This Whole World by The Beach Boys

Album: Sunflower (1970)

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This was the last of Brian Wilson's "pocket symphony" productions. A brilliantly compressed mini song suite, "This Whole World" achieves much of the 1966 Beach Boys album Smile's promise and implied inventiveness in under 2 minutes. Here, Wilson floats effortlessly from one idea to another, shifting the sands of rhythm and texture beneath a creamy flow of harmonies, keyboards and guitar. The result is a simple slice of innocence. >>
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MP - Chicago, IL
In his 2011 interview with Goldmine, Brian Wilson explained: "'This Whole World' was written in about an hour and half. One night about two in the morning I got up and went to my white Baldwin organ and I was playing around and thinking about the love of this whole world and that's what inspired me to write the song."

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Comments: 2

George from Belleville, NjThis song is a pop masterpiece.The lyrics are great,the harmony is great,the melody is great,an all around great song.And it's played in under two minutes.It doesn't drag on for long periods of time,but gets right to the point.It takes a genius to put together such musicality in less than a couple of minutes.But we know by now that Brian Wilson is nothing short of a genius.He has proven it time and time again.
Wayne from Newark, CaOne of the most interesting things about this song is that it's constantly modulating (changing keys). Nearly every line is in a different key than the one before it. Brian Wilson was known for playing around with key signatures (as in "God Only Knows"), but "This Whole World" is where he really took it to the extreme.

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