anniversary, McCartney said "'God Only Knows' is one of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it. It's really just a love song, but it's brilliantly done. It shows the genius of Brian.
"I've actually performed it with him and I'm afraid to say that during the sound check I broke down. It was just too much to stand there singing this song that does my head in and to stand there singing it with Brian."
Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
said in October 2006 during Brian Wilson's induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame that "the string arrangement on 'God Only Knows' is fact and proof of angels". Jimmy Webb
Jimmy Webb
Jimmy Webb is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He wrote numerous platinum selling classics, including "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "The Worst That Could Happen", "All I Know", and "MacArthur Park"...
, an American popular music composer, has also stated his love for the song, stating, "I love 'God Only Knows' and its bow to the baroque that goes all the way back to 1740 and J.S. Bach. It represents the whole tradition of liturgical music that I feel is a spiritual part of Brian's music. And Carl's singing is pretty much at its pinnacle — as good as it ever got."
Brian's mother, Audree Wilson, believes that "God Only Knows" was one of Brian's finest ever compositions as she stated in an interview: "'God Only Knows' ... What can you say about it? I still think it's one of his greatest pieces."
In a 2003 solo concert in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Steven Wilson
Steven Wilson
Steven John Wilson is an English musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...
, frontman of Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...
, declared "God Only Knows" as his favorite song of all time. On the insurgentes listening party that took place in Mexico City in 2009, Steven Wilson said it was a perfect song. In a poll on the MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
station, Vh1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
, it was placed No. 28 on the U.K's Nation's Favourite Lyric. It was voted by the Listeners of BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
as one of the three songs that changes people's lives.
Simon Neil
Simon Neil
Simon Alexander Neil is a Scottish vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, known for his work in the bands Biffy Clyro and Marmaduke Duke.-Biffy Clyro:...
of Scottish band Biffy Clyro
Biffy Clyro
Biffy Clyro are a Scottish rock band from Kilmarnock, comprising Simon Neil , James Johnston and Ben Johnston...
has the lyrics "God only knows what I'd be without you" tattooed across his chest.
The song inspired songwriter Margo Guryan
Margo Guryan
Margo Guryan is a singer/songwriter who blends elements of pop, folk, and jazz. She is best known for her 1968 album Take A Picture. Her songs were recorded by Cass Elliot, Glen Campbell and Astrud Gilberto, among others.-History:Margo Guryan grew up in the suburbs of New York City, and took an...
to move into writing "pop" music. She said: "I thought it was just gorgeous. I bought the record and played it a million times, then sat down and wrote 'Think of Rain.' That's really how I started writing that way. I just decided it was better than what was happening in jazz."
Jake Burns
Jake Burns
Jake Burns is a singer and guitarist, and is best known as the frontman of Stiff Little Fingers.-Career:...
, the lead singer of Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977, at the height of the Troubles. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star , doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They split up after six years and four albums, although they...
, thinks "God Only Knows" is the best song of all time.
Album and alternate releases
The song first appeared on The Beach Boys classic 1966 album Pet SoundsPet Sounds
Pet Sounds is the eleventh studio album by the American rock band The Beach Boys, released May 16, 1966, on Capitol Records. It has since been recognized as one of the most influential records in the history of popular music and one of the best albums of the 1960s, including songs such as "Wouldn't...
in monophonic
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
sound format. It was also released July 11, 1966, as the B-side of the "Wouldn't It Be Nice
Wouldn't It Be Nice
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" is the opening track on the 1966 album Pet Sounds and one of the most widely recognized songs by the American rock band The Beach Boys...
" single. The song appears in several stages of the recording process on The Pet Sounds Sessions
The Pet Sounds Sessions
The Pet Sounds Sessions is a 4-CD boxed set released in 1997 which compiles tracks from The Beach Boys' 1966 album Pet Sounds, and its recording sessions. The album is included in its entirety in its original mono mix, as well as a stereo mix...
box set, including its original monophonic mix; the first ever original stereo mix of the song, which was mixed by Mark Linett
Mark Linett
Mark Linett is a record producer and audio engineer. He has done significant work with The Beach Boys, including re-mastering their recordings that appear on the "two-for-one" album re-releases. He also produced and engineered the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound version of Pet Sounds...
