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This was conceived as a followup to the Ronettes' #2 hit "
Be My Baby." When he heard the Ronettes' song on the radio, Brian Wilson wondered aloud if he could match it. Wilson's wife Marilyn reassured him, saying, "Don't worry, baby." Wilson remembered it when it came time to write songs with his DJ friend Roger Christian.
Brian Wilson told Goldmine in 2011 regarding this track: "I wrote that with Roger Christian and it took me two days to write it. I started out with the verse idea and then wrote the chorus. It was a very simple and beautiful song. It's a really heart and soul song, I really did feel that in my heart. Some say it's about a car and others say it's about a girl, who's right? It's both. It's about a car and a woman."
Philip Lambert, author of Inside The Music of Brian Wilson, said of the similarities between this song and "Be My Baby": "They're in the same key - E Major - and they start the same. The phrase structure is the same, the chord progressions are almost the same, the melodies are almost the same." Lambert points out that the key change in this song is an unexpected touch that helps make the song memorable. The drums at the beginning are the same rhythm as "Be My Baby."
This song was recorded in two 8-hour sessions. Brian Wilson often used the famous Los Angeles session musicians on his songs, but this one was mostly in the family: Brian played piano and bass, Carl Wilson played guitar, and Dennis Wilson played the drums.
The Beach Boys used as the B-side of their hit, "I Get Around."
B.J. Thomas covered this in 1977. His version hit #17 in the US.
This song was used in the Drew Barrymore film Never Been Kissed. It also appeared in Good Morning Vietnam.
Billy Joel sang this at the "Tribute to Brian Wilson" concert that aired on July 4, 2001. (thanks, Jim - Melbourne, FL)
Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo covered this in 1993. Fifteen years later he included his version on his solo Alone II album. He told Billboard magazine that this song was immensely influential on his songwriting. Cuomo explained: "I discovered the Beach Boys around that time in 1992-93, and to help me learn how to write those kinds of melodies and harmonies and chord progressions, I would learn their songs and record my own versions of them more like Weezer-style, with distorted guitars."
Cuomo added: "I love Brian Wilson's melody when he's saying, 'Well, it's been building up inside of me for oh, I don't know how long.' I love the lyrical innocence. It's just like a straightforward pop song, singing about a girl as opposed to something like the Pixies, where the lyrics were pretty abstract. And I love the big harmonies in the chorus -- actually five-part vocal harmonies -- and I carefully transcribed them in my bedroom on my tape player. But then I added the element of the modern crunchy guitar sound. And that's what really helped me figure out what I wanted to do as a songwriter and a performer in Weezer."
Al Jardine told Mojo magazine June 2012 that this was his favorite Beach Boys recording session. He recalled: "(Engineer) Chuck Britz got such a great sound on that song; the drums, the singing, the clicky sound on the Fender Precision bass. There's something about the way the track sat. Just about everything about it was an era-change for us."
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If you try it you'll see. Then the words make more sense, with the girlfriend being the one worried about her drag racing boyfriend who reassures her with the words "Don't Worry Baby" ( e.g., "I quess he should've kept his mouth shut when ..., I told him baby when you race today just take along my love with you...). It's so convincing. You must have the words of a female character if it's sung by a female. I think they had to change the words to those of the male character for the Beach Boys to record it for themselves. Then of course the story is different, more unusual. I'd love to know if this is the true story of the lyrics that we've all come to know. I'd love to hear the Ronettes recording of "Don't Worry Baby" if one exists.
as was conceived by Brian for them...and I understand Brian even played piano on the Spector session..
or at least one of the takes...
IMHO Lennon's song makes a more logical and breathtaking return to the tonal centre after the four chords climb, while the BB's make a somehow forced modulation to upper key (please don't misunderstand me, I love their music too).
Anyway, for me the most exciting twist comes within two flattened fifths:
"but when I see you DARling
it's like we both are FAlling..."
which are not present in the BB's tune.
Stewball vs Happy Xmas: this note-by-note lifting case is pretty clear... unless you search the web a little harder, just to find PP&M's "Stewball" is based upon the traditional "Skewbald" (check Martin Carthy's version, for instance). So this puts both songs -and many others- against the same ancient common ground, so "lifting theory" loses a big part of its weight.
Give the boys credit! They played on more cuts than most people think.
Another is the Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA," which took its tune directly from Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen." As for the Beatles' "Back in the USSR" -- there was nothing the least bit surreptitious about this -- it was a musical caricature of their guru-sharing pals, the Beach Boys. In fact, that album, "The Beatles," aka the White Album, aka the Double Album, 1968, as soon as it was released, it was widely recognized as bristling with parodies of contemporary groups. "Rocky Raccoon" e.g., contains a somewhat over-the-top parody of Dylan (esp. his pre-electric, marathon-length ballads), sung by Paul. "Wild Honey Pie," "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?," "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," these are send-ups, though I can't put my finger on their targets in each case.
As for drag racing being the focus of Don't Worry Baby; sure, parts of the song are about that, but it's just a backdrop for the real meaning of the song, which the first (2 blocks - 11 lines) and last (next-to-last block - 6 lines) verses make crystal clear. The spirit of this song reminds me strongly of their song, "God Only Knows What I'd Be Without You." Genuine love always has a real-world screen to project its 'movie' onto, and drag-racing just happens to play that part in this one. So don't be disillusioned about what the song is about, because there's nothing to be 'illusioned' about in the first place.
There is no musical connection between The Beatles Oh Darlin' and the Beach Boy's Darlin', nor is does ANY musical relationship exist between Wild Honey Pie and Wild Honey.
And Help Me Rhonda and Help were recorded so closely together that it seems unlikely one had any influence on the other.
These tunes are alike in title only.
The cream of the cream.
Really made Brian feel lousy.
Brian Wilson has a wonderful voice!!