Something that's always struck me about the song is that it didn't seem like Brian wrote it as a duet. Like, the lines don't respond or answer to each other as two people were singing to each other, rather, they seem like they're all being sung from the same perspective, or by the same "character" within the context of the song. So it's like Marilyn is just there for practical reasons, to hit the high notes Brian can't reach. I love it all the same, of course.
I'm glad someone else noticed this! The lyrics make no sense as a duet. Brian's part is that of someone very insecure and threatened by his lover's experience: "I don't wanna tell you that I care for you and have you just ignore me . . . ." When he sings "I know it may sound funny, but you're the kind of woman who'd make a very sweet wife," the implication is that most people would think she wouldn't be a good wife because she's slept around so much. Then he says "Don't worry bout your past loves and if they never understood you," again suggesting he's singing to someone very experienced.
So you would expect Marilyn's lyrics would be those of a worldly, jaded toyer with affections. But instead she sings to Brian in the very same character: she, too, is the insecure person threatened by her lover's experience: "I know you've had so much experience that you don't need another person in your life....I never had someone, I need someone to live with and be good to."
Obviously the song was not originally written as a duet, but all the lyrics were written from a single perspective -- that of the insecure guy awed by his sexually experienced, highly desirable lover (perhaps how Brian felt toward Debbie Kiel?). Brian just had Marilyn sing the parts he couldn't hit very well.
Still works great as a duet
musically, just not lyrically, IMO.
Love You is one of the all-time great albums.
Author
