One would think that the winner of a "songwriter's" award would , at the very least, have written some memorable MUSIC. This guy wrote the lyrics to some successful hit songs...most of them between 1964 and 1965 plus a handful after that...where he adeptly tidied up work which had already been largely done on songs like Good Vibrations and Kokomo. It's not all that impressive a body of work when you consider that he didn't provide nearly as much as people might likely assume.
L.P. by L.P... ... ...
Surfin Safari...3 songs and a little bit on 2 more which Gary Usher did most of the work on with Brian
Surfin USA...3 songs
Surfer Girl...4 songs
Little Deuce Coupe...3 songs and a little bit again on a B. Wilson/G. Usher song
Shut Down 2...3 songs
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All Summer Long...8 songs. So FINALLY Love steps up to the plate AFTER the foundational work he gets SO much credit for has already been written and recorded.
Xmas Album...3 songs
Today...8 songs plus a bit on a 9th
Summer Days and Summer Nights...8 songs
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Party...1 song...well 2 as it's a medley. Several of the above 'credits' were awarded in court while Brian was incapacitated. Some deserved. Several likely BOGUS.
Pet Sounds...1 song supposedly plus 2 others he kind of weaseled a credit out of.
SMiLE...Just weaselin' here as well.
Smiley Smile...3 songs
Wild Honey...10 songs [supposedly]
Friends...2 songs plus 3 way credit on 2 more.
20/20...1 song. As Brian was not the main man here ... but rather Carl ... notice how the weaselin' stopped? I did...and do.
Thus ends the 60s and the Beach Boys so-called Glory Days...and really...I'm being generous by extending it as long as I did. Mike's KEY area of contribution as a "songwriter" clearly /really only lasted for 2 years...1964/65 After that some really fine, forward thinking albums would follow. Sunflower, Surf's Up, Carl and the Passions and Holland in particular. Love's contributions were way, WAY down and certainly they were no more significant than any of the other guys participation. In fact Denny outdistances him as a songwriter. Why? Because Dennis Wilson was, in fact, a songwriter beginning on the Friends album and then especially from 20/20 on. No wonder Mike was so pissed off with him. He was jealous. Up until he stupidly plowed the group toward becoming Sha Na Na with sand shovels and buckets...he wrote lyrics for significantly less than 1/2 of their body of work. He wrote almost no NOTES for the treble clef and his claims regarding credit on a number of songs is suspect. Yet he wants to take all of the credit as a "songwriter" this time around?
I think
NOT 
Great post Lee, really. And no one's gotten more mileage on Brian's coattails than myKe luHv.
