2. music
  3. 186309-2248

The greatest Pop song yet written and recorded.

 

This thread is an offshoot and was inspired by @mahgister’s wonderful thread "Interesting videos about sounds and music." I made a couple of contributions to that thread, recommending a video recorded quite a few years ago by (I believe) a music teacher, who sits at his keyboard while explaining and demonstrating the construction of the utterly majestic "God Only Knows", written by Brian Wilson (music) and Tony Asher (lyrics), recorded by The Beach Boys (vocals) and the L.A. studio musicians who comprised the legendary Wrecking Crew (instruments), the song found on the Pet Sounds album.

In my posts, I made the case for the highly sophisticated and incredibly brilliant chord progressions, modulations (key changes), and use of inversion (playing a bass note below the tonic of the chord being played on the piano) in the song’s composition. So when the video below appeared when I just jumped onto YouTube, it’s title really caught my eye. It is entitled "Exploring The Mythical Chords Of "God Only Knows"." Brian is well known for his harmony vocal arrangements, but that’s just the icing on the cake; the song itself is in it’s chords and melody. Some of the chord sequences in "God Only Knows" bring me to tears. Add to that the vocal harmonies---many sung in counterpoint---and Carl Wilson's angelic singing of the melody, and you have an absolute masterpiece of a song.

I have long considered "God Only Knows" my favorite song, and imo the "best" song ever written. I’m not alone in that; Paul McCartney has stated he feels the same. I could have added this video to @mahgister’s thread, but I believe the song and it’s appreciation warrant it’s own thread. Watch and listen to this video (and the one I posted in mahgister’s thread), give the song a new listen, and see if you don’t agree with Paul and I. 😉

 

https://youtu.be/I2PHOt9_fGc?si=7NVfhFUBn4aw_GGo

 

 

128x128bdp24
mdalton's avatar
mdalton
309 posts
 

@tylermunns 

That’s hilarious!  And “Time After Time” is a seriously underrated song.  Miles was a master of melody, so he got it,

markalarsen's avatar
markalarsen
632 posts
 

Carnival by Natalie Merchant

will3
54 posts
 

"Thriller"

Michael Jackson

tattooedtrackman's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
tattooedtrackman
882 posts
 

Mommas and Pappas. Monday Monday and California dreaming. 

rcm1203's avatar
rcm1203
72 posts
 

In the general era most of these songs are falling in, the definition of 'pop' is a good question. I tend to attribute four basic genre styles to that period. Hard rock was starting to come of age with songs like Steppenwolf's 'Born To Be Wild', and Jimi Hendrix's 'Purple Haze'. Because of the Vietnam war, almost all the popular groups had politically motivated protest songs that pushed an agenda. British progressive rock was also in it's infancy during this period. The last group is where pop resides. They were the songs that had no real agenda and were most often about the trials and tribulations of young love. They were the songs that made you reach for the volume knob and the ones you loved to sing along with even if you couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. They were the ones that even got our rock hating older generation tapping their toes when they thought no one was looking! Any songs considered rock and roll before 1965 were just that; good old rock and roll. No agendas, no messages, just a new generation exploring a new style of music. We really did get to live during one of the most interesting periods of musical history. It's where our hobby/obsession with audiophilia was born as well. 

More to discover