Pacific Coast Highway Overrated ?

[Newguy562]

Well the only that I find cool about that song is well I only live a couple streets away from Pacific Coast Highway so I kind of know how it feels to cruise down it ..
The song sounds not bad but not as good as you guys make it seem...it's the weakest song from the suite..What is it about the song that you guys find so amazing?
It sounds extremely boring :/ I'm sure I'm probably the only person that doesn't like it...

[Wah Wah Wah Ooooo]

I love the piano and strings and background vocals.  I especially love the "goodbye" part...that part makes me very emotional.

To me, Summer's Gone is a far less interesting song than PCH. In fact, I think Summer's Gone is probably as overrated as you think PCH is.

[Newguy562]

I love the piano and strings and background vocals.  I especially love the "goodbye" part...that part makes me very emotional.

To me, Summer's Gone is a far less interesting song than PCH. In fact, I think Summer's Gone is probably as overrated as you think PCH is.

It doesn't have that Beach Boys feel like From There To Back Again & Summer's Gone does. It just doesn't fit in for some reason..(besides the sad vibe of it)
summer's gone is the last song the boys are going to do so of course they had to go out with a bang..

[ontor pertawst]

How can you not listen to Brian freakin' Wilson sing those words on a Beach Boys album and not be a tad moved? Throw in the goodbye, and yeah -- grown men weeping, wiping their eyes with frayed Hawaiian shirt time...

I think it's a lot more powerful than the last track. They could've switched places easily.

[Lowbacca]

It's my favourite track on the entire LP.

[Newguy562]

PCH isn't moving at all...Summer's Gone gives you that feeling that the end is here and that's powerful if any song on the album could make you cry that's the one that could hit the spot.

[The Shift]

It destroys me every time. Damn, it makes me feel a terrible sense of bereavement... not normal, I know, as I know my emotions are being manipulated. Makes me feel like this music I've listened to all my life won't be here much longer... an impending sense of departure. Nothing the BBs have done before gets me so utterly.

Yup, it's okay...

[Sam_BFC]

I love it.  Those pounding piano accents may be a little derivative but they're so right an powerful.  When Brian starts singing 'driving down pacific coast out on highway one...' I can almost literally see and feel that sun setting right in front of me.

However, I will say that that final 'goodbye' reminds me of The Spice Girls song of the same name   sorry to dampen the mood.

[Newguy562]

The Beach Boys Summer's Gone = The Beatles Long and Winding Road

[stack-o-tracks]

It's my favourite track on the entire LP.

This! It's so short but so powerful.

Summer's Gone doesn't do much for me, but still enjoyable when looking at the whole picture. Or listening to it, I guess.

[JohnMill]

How can you not listen to Brian freakin' Wilson sing those words on a Beach Boys album and not be a tad moved? Throw in the goodbye, and yeah -- grown men weeping, wiping their eyes with frayed Hawaiian shirt time...

It's every bit as moving as the classic Beach Boys' song I'm listening to as I type this. ("Please Let Me Wonder")

Brian Wilson has this innate ability to get into that emotional space we'll call it where he is able to affect many people (somewhat surprisingly predominantly grown men) in a very unique way.  Maybe it's the fact that he allows himself to be so vulnerable, maybe it's the fact that his lyrics are able be communicated in such a personal manner that it feels as if he and the listener are sharing the same experience.  I don't know.  But "Pacific Coast Highway" has this quality as does almost every other classic Brian Wilson ballad from the sixties and beyond.  It communicates something very spiritual as Carl liked to put it and I think that spirit is just a very common experience that many people have but at times are unable to/afraid to express.  I believe that Brian Wilson has spoken for many and in doing so probably have provided a great deal of comfort to many as well.

[rab2591]

I love it.  Those pounding piano accents may be a little derivative but they're so right an powerful.  When Brian starts singing 'driving down pacific coast out on highway one...' I can almost literally see and feel that sun setting right in front of me.

However, I will say that that final 'goodbye' reminds me of The Spice Girls song of the same name   sorry to dampen the mood.

