"The Night Was So Young"
Song by the Beach Boys
from the album The Beach Boys Love You
ReleasedApril 11, 1977 (1977-04-11)
Recorded1976–1977
StudioBrother Studios, California
GenreBallad
Length2:15
LabelBrother/Reprise
Songwriter(s)Brian Wilson
Producer(s)Brian Wilson
Licensed audio
"The Night Was So Young" on YouTube

"The Night Was So Young" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1977 album The Beach Boys Love You. Written by Brian Wilson, it is a ballad that was inspired by his mistress at the time.

Music and lyrics

"The Night Was So Young" was written by Brian Wilson and sung by his brother Carl.[1] It was written about the band's former fanmail sorter, Debbie Keil, who would often visit Brian at his home and at his behest, much to his wife's chagrin.[2][3] Wilson would refer to her as a "golden-haired angel coming in at night".[2]

The lyrics discuss the singer's romantic fixation on a woman who "has to hide" and "won't even try" to steer their relationship where he desires. The narrator expresses befuddlement with their dynamic ("is somebody going to tell me why she has to lie"), and, at the end, implores her to "let me come over to you".[4]

Biographers Andrew Doe and John Tobler refer to it as a "yearning ballad" that "documents one of Brian's more tangled relationships of the late Seventies."[5] Jon Stebbins describes the song as "a direct descendent of Pet Sounds in both sound and attitude",[6] while Peter Ames Carlin says that the lyrical content revels in "traditional shades of self-pity, jealousy, and loneliness".[7]

Critical reception

Rob Hughes of Uncut rated "The Night Was So Young" among Wilson's finest songs.[8] Musician Dennis Diken, writing in the album's 2000 reissue liner notes, called it perhaps his favorite song on Love You, as well as the album's "most fully realized" track in terms of instrumental arrangement.[1] In his review of the album, Pitchfork contributor D. Erik Kempke highlighted the track for its "beautiful harmonies", adding that the song "sounds like it could have been a Pet Sounds outtake, were it not for the bleating synths."[9]

Legacy

Asked for his favorite songs he ever wrote, as well as the songs he felt were most underrated, Wilson included "The Night Was So Young" in both answers.[10] In the 2016 memoir I Am Brian Wilson, the song is praised as "a beautiful ballad [...] with great harmonies".[11] He rerecorded the song for the soundtrack to the 2021 documentary Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road.[12]

Al Jardine called it one of his favorite songs, commenting, "Oh God, isn't that a remarkable bridge? With that little tempo change, it's beautiful. It is Brian and Carl at their best."[13]

References

  1. 1 2 Diken, Dennis; Buck, Peter (2000). 15 Big Ones/Love You (booklet). The Beach Boys. California: Capitol Records. p. 2.
  2. 1 2 Gaines, Steven (1986). Heroes and Villains: The True Story of The Beach Boys. New York: Da Capo Press. pp. 249, 280. ISBN 0306806479.
  3. ↑ Leaf, David (2022). God Only Knows: The Story of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys and the California Myth (3rd ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 9781913172756.
  4. ↑ Hopkins, Adrian (2012). The Little Black Songbook: The Beach Boys. Wise Publications. pp. 191–192. ISBN 9780857129543.
  5. ↑ Doe, Andrew; Tobler, John (2004). Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys: The Complete Guide to Their Music. p. 96. ISBN 9781844494262.
  6. ↑ Stebbins, Jon (2000). Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy. ECW Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-1-55022-404-7.
  7. ↑ Carlin, Peter Ames (2006). Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. Rodale. ISBN 978-1-59486-320-2.
  8. ↑ Hughes, Rob (November 22, 2012). "Brian Wilson – Album By Album". Uncut.
  9. ↑ Kempke, D. Erik (August 15, 2000). "The Beach Boys: 15 Big Ones/Love You : Album Reviews". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  10. ↑ Sharp, Ken (January 2, 2009). "Brian Wilson: God's Messenger". American Songwriter.
  11. ↑ Wilson, Brian; Greenman, Ben (2016). I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-82307-7.
  12. ↑ Marchese, Joe (April 26, 2022). "Right Where He Belongs: Brian Wilson's "Long Promised Road" Soundtrack Comes to CD in June". Second Disc. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  13. ↑ Sharp, Ken (July 28, 2000). "Alan Jardine: A Beach Boy still riding the waves". Goldmine. Archived from the original on January 9, 2013.
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