It would be easy – too easy – to dismiss this song as 1970s schlock. Ocean sounds, sappy lyrics, life on the road, missing you, a band nobody remembers anymore, blah, blah, blah.
But wait! What’s that heavenly sound, so unexpected yet so familiar?
That’s right: It’s The Beach Boys on vocals that are anything but “backing”. Suddenly, the beach sounds make perfect, wonderful sense; the sappy lyrics airlift you to a distant summer and a time and place you never wanted to leave.
It is comforting to know that, while Brian Wilson was enduring his long, dark night of the soul, his bandmates and other fellow musicians revered him enough to craft an exquisite pop symphony that might have been the envy of Wilson himself. Ending it with that Picardy third, like a cherry atop a sundae – oh, my heart!
Put your headphones on for this one; you won’t want to miss a note.
This is Chicago, featuring The Beach Boys, with “Wishing You Were Here”.
But wait! What’s that heavenly sound, so unexpected yet so familiar?
That’s right: It’s The Beach Boys on vocals that are anything but “backing”. Suddenly, the beach sounds make perfect, wonderful sense; the sappy lyrics airlift you to a distant summer and a time and place you never wanted to leave.
It is comforting to know that, while Brian Wilson was enduring his long, dark night of the soul, his bandmates and other fellow musicians revered him enough to craft an exquisite pop symphony that might have been the envy of Wilson himself. Ending it with that Picardy third, like a cherry atop a sundae – oh, my heart!
Put your headphones on for this one; you won’t want to miss a note.
This is Chicago, featuring The Beach Boys, with “Wishing You Were Here”.
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