^ Agreed with everything here 100%.

[Wah Wah Wah Ooooo]

PCH isn't moving at all...Summer's Gone gives you that feeling that the end is here and that's powerful if any song on the album could make you cry that's the one that could hit the spot.

To you, yes...this is subjective material here.  You present it as factual, objective statements. Why?

I'm glad Summer's Gone moves you that way.  PCH moves me and apparently many others in a similar way.  Part of the magic of this music is that different things move us in different ways.

[Awesoman]

Well the song is definitely short, but it gets to the point.  I dig it.  There is even a little "Dennis" vibe going on with it. 

[pixletwin]

How can you not listen to Brian freakin' Wilson sing those words on a Beach Boys album and not be a tad moved? ....

This is newguy you are talking about after all.... 

[EgoHanger1966]

Dude, are you ever hearing the lyrics? If "My life...i'm better off alone/better on my own" isn't heartwrenching, I don't know what is.

[Aegir]

I greatly prefer Spring Vacation, Isn't It Time, and Private Life of Bill and Sue over the last three tracks.

[Newguy562]

Most of the time when I read the stuff on here it makes me feel like I'm not a huge beach boys fan like most of you are.
Not because I started listening to them last year but because it connects with most of you on a whole different level..I just love the melodies/Harmony..I think the only song where I could hear deep emotion from Brian was on "I'm Waiting For The Day", "Caroline No", "Til I Die"...& "Summer's Gone"..Most of the time when I hear songs by the boys the first thing I pay attention to is the mood of the song & the harmony ...the lyrics are last..
Brian can write some beautiful lyrics but he seems more like a music man then a wordsmith..
Now there are certain people that sing and completely overwhelm me with emotion. (depends on the song)  John Lennon is a perfect example of that and always does that for me. (Free as a Bird,Mother,Love)

[Autotune]

It's too short to be boring.
It has a linnear structure. No repeats, just changes within a short time span.
Vocals are great. Harmonies sublime.
Subject matter touching.
Lyrics good.
Production ditto.

No way it's overrated.

[Wah Wah Wah Ooooo]

Most of the time when I read the stuff on here it makes me feel like I'm not a huge beach boys fan like most of you are.
Not because I started listening to them last year but because it connects with most of you on a whole different level..I just love the melodies/Harmony..I think the only song where I could hear deep emotion from Brian was on "I'm Waiting For The Day", "Caroline No", "Til I Die"...& "Summer's Gone"..Most of the time when I hear songs by the boys the first thing I pay attention to is the mood of the song & the harmony ...the lyrics are last..
Now there are certain people that sing and completely overwhelm me with emotion. (depends on the song)  John Lennon is a perfect example of that and always does that for me. (Free as a Bird,Mother,Love)

I think that's great that those songs move you the way they do.  My problem with your comments, again, is that you state something very personal and subjective as factual/objective. 

To me, FTTBA and PCH move me much more than Summer's Gone. They give me a little bit of the feeling I get from God Only Knows, Surf's Up, Wonderful, Midnight's Another Day and the other handful of BW songs that really move me, emotionally.

This is just a matter of subjective vs. objective...the way any art makes a person feel can never be objectively defined as the way every person will or should feel about that same art.

[Autotune]

PCH = poignant

SG = cathartic

[Emdeeh]

SG = cliffhanger; unfinished business

[urbanite]

It's too short, it never says enough to do much of anything for me.

[Paulos]

PCH isn't moving at all...Summer's Gone gives you that feeling that the end is here and that's powerful if any song on the album could make you cry that's the one that could hit the spot.

Newguy, I have come to like your enthusiasm for music of the Beach Boys but please, please learn to express yourself better. Pacific Coast Highway may not be moving to you but a great number of people, including myself, find it greatly moving both lyrically and musically. The way you write makes it seem like your thoughts and opinions are absolute and are not be argued with, perhaps try adding 'in my opinion' to your posts.

[Paulos]

It's too short, it never says enough to do much of anything for me.

For me its brevity is part of its beauty.