Songwriter Insights blog - "Wouldn't It Be Nice"

[ThyRavenAscend]

An acquaintance of mine runs this blog where he deconstructs famous-ish songs. I asked him to break down "Wouldn't It Be Nice", and he granted my request.  He focused solely on the lyrics, which was surprising--but his insight deepens my appreciation for this song.

http://songwriterinsights.blogspot.com/2013_07_01_archive.html

Any thoughts anyone? 

[guitarfool2002]

It's always interesting to analyze and dissect a classic song to get a better understanding of what went into the construction, and get closer to the how and why the song became such a classic. The blog is a great idea and resource!

As constructive criticism, I would say I wish there were more about the music. I'm admittedly biased about that point, I think naturally a song has to have all components working together to deliver the message and connect with the listener, but my own bias as leaning on the "music" side would say that lyrics without music exist only as poetry or as a story. Naturally with time limitations and whatnot it may not be possible, but if it weren't for the glorious music on WIBN, it's not a song.

I think there is a place for lyric analysis, but I also don't think the lyrics should stand alone without mentioning how the rhythmic flow of the words depends on the music to deliver the message.

In the case of WIBN, I've said many times on this board and anywhere else that it is my all-time favorite song, #1 on the list without doubt. I can appreciate the lyrics, but from the first notes of that amazing guitar duet in the intro, it becomes special, it becomes a listening experience, I'd even say the original studio version captured all the magic of that song in one recording which no live or cover version can ever match.

In the case of the music on that song, Brian as a musician in his early 20's used nearly every technique he had perfected over the previous run of Beach Boys hit singles and song to create a classic. Everything from the seemingly disconnected intro theme which surprisingly reoccurs in the bridge, to the stop-on-a-dime pauses and breaks, to the soaring falsetto, to the surprising chord changes that take the song out of the verse and into the next section, and perhaps most surprising to the listener both a ritardando and a revisiting of the main groove as the outro but with brand new melodic material on top of that groove. And the structure itself - is there a chorus in the traditional way? yet the main hook of the song, the title "wouldn't it be nice?" is featured prominently enough for everyone listening to recognize that question as the main theme.

Brian threw everything that "worked" for him on previous songs into this one. His arrangement and production did the same thing - he took what he had done one step further, if not ten. And the melody working with the chords creates both a sophistication through the jazzy minor 7ths and ii-V-I standard jazz resolutions as well as a childlike longing and almost an aching quality by using his higher-range voice in a very masculine and powerful way. It's hard to describe, the way Brian belts out the song with pure grit and power, yet uses a high range, makes it sound like a kid approaching adulthood looking ahead and an adult man looking back at when he was that age at the same time...I can't explain it other than it's one of the most perfect lead vocals which fits exactly into the theme of the song and the story, and it could be any one of us at any age relating to what he's singing about.

Almost any cover, including the hundreds of live versions by the Beach Boys themselves, seems to miss the fact that Brian is going all out on that lead vocal, just sheer power and emotion to the point where even in his higher "sweet" voice you hear the gritty quality that comes from giving an all-out, no-holds-barred performance at the mic. Again, that quality of the voice has never been equaled from the original studio version by anyone, and those covering it seem to key in on the sweeter side of the vocal rather than the grit.

That's just a few thoughts, I could ramble on for pages but I'll spare everyone. I'll say again that recording is my favorite, and one which I have always felt a deep connection with on a personal level that few recordings or songs can reach. So I tend to ramble about it...

[guitarfool2002]

I had to point out one aspect out of many musical highlights, related to the chords and harmonic structure that Brian wrote in the song. This is just for the intro, which was reintroduced and slightly reshaped for the bridge.

Implied underneath the guitar arpeggios is a standard chord progression analyzed as I - vi - IV - V. To make it jazzier the "IV" chord can be substituted with the "ii" minor, which is more like what Brian does here. It was one of the most common chord progressions in pop songwriting, used in literally thousands of doo-wop songs and beyond, and the foundation of pop standards like "Earth Angel", "Blue Moon", even Brian's own "Surfer Girl". It could be varied several ways using substitutions like changing the IV to a ii minor, but the structure is essentially the same.

On WIBN's intro, the implied chords could be heard as A major, F# minor, B minor, to E7. Add tensions on those chords as needed, play them, and you'll hear what those guitars are built on. And you could transpose then sing "Surfer Girl" or "Earth Angel" over them.

