Welcome to the Sunday Song. I hope to make this a weekly addition to The Archer’s March. I would like that you, my readers, would be involved in the process, by choosing a song from my Playlist .
Song: Don’t Worry Baby
Artist: The Beach Boys
Album: Shut Down Vol. 2
B-Side to: I Get Around
Writers: Brian Wilson and Roger Christian
Produced by: Brian Wilson
Released: May 1964
Highest reached on Billboard: #24
Key: E Major 4/4 time
Key of E Major
This song is written in E Major (Ionian) in 4/4 time. This key is indicated by 4 Sharps.
The relative minor key is C sharp minor (Aeolian)
Other compositions in E Major
Antonio Vivaldi: Spring from The Four Seasons.
W.A. Mozart: Adagio in E major for Violin and Orchestra
Franz Schubert: Symphony #7
Bob Dylan: Don’t Think Twice
Stevie Ray Vaughn: Pride and Joy
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Under the Bridge
Stevie Wonder: Isn’t She Lovely
Metallica: Master of Puppets
Don’t Worry Baby
© Copyright 1964
by Brian Wilson and Roger Christian
Well it's been building up inside of me
For oh I don't know how long
I don't know why
But I keep thinking
Something's bound to go wrong
But she looks in my eyes
And makes me realize
And she says "don't worry, baby"
Don't worry, baby
Don't worry, baby
Everything will turn out alright
Don't worry, baby
Don't worry, baby
Don't worry, baby
I guess I should've kept my mouth shut
When I started to brag about my car
But I can't back down now because
I pushed the other guys too far
She makes me come alive
And makes me wanna drive
When she says "don't worry, baby"
Don't worry, baby
Don't worry, baby
Everything will turn out alright
Don't worry, baby
Don't worry, baby
Don't worry, baby
She told me "Baby, when you race today
Just take along my love with you
And if you knew how much I loved you
Baby, nothing could go wrong with you"
Oh what she does to me
When she makes love to me
And she says "don't worry, baby"
Don't worry, baby
Don't worry, baby
Everything will turn out alright
Don't worry, baby
Don't worry, baby
Don't worry, baby
This song was released three years before I was born so I can’t tell you what that summer was like. This is one of those songs that is simply part of the hard wired soundtrack of my life.
Before I delve into this song, I’ll share a vignette from the winter of 1974/75. There was a maintenance man named Bud H. at the apartment complex where I lived. (Shout out to old Nob Hill!) He was a guitarist in a “weddings and bar mitzvahs” band called The Emeralds, with his brother Carl on lead vocals and guitar, Glen on Bass and Jimmy on drums. This was one of the most memorable songs on their set-list for me. They would practice in Jimmy’s parents’ basement, and going to their rehearsals with my family was one of the high points of my childhood. Not only was it free entertainment, but I knew the band. They showed me what they did, let me “play” the instruments and gave me a feel for making music, which is still a part of who I am. One rehearsal night, there was discussion concerning the father of a neighborhood classmate who had been recently shot (not fatally) and the last line of the first verse felt surreal to me. It still carries a foreboding spirit that jives with my explanation of the song. They were also playing Best of My Love by The Eagles at the time, so I asked them to write the lyrics down for me. My friend, John G. and I sang that for our Second Grade class. Talk about hip second graders.
Brian Wilson has said that this was the Beach Boys’ best song and that he wrote it as a response to Be My Baby by The Ronnets (Spotify Apple YouTube) The two songs are in the same key and have similar intros. They also share the same chord change for the chorus. He also intended it to be recorded by them. Phil Spector nixed that, so he did it with his band.
The Beach Boys had many general love songs and many of them addressed the special love between a boy and his car. 409 is my favorite of that sub-genre (Spotify Apple YouTube), but they are all good. They understood that relationship like no other band and even included technical details of the cars in the lyrics that gearheads understood.
Don’t Worry Baby combined the two loves like no other. The boy is nervous about an upcoming street race that he must run. He’s sure something will go wrong. His girl then reassures him that everything will be fine with the chorus. In the second verse he then recounts that he shouldn’t have been bragging so much about his car but that he must race to save face. She reassures him again, which fires up his love of life and desire to race. The two things (besides his boss car) he needs to win. The third verse seals the deal. She states in no uncertain terms how much she loves him.
Here’s the rub. The unmentioned tidbit is that he’s racing for pink slips. If he loses the race , he loses his car. Not only that, but since he knows his girl originally picked him because of his car, he’s sure he’ll lose her too. The loss of his car would be bad enough, but he realizes that he now loves her more than his car. He’s no longer a boy, he’s become a man with this realization. She’s told him that she cares about him. Her statement of unflinching love and support gives him the confidence he needs to win. And we know he does.
Let me know what you think of this addition to my weekly offerings.
Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.
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Acknowledgements
Music Theory research: Jade Bultitude
Key signature image: Producer Society
Lyrics: Lyric Find
Being stuck here in England in the early Sixties was pretty horrible. It was a land of green and brown and lavender polish and pale food and no McDonalds. Americans were exotic. I used to buy DC comics, about a month after they were published in the USA. I always wanted a 'seebackrascope' and I wanted a GI Joe and bubblegum.
The Beach Boys always have a special place in my collection. I have a car, not a little deuce coup but I do have the pink slip daddy. Surf's Up is a favourite, but I do like the early songs. Oh, what an innocent world then.