The Beach Boys

Songwriter: Brian Wilson

Producer: Brian Wilson

A cigarette butt when you throw it in the water, goes ssth
But the trick but the trick is you shouldn't laugh
Cause if you start laughing you're just a coward
If you start laughing you're just a coward

Everybody wants to live, just once
Everybody's got to see it that way
And see what your life
What your life
What your life can be

There's been songs about celebration
But if you ask me, I can't see why
There's too much pain, too much pain in my heart now
Ooh you're gonna have to prove it to me

Everybody wants to live, just once
Everybody's got to see it that way
And see what your life
What your life
What your life can be

Now some people talk about ecology
Why don't somebody do something about it right now
We're all choking on the air that we breathe now
How could we all just let it slide by?

Everybody wants to live, just once
Everybody's got to see it that way
And see what your life
What your life
What your life can be

The Beach Boys are one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time and the first American pop band to reach the 50-year milestone. Their vocal harmonies are among the most unmistakable and enduring of the rock and roll era.

Formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California, by Brian Wilson, his two brothers Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and classmate Al Jardine, the group’s first single “Surfin'” got them signed to Capitol Records and they quickly became one of the most popular and successful artists of the surf music craze of the 1960s. From 1962 to 1966, The Beach Boys scored over twenty top 40 hits in the US including the chart-toppers “I Get Around”, “Help Me Rhonda” & “Good Vibrations” along with the top 5’s “Surfin USA”, “Fun, Fun, Fun”, “California Girls”, “Barbara Ann” & “Sloop John B”. Several of the band’s singles also found top 40 success in Canada, Australia, Sweden and the UK. In 1965, de facto leader Brian Wilson suffered a mental breakdown due to the stress of writing, producing & touring combined with substance abuse issues, causing him to step down and stop traveling with the band on tour.

Inspired by producer Phil Spector and The Beatles' Rubber Soul, Brian focused on studio work, determined to keep the group relevant as the surf music scene was fading with their 1966 album Pet Sounds. Despite tension between members in the studio about this new direction, lack of faith from the record label, mixed reviews, and comparatively lukewarm reception initially in the US, the album still found massive success in the UK and earned accolades from fellow artists including The Beatles, who acknowledged that the album was their inspiration to further push the boundaries of pop music with their landmark album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Eventually Pet Sounds would be acknowledged as one of the greatest albums ever recorded by several media outlets like The Times, Mojo Magazine, The Guardian, VH1, BBC and Rolling Stone.

more tracks from the album

Adult/Child

From the album

Adult/Child (1978)

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The Beach Boys

Adult/Child