Beach Boys ULTIMATE Survivor Winner: GOD ONLY KNOWS

[buddhahat]

'Till I Die

[shelter]

Don't Worry, Baby.

[Ovi]

'Til I Die

[Tablevega]

Til I Die

[RioGrande]

I'll cast my one vote here:

Don't Worry Baby

Though I love it. But the other four...

[ThyRavenAscend]

Till I(o)di(n)e

[baseball95]

Surf's Up (TSS)

[Matt H]

Surf's Up (TSS)

[RiC]

God Only Knows. Please don't let the most obvious one win.

[shelter]

God Only Knows. Please don't let the most obvious one win.

The best deserves to win. And if GOK is the most obvious one, it's probably the best.

[Gabo]

I always thought Wouldn't It Be Nice was better than GOK. It tells a more interesting story, and is just a catchier and more exciting song.

[The Shift]

I always thought Wouldn't It Be Nice was better than GOK. It tells a more interesting story, and is just a catchier and more exciting song.

… and to my ears it's a much bigger production - Vibes meets CalGirls in the best of both. But then less is often more…!

[Orange Crate Art]

I always thought Wouldn't It Be Nice was better than GOK. It tells a more interesting story, and is just a catchier and more exciting song.

Totally agree!

[Watch a Cave]

Even though it was the first dance song at my wedding, I will sadly vote for..

God only knows

[Eric Aniversario]

I always thought Wouldn't It Be Nice was better than GOK. It tells a more interesting story, and is just a catchier and more exciting song.

You're such a lyric-maniac! Who cares if a song tells an interesting story? Fact is that melody is the most crucial thing in it, the rest is secondary/tertiary. Music itself paints colorful images & stories created by the power of mind. Though clearly, I ain't gonna revert you.

That sounds more like an opinion than a fact. Just saying.

[Gabo]

Wouldn't It Be Nice makes me sentimental and makes me want to dance, God Only Knows just makes me feel sentimental...

WIBN has a greater affect on me, that's all. The lyric impacts my reaction to the song.

[rogerlancelot]

"Don't Worry Baby"

[RioGrande]

Respectfully, I can't agree, RRA1. Music and lyrics must work together, and support each other, to make a good song. If "Yesterday" were titled and themed "Scrambled Eggs" (hey, it even works metrically!), with the same music, it would sound like a horrible travesty instead of a masterpiece.

Would "California Girls" work with Surf's Up lyrics (metrically adapted)? No.
Would "Surf's Up" work with California Girls lyrics (metrically adapted)? No.

[Fall Breaks]

GOK

[Les P]

Don't Worry Baby

[TimeToGetAlone]

While I think it's fine to use lyrics as a deciding factor between two great songs, as has been the case here, I think RangeRover's point has a lot of validity when it comes to songs of larger discrepancies in quality.  I imagine a song like Wouldn't It Be Nice would still be loved if the music remained the same and the lyrics were replaced by shoddy, self-referential nonsense a la Summer in Paradise.  It might be less perfect, but it doesn't suddenly become dreck.  Meanwhile, brilliant lyrics aren't going to stop Summer of Love from being a distasteful track to almost everybody.

I imagine the vast majority of people would still consider "Scrambled Eggs" an awesome song even if they might view the lyrical choices as a tad ill-fitting.

[drbeachboy]

Nobody's right and nobody's wrong. We like what we like for our own reasons. For me, Wouldn't It Be Nice is about the music and Brian's energetic lead vocal. It's about those great background vocals. The use of the dual accordions is pure genius, as is the powerful drums and tympani. It's a powerful, yet sweet song that bounces about in pure joy. It is my favorite song ever.

[Eric Aniversario]

That sounds more like an opinion than a fact. Just saying.

Respectfully disagree. Would you completely dismiss "Yesterday" if it had lyrics about scrambled eggs, but the melody/arrangement, not to mention Paul's heartfelt performance were the same? Beautiful music gets ignored only based on bad lyrics? No, I refuse to see the logic here. Okay, maybe some folk would stop & think, "Wait a min, the guy wastes so much energy & is so into the song about nothingness, just a silly food?? He most surely pokes fun at us". And so? It doesn't really change the matter, not all is about serious stuff, there are people who can't get over their favorite plate being shattered. Of course they can, but it will take a reasonable amount of time, no kidding.

2Gabo: I didn't question your choice, did I? In fact, I agree with you re WIBN, but only on musical merits, not the text (aka "interesting story", as if it totally matters in the "grand scheme of things"?).

I'd say that I actually agree with you that melody is more important for me, subjectively. But I stop short of declaring it as fact. Lyrics do matter to me as well. If Wouldn't it be nice  had lyrics about hatred and genocide, I doubt we would all love it as much as we do.

[leggo of my ego]

Surfs down

[Shady]

Don't worry baby

Never thought I'd say that