The Beach Boys’ Most Beautiful Song Secretly Destroyed Their Sunny California Image

There’s only so much summer one could take, even for The Beach Boys. Formed in 1961, the surf-and-turf Hawthorne heroes were only teenagers when they first started, with the youngest, Carl Wilson, being 14 years old and the eldest, Brian Wilson and Mike Love, being 19 years old. Age-wise, this made them the perfect representation of the youthful, sun-drenched spirit they would soon become associated with.

That Californian influence would spark the genesis of their 1961 debut single, “Surfin’”. Rumored to have been inspired by member Dennis Wilson’s love for surfing, the single later led to their 1962 debut album Surfin’ Safari, establishing them as the peppy doo-wop group behind many summer anthems. But all the sun has to set eventually to make room for a little darkness. For The Beach Boys, nothing marks a greater shift away from their sunny California myth than the closing track of their most celebrated album, Pet Sounds.

“Caroline, No” Is the Most Heartbreaking Beach Boys Track on ‘Pet Sounds’

Like many of the songs on Pet Sounds, “Caroline, No” is inspired by Brian’s experiences and the sentiments that come out from it, as chronicled in the behind-the-scenes making-of book “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” much of Brian’s songwriting starts off with talking about anything, and those conversations could wander away into anything else besides music. Oftentimes, it would be about the boys’ dating experiences. The Beach Boys may be legendary musicians, but, like mere mortals, they are not immune to heartbreak.

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“Caroline, No” became Pet Sounds’ nostalgic anthem, based on the idea of “how wonderful it is when you first meet a girl, and she looks great, and how terrible it is when you know you’ll be breaking up at any moment.” Interestingly enough, instead of Brian, it was co-writer Tony Asher who knew a Carol in his life — his high school girlfriend who moved to New York to pursue a career as a Broadway dancer. When he visited her in the city, he was surprised by how much New York had changed Carol, hence the lyrics: “Where did your long hair go? Where is the girl I used to know?” “Caroline, No” may not be a word-for-word account of their relationship, but it captures the inevitability of growing up, and the way we sometimes miss the “old” version of a person.

“Caroline, No” Is Not the Only Song About the Loss of Innocence on ‘Pet Sounds’

While “Caroline, No” looks back on a relationship that never fully blossomed, “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” serves as the perfect companion piece in reflecting on the loss of innocence. Considering that most of The Beach Boys were only in their early twenties during the making of Pet Sounds, it makes sense that the then-23-year-old Brian would look back on past regrets as he shed the optimistic, commercially appealing image the group had become known for in its earlier work. In its place, he embraced a more introspective tone — one that could only emerge through maturity.

“I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” speaks to Wilson’s deepest insecurity: the fear that he simply did not fit in with anyone else. That anxiety stemmed from the belief that his mind was moving far beyond those of his peers and that nobody could truly keep up with him. While that may sound somewhat pompous, one clear example was the production of Pet Sounds itself, which was marked by creative disagreements within the band. As Pet Sounds represented a drastic departure from The Beach Boys’ surf-rock sound, and with Brian taking near-total creative control during its creation, even members such as his own cousin, Mike, reportedly referred to Wilson as the “Stalin of the Studio.”

This Beatle Album Inspired Inspired Brian Wilson to Create ‘Pet Sounds’

For all of Brian’s insecurities, which would manifest as more serious mental health struggles in the late 1960s, he remained musically daring. Although Brian often wrote from the heart, he approached Pet Sounds intending to create an album that could compete with The Beatles‘ 1965 record, Rubber Soul. The British album inspired and challenged Brian to experiment with a wide range of sounds and textures, but still be cohesive; make bolder musical decisions but still sound effortless to sing.

The Beatles themselves were well aware of The Beach Boys’ growing presence in the 1960s. Although there was some competition between the two bands, it was nothing that two legendary acts could not handle. Looking back on the period, Love expressed that while artists will always have a certain sense of pride, there was also a great deal of mutual admiration between the groups. Paul McCartney himself is a well-known admirer of Pet Sounds, and its track “God Only Knows” famously reduced the Beatle to tears whenever he hears it. If Pet Sounds can move a legend like McCartney to the point of breaking down, just imagine what it can do to millions of listeners.