THE LAST TURKEY

At number six is Brian Wilson's masterpiece; it was their first UK number one and perhaps the Beach Boys' most famous song of all. It is also the highest placed song from Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All-time" on The Summer of Love countdown, a track that took months to write - it's the brilliant "Good Vibrations".



"Good Vibrations" is a pop single by The Beach Boys. The song was composed by and produced by Brian Wilson, with lyrics by Wilson and Mike Love.

Released as a single on October 10, 1966 (backed with the Pet Sounds instrumental "Let's Go Away For Awhile"), it was the band's third U.S. number-one hit, after "I Get Around" and "Help Me, Rhonda", reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1966, as well as being their first British chart-topper. Initiated during the sessions for the Pet Sounds album, it was not taken from or issued as a lead single for an album, but as a stand-alone single, and later placed on the album Smiley Smile eleven months after its release.

Wilson's publicist Derek Taylor described "Good Vibrations" as a "pocket symphony". It featured instruments unusual for a pop song, including prominent use of the cello and an electro-theremin. It is #6 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song "Good Vibrations" is part of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.

Wilson recounted the genesis of the title "Good Vibrations" in his 1995 biopic, I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, and at other times. When he was a child, his mother told him that dogs could pick up "vibrations" from people, so that the dog would bark at "bad vibrations". Wilson turned this into the general idea of vibrations (and Mike Love putting "good" in front of vibrations), and developed the idea of people being able to do the same with emotions.

Originally composed during the Pet Sounds sessions with original lyrics by Tony Asher, Wilson recorded the song in sections, at different studios in order to capture the sound he heard in his head. Building upon the layered production approach he had begun to use with the Pet Sounds album, Wilson devoted months of effort to this single track.

"Strawberry Fields Forever" and "A Day in the Life" records, [were] both inspired by the works of Brian Wilson (according to Paul McCartney).

The distinctive high-pitched sliding electronic sound in the choruses and at the end of the track was created with an electro-theremin.

David Leaf, author of the critically-acclaimed biography, The Beach Boys and The California Myth, said of the song, "Nothing but perfection here. The Beach Boys' first million-selling #1 hit...was a major technical breakthrough...the record that showed that anything was possible in the studio."

"Good Vibrations" earned The Beach Boys a Grammy nomination for Best Vocal Group performance in 1966 and the song was eventually inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1994. It has featured highly in many 'Top 100 Records of All Time' charts and was voted #1 in the Mojo Top 100 Records of All Time chart in 1997. Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Good Vibrations" as the sixth best song of all time. The song was also voted #24 in the RIAA and NEA's listing of Songs of the Century. "Good Vibrations" is currently ranked as the #3 song of all time in an aggregation of critics' lists at acclaimedmusic.net.