; highlights from the tracking dates, which documents the progress of the recording of the instrumental track; the finished instrumental track; an a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
mix of the song; an alternate version, with a saxophone solo; another alternate version with an a cappella tag; and a version with Brian singing lead vocals.
Live versions appear on two of the band's albums: Live In London
Live in London (The Beach Boys)
Live in London is a live album by The Beach Boys, initially released by EMI in the UK in May 1970, and in the US via Capitol Records on November 15, 1976.-Background:...
and Good Timin': Live at Knebworth England 1980
Good Timin': Live at Knebworth England 1980
Good Timin': Live at Knebworth England 1980 is a CD release of a concert performance by The Beach Boys at the aforementioned venue in June 1980...
.
In the documentary I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, there is a version of Brian Wilson playing the song at his piano with his mother by his side and with Carl Wilson singing lead vocals. Live versions of the song were also recorded and released on two of Brian Wilson's live albums: the 2000 release Live At The Roxy Theatre
Live at the Roxy Theatre
Live at the Roxy Theatre is a live album released by Brian Wilson in 2000. After a successful period of touring following the release of Imagination, Wilson decided to record his first ever live solo album...
and the 2002 release Pet Sounds Live
Pet Sounds Live
Pet Sounds Live is the second live album released by Brian Wilson. Coming directly after his first live package, Live at the Roxy Theatre, Wilson wanted to capture The Beach Boys' 1966 masterpiece in a live contemporary atmosphere....
.
There is another live version of this song on Al Jardine's solo album, Live in Las Vegas, which has lead vocals by Carnie Wilson
Carnie Wilson
Carnie Wilson is an American singer and television hostess, perhaps best known as a member of the pop music group Wilson Phillips.-Early life and musical career:...
.
Musicians
- Brian Wilson — harmony and backing vocals
- Carl Wilson — lead and backing vocals, twelve string guitarTwelve string guitarThe twelve-string guitar is an acoustic or electric guitar with 12 strings in 6 courses, which produces a richer, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar...
- Bruce JohnstonBruce JohnstonBruce Arthur Johnston is a member of The Beach Boys and a songwriter, remembered especially for composing "I Write the Songs". Johnston was not one of the original members of the band...
— harmony and backing vocals - Hal BlaineHal BlaineHal Blaine is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine played on numerous hits by popular groups, including Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and...
— drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Jesse Erlich — celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
- Carl Fortina — accordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
- Jim GordonJim Gordon (musician)James Beck "Jim" Gordon is an American recording artist, musician and songwriter. The Grammy Award winner was one of the most requested session drummers in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of the time, and was the drummer in the blues-rock supergroup Derek...
— percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration... - Bill Green — fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
- Leonard Hartman — clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, bass clarinetBass clarinetThe bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet... - Jim HornJim HornJim Horn is an American saxophonist and woodwind player. He was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for five years, playing sax and flute on the road, and in the recording studio...
— flute - Carol KayeCarol KayeCarol Kaye is an American musician, best known as one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists in history, playing on an estimated 10,000 recording sessions in a 55 year career....
— electric bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Larry KnechtelLarry KnechtelLawrence William "Larry" Knechtel was an American keyboard player and bassist, best known for his work as a session musician with such artists as Simon & Garfunkel, Duane Eddy, The Beach Boys, The Mamas & the Papas, The Partridge Family, The Doors, and Elvis Presley, and as a member of the 1970s...
— Hammond organHammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard... - Leonard Malarsky — violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Jay MiglioriJay MiglioriJay Migliori was an American saxophonist, best known as a founding member of Supersax, a tribute band to Charlie Parker....
— baritone saxophoneBaritone saxophoneThe baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece... - Frank Morocco — accordion
- Ray Pohlman — electric bass
- Don Randi — pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
- Lyle Ritz — upright bass
- Alan Robinson — French horn
- Sid Sharp — violin
- Darrel Terwilliger — violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
Cover versions
Cover versions of the song have been recorded by many artists, including Jars of ClayJars of Clay
Jars of Clay is a Christian rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. They met at Greenville College in Greenville, Illinois.Jars of Clay consists of Dan Haseltine on vocals, Charlie Lowell on piano and keyboards, Stephen Mason on lead guitars and Matthew Odmark on rhythm guitars...
, Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
, Jack Jones
Jack Jones (singer)
John Allan "Jack" Jones is an American jazz and pop singer. He was one of the most popular vocalists of the 1960s.-Overview:...
, Claudine Longet
Claudine Longet
Claudine Georgette Longet is a French singer and recording artist who was popular during the 1960s and 1970s. She is also an actress and a dancer.Born in Paris, France, Longet was married to pop singer Andy Williams from 1961 until 1975...
, Andy Williams
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...
, Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
, Athlete
Athlete (band)
Athlete are a British rock band formed in Deptford, London, comprising Joel Pott , Carey Willetts , Stephen Roberts and Tim Wanstall...
, Jonatha Brooke
Jonatha Brooke
Jonatha Brooke is an American folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist from Illinois.Her music merges elements of folk, rock and pop, often with poignant lyrics and complex harmonies...
, Natalie Maines
Natalie Maines
Natalie Louise Maines Pasdar is an American singer-songwriter who achieved success as the lead vocalist for the female alternative country band, the Dixie Chicks...
, Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer. Raised in an Ashram in Connecticut, Cuomo moved to Los Angeles at age 19, where he participated in a number of rock bands before founding Weezer in 1992...
, Judie Tzuke
Judie Tzuke
Judie Tzuke is an English singer/songwriter. She is most well known for her 1979 hit "Stay With Me Till Dawn", which reached no.16 on the UK Singles Chart.-Early life:...
, as well as many others. David Bowie recorded a version for his 1984 album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
Tonight. The 2004 film Saved!
Saved!
Saved! is a 2004 teen comedy-drama film involving elements of religious satire. It was directed by Brian Dannelly and written by Dannelly and Michael Urban. It stars Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Patrick Fugit, Eva Amurri, Martin Donovan, and Mary-Louise Parker...
features a version by the film's star Mandy Moore
Mandy Moore
Amanda Leigh "Mandy" Moore is an American singer-songwriter, actress and fashion designer. Moore became famous as a teenager in the late 1990s, after the release of her teen pop albums So Real, I Wanna Be with You, and Mandy Moore. In 2007, she took an adult pop-folk direction with the release of...
over the opening credits, and a duet of the song by Moore and Michael Stipe
Michael Stipe
John Michael Stipe is an American singer and lyricist. He was the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.Stipe is noted and occasionally parodied for the "mumbling" style of his early career as well as his social and political activism. He was in charge of R.E.M.'s visual image; often...
(one of the film's producers
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
) over the end credits. The 2003 film, Love Actually
Love Actually
Love Actually is a 2003 British romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. The screenplay delves into different aspects of love as shown through ten separate stories involving a wide variety of individuals, many of whom are shown to be interlinked as their tales progress...
also includes the Moore/Stipe version as its closing number. In 2005, Joss Stone
Joss Stone
Jocelyn Eve Stoker , better known by her stage name Joss Stone, is an English soul singer-songwriter and actress. Stone rose to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist...
recorded a version for a CD produced by Gap
Gap (clothing retailer)
The Gap, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008,...
, on which various artists sang their own favorite songs. Brian Wilson also released a live CD version of Pet Sounds entitled Pet Sounds Live
Pet Sounds Live
Pet Sounds Live is the second live album released by Brian Wilson. Coming directly after his first live package, Live at the Roxy Theatre, Wilson wanted to capture The Beach Boys' 1966 masterpiece in a live contemporary atmosphere....
which featured "God Only Knows". A Spanish version of the song by Charly García
Charly García
Charly García is a singer-songwriter, pianist and keyboardist from Argentina with a long career in rock music, forming successful groups such as Sui Generis and Serú Girán, cult status groups like La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros, and as a solo musician.-Early years:Charly García was the eldest son in...
and Pedro Aznar
Pedro Aznar
Pedro Aznar is an Argentine musician, with a lifetime of experience in jazz, Argentinian folk music, and rock and has had a successful career as a solo artist. He is very well known for giving rock songs a jazz-oriented style, by playing the fretless bass, with a big influence from Jaco Pastorius...
is included in their 1991 album Tango 4. The Shadows
The Shadows
The Shadows are a British pop group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'...
did an instrumental version of the song in 1975 on the album Specs Appeal
Specs Appeal
Specs Appeal is the tenth rock album by British instrumental group The Shadows, released in 1975 through Columbia .-Track listing:-Personnel:*Electric & acoustic guitars - Hank Marvin, John Farrar & Bruce Welch...