The intro cycles through the progression once, then with the abrupt "bam!" of Hal's drum hit, Brian does a very unorthodox key change, replacing the "ii chord", Bmin7 in this case, with a shift to C7. This C7 becomes the dominant chord of the key of the song, which is F. It leads in perfectly, but in chord construction it is very unusual to modulate like that using an "off" interval between the shifting chords to achieve that key change. F#minor going to C7th...that is a flat 5th interval, when heard out of context it's jarring in a pop context and to many would sound out of tune, or like it did not "fit".

Yet Brian used that unusual shift to great effect, it fits perfectly, and it's similar to how he got praised for similar unusual key shifts in "Warmth Of The Sun".

To take a song that everyone hears in the key of A when it first starts up, then modulate in the way he does, it may not seem like a big deal but if it were following a more traditional pop music harmonic structure it might be suggested such a "jazz"-based flat 5th leap would be almost too jarring for that context. But Brian makes it work.

Just to hint at the bridge, the song rolls along in F major, staying relatively close to the key throughout, but to shift into the bridge, the band drops out, a melodic line still in F major is stated, then it's what seems to be yet another abrupt shift *back* into A major for the bridge...at least for the guitars are playing the same arpeggios that sounded over an A major progression in the intro, but now the bridge is in D major! What?  

The bridge chords are now Dmaj7 - Gmaj7 - F#m - Bm. Yet the guitar arpeggios are still playing the exact same figures that worked in A. Brilliant.

There is no "pivot chord", like a Bach-style V7/V, to get into the key of D in that bridge. It goes right from F to D, while the guitars are still playing the arpeggios centered around A.

So how does Brian get back into the key of F after leaving the bridge? Similar to the intro, he uses the same unusual modulation, going again from the F#minor in the bridge progression, slam-bang into a C7 (dominant chord of the original key), and for the rest of the song until the fadeout he's back in F major.

Something that sounds so effortless and flows so well is masking some very unusual and extremely clever songwriting tools on how to structure basic chord progressions into something personal, and a very unique way for a songwriter to get from "point A to point B" in a song form in a seamless way that is never jarring to the listener.

[Sam_BFC]

Awesome Guitarfool; although personal top 10s/top 5s often remain in a state of flux to some degree, WIBN probably has the edge as the song that I most often return to as my personal number 1 song of all time.  Or number 1 record 

And to think you didn't even get started on those background vocals...or the instrumentation (tremolo accordions, can we call them that?)

I don't know many other songs that I could talk/hear about for hours...

PS The lyrics to the song are also among my most cherished.

[LostArt]

Outstanding posts, Craig, as usual.  Your analysis makes me want to go listen to this song, which I will do as soon as I'm done working.

~Art

[Freddie French-Pounce]

Let us not forget this classic interpretation: http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,14545.0.html

[puni puni]

That's just a few thoughts, I could ramble on for pages but I'll spare everyone.

f*** that. Create a Wordpress or something and deconstruct the entire discog. You're more informative than anything on that blog.

[ontor pertawst]

Said it before, say it again: gotta be a book or a series of dense articles!

[guitarfool2002]

Thank you so much for the nice words, that means a lot and I appreciate that very much. This song inspires me like few others, I'm literally amazed at how it came to be a finished work of such quality from a young musician like Brian. I set out to write a quick reply, the feelings started to stir about the music, and I just kept writing. I hope to add more, and if I can get a cohesive working model that could translate into something usable and viable that others would enjoy, I'd like to do more like this about the music.

What amazes me about the song is the magician effect has never affected this song. By "magician effect" I mean the notion that once you see how a magic trick is done, or see how a magician creates his "magic" in his act, the act becomes less enjoyable and less compelling because you know the mechanics and methods he used to do the trick, or create the magic for his audience.

With a song like WIBN, one can dissect, analyze, and almost figure out exactly what he did and where he did it, if not how he did it in some cases, yet the "magic" never, ever, ever fades from the experience of hearing this song. It's as terrific and as special as when I first heard it, and I've never failed to get a chill any time I hear it.

The studio recording, that is...

[zachrwolfe]

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[Chris Brown]

Wow, you've captured everything that I've always felt about how brilliant this song is so perfectly in your posts - I'm especially glad you mentioned how hard Brian attacked the lead vocal, and how great a choice that was for this particular song.  We know Brian could have sung it softer and emphasized the sweet side of the lyric, but the way he belts it allows us to feel the frustration the narrator feels because he can't yet do all the things with his girlfriend that he wants to do.  The way he sings the verses makes me appreciate the Brian-bridge lead even more, as he suddenly shifts into his soft "Please Let Me Wonder" style voice to accompany the complete shift in feel (and key).  The intro and bridge are the softer, more "dream-like" sections, creating a great contrast with the emphatic verse sections, and Brian's voice was so versatile that he could convey both feelings perfectly.