It is one of their most widely recognised songs and was composed by Brian Wilson, with lyrics by Tony Asher and the lead vocals taken by Brian’s brother Carl.
The song was ground-breaking in a number of ways. It was one of the first commercial songs to use the word “God” in its title, which Wilson and Asher agonised over fearing it would not be given airplay as a result. But it worked and as Tony Asher himself said “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.” There was also concern about putting the word ‘God’ in the title of the song but it was decided to go ahead eventually as ‘God’ is a spiritual word and also because the Beach Boys would be breaking new ground by doing so. As the producer, Brian Wilson chose to use many unorthodox instruments in the song, including the French horns that are used in the song’s famous introduction.
The melody was inspired by a song by John Benson Sebastian, an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and auto harpist that Brian had been listening to. He intended to sing the lead vocals initially but in the end gave the position to his brother Carl and stripped all the voices back until there were only three parts – it is possibly the only well-known Beach Boys track that has just three voices on it. When first released it only reached number 39 on the US charts in 1966 but treated as an A-side across Europe it was a great success, reaching number 2 in the UK , number 3 in Ireland, number 4 in Holland and Belgium and number 2 in Australia. Paul McCartney has called it his favourite song of all time.
I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
I’ll make you so sure about it
God only knows what I'd be without you
If you should ever leave me
Though life would still go on believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me
God only knows what I'd be without you
God only knows what I'd be without you
If you should ever leave me
Well life would still go on believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me
God only knows what I'd be without you
God only knows what I'd be without you
God only knows
God only knows what I'd be without you
God only knows what I'd be without you
God only knows
God only knows what I'd be without you
God only knows what I'd be without you
God only knows
God only knows what I'd be without you
God only knows what I'd be without you
God only knows
God only knows what I'd be without you
God only knows what I'd be without you
God only knows
God only knows what I'd be without you
God only knows what I'd be without you
God only knows
God only knows what I'd be without you