. Main character from Skins series 1 (Tony) also covers this song. Natalie Maines's version of the song is produced by Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...
and it appears on the series finale of the HBO series Big Love. In 2009, Helen Reddy
Helen Reddy
Helen Reddy , often referred to as "The Queen of 70s Pop", is an Australian-American singer and actress. In the 1970s, she enjoyed international success, especially in the United States, where she placed fifteen singles in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Six of those 15 songs made the Top 10...
released a version of the song as a single available on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
. Helen's version was supposed to be included on her 1971 debut album I Don't Know How to Love Him
I Don't Know How to Love Him
"I Don't Know How to Love Him" is a song from the 1970 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice , a torch ballad sung by the character of Mary Magdalene who in Jesus Christ Superstar is presented as bearing an unrequited love for the title character...
, but was not selected for inclusion on the album.
Cultural references
The Beach Boys' version of the song appears on several movie releases.- It underscores a lengthy montage sequence near the end of the Paul Thomas AndersonPaul Thomas AndersonPaul Thomas Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He has written and directed five feature films: Hard Eight , Boogie Nights , Magnolia , Punch-Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood...
1997 film Boogie NightsBoogie NightsBoogie Nights is a 1997 drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley, the script focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornographic films, and chronicles his rise and fall from the Golden Age of Porn of the 1970s...
. - It appears in the 2002 Raja GosnellRaja GosnellRaja Raymond Gosnell is an American film director and editor best known for directing films like Never Been Kissed, Big Momma's House, Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and most recently, The Smurfs...
live-action film Scooby DooScooby-Doo (film)Scooby-Doo is a 2002 American comedy film based on the Hanna-Barbera television cartoon series Scooby-Doo about a group of young detectives and their talking dog. It is the first installment in the Scooby-Doo live action film series...
. - The song is the closing track of the Richard CurtisRichard CurtisRichard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, music producer, actor and film director, known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Girl in the Café, as well as the hit...
2003 movie Love ActuallyLove ActuallyLove Actually is a 2003 British romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. The screenplay delves into different aspects of love as shown through ten separate stories involving a wide variety of individuals, many of whom are shown to be interlinked as their tales progress...
. - Two cover versions of the song were featured in the Brian DannellyBrian DannellyBrian Dannelly is an American film director and screenwriter best known for his work on the 2004 film Saved!.-Early life:Dannelly was born in Würzburg, Germany before moving with his family to Baltimore, Maryland aged eleven. He attended a Catholic elementary school, Arlington Baptist High School...
2004 film Saved!Saved!Saved! is a 2004 teen comedy-drama film involving elements of religious satire. It was directed by Brian Dannelly and written by Dannelly and Michael Urban. It stars Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Patrick Fugit, Eva Amurri, Martin Donovan, and Mary-Louise Parker...
. - The song served as the opening title credit score for the HBO series Big LoveBig LoveBig Love is an American television drama that aired on HBO between March 2006 and March 2011. The show is about a fictional fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah that practices polygamy...
during the first three seasons. Natalie MainesNatalie MainesNatalie Louise Maines Pasdar is an American singer-songwriter who achieved success as the lead vocalist for the female alternative country band, the Dixie Chicks...
covered the song for series finale. - The song was featured in the film My Life Without MeMy Life Without MeMy Life Without Me is a 2003 Spanish/Canadian film directed by Isabel Coixet and starring Sarah Polley, Mark Ruffalo, Scott Speedman, and Leonor Watling. Based on the book Pretending the Bed Is a Raft by Nanci Kincaid, it tells a story of the dying process of a 23-year-old woman who has a husband...
.
External links
- "God Only Knows" at Last.fmLast.fmLast.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....