Wouldn't It Be Nice#Variations

"Wouldn't It Be Nice" is one of the eight songs that Brian Wilson and Tony Asher wrote for the Pet Sounds album. Wilson's since-discredited 1991 memoir suggested that he was inspired to write the song after having sexual fantasies about the Honeys' singer Diane Rovell, his sister-in-law.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=111}}{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=104}}{{sfn|Lambert|2007|pp=233–234}} While discussing the song, Asher supported that Wilson was "definitely infatuated by her" and "this innocent aura that she seemed to possess. Brian was really just so naive."{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=18}} Wilson repeatedly brought up the subject while they composed the songs on Pet Sounds, as Asher remembered, "He'd stop in the middle of writing a song or a conversation or whatever and start going on about Diane, about how innocent, sweet, and beautiful she was. I'd be thinking, 'Huh! Your wife's in the next room, and you're talking about her sister!'"{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=76}}

It was one of only two songs on Pet Sounds in which Asher wrote words to a melody that Wilson had already finalized, the other being "You Still Believe in Me".{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=54, 91}} According to Asher, "Over a period of days, Brian kept saying that he was working on a melody, but he didn't want to play it for me until he had the structure finished. One day, he said, 'It's done.'"{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=91}} Wilson had decided on its subject matter: the "innocence of [...] being too young to get married", a topic that "seemed to be immensely appealing to him."{{sfn|Kent|2009|pp=17–18}} Asher said that, after he had begun writing the lyrics, Wilson started "microanalyzing the individual words" to Asher's annoyance.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=91}} Following Asher's complaints, Wilson agreed to let Asher take a tape of the song home and write the words alone.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=91}} Asher then returned with a set of lyrics, which the pair refined.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=105}} It was a less integrated and collaborative process than the one for the songs they wrote afterward.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=91}}

Mike Love's co-writing credit was not officially recognized until 1994, when he successfully sued for writing credits on 35 Beach Boys songs, including "Wouldn't It Be Nice". During the proceedings, Love's attorney proposed that, since Love had not been physically present when Asher and Wilson were writing the song, it may have been possible that Wilson consulted Love by telephone during occasional bathroom breaks. Asher later said it was an "absurd" argument.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=278}} Asked in a 1996 interview to enumerate Love's contributions, Asher responded, "None, whatsoever."{{cite interview |last= Asher|first= Tony|interviewer=Mike Wheeler |title=Tony Asher Interview |url=https://www.surfermoon.com/interviews/asher.html |publisher=Cabin Essence |date=4 April 1996 |access-date=October 9, 2020}} However, under oath, he stated that it consisted of the line "good night my baby / sleep tight, my baby" and possible minor vocal arrangement.{{cite web |last=Elliott |first=Brad |url=http://www.bradelliott.com/writings/ps2.html |title=Pet Sounds Track Notes |publisher=beachboysfanclub.com |date=August 31, 1999 |access-date=March 3, 2009}}

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| quote = I can remember in "Wouldn't It Be Nice" that we'd both had the experience of being too young to have what the rest of the world would call a serious relationship with a girl and yet wanting to be able to have it taken seriously. [...] it was autobiographical from the point of view of both of us. We were writing about what we both knew and had experienced.

|source=—Tony Asher, 1996{{cite AV media notes |chapter=Interview with Tony Asher |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet|chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Tony_Asher_Interview.html}}

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The lyrics describe a young couple fantasizing about the romantic freedom they would earn once married,{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=90}} including the benefits of being able to "hold each other close the whole night through" and to "say goodnight and stay together".{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=234}} Asher explained, "It's a song that people who are young and in love can appreciate and respond to, because it revolves around the things they've always wanted to do: live together, sleep together, wake up together—do everything together."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=90}}

In a 1976 radio interview, Wilson said his intention in writing the song was to express "the need to have the freedom to live with somebody [...] The idea is, the more we talk about it, the more we want it, but let's talk about it anyway. Let's talk it over, let's talk about what we might have if we really got down to it."{{cite web |last=Elliott |first=Brad |date=August 31, 1999 |title=Pet Sounds Track Notes |url=http://www.bradelliott.com/writings/ps2.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124175327/http://www.bradelliott.com/writings/ps2.html |archive-date=January 24, 2009 |access-date=March 3, 2009 |publisher=beachboysfanclub.com}}{{cite web|date=November 3, 1976|last1=Fornatale|first1=Pete|title=Interview with Brian Wilson|url=http://www.nyradioarchive.com/audio/WNEWFM_19771103_FornWils_KT.mp3|website=NY Radio Archive|publisher=WNEW-FM 102.7|format=MP3}} In 1996, he reflected, "'Wouldn't It Be Nice' was not a real long song, but it's a very 'up' song. It expresses the frustrations of youth, what you can't have, what you really want and you have to wait for it."{{cite AV media notes |chapter=Interview with Brian Wilson|title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records|type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Interview_w_Brian_Wilson.html}}

Wilson had previously written a song with similar subject matter, "We'll Run Away", on All Summer Long (1964). He had also produced a rendition of the doo-wop standard "I'm So Young" for The Beach Boys Today! (1965).{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=17}}{{refn|group=nb|The same album included "Don't Hurt My Little Sister", another song inspired by Wilson's infatuation with his sister-in-laws.{{cite web |last1=Bolin |first1=Alice |title=The Beach Boys Are Still Looking at an Impossible Future |url=https://www.popmatters.com/160169-when-i-grow-up-to-be-a-man-2495839691.html |website=PopMatters |date=July 8, 2012}}}} Journalist Nick Kent felt that, although Wilson had captured similar "teen angst dialogue" before: "This time [he] was out to eclipse these previous sonic soap operas, to transform the subject's sappy sentiments with a God-like grace so that the song would become a veritable pocket symphony."{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=17}} Musicologist Phillip Lambert called the themes "a significant twist" on the lyrics of Wilson's past songs, "which fantasized about material possessions [...] feats of physical skill [...] and one-night stands [...] Now the young lovers just want to be monogamous and draw strength and happiness from each other, 'in the kind of world where we belong.'"{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=234}}

According to AllMusic reviewer Jim Esch, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" inaugurates Pet Sounds' pervasive theme of "fragile lovers" who struggle with "self-imposed romantic expectations and personal limitations, while simultaneously trying to maintain faith in one other."{{cite web |last1=Esch |first1=Jim |title=You Still Believe in Me |url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/you-still-believe-in-me-t2827562 |website=AllMusic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509154652/http://www.allmusic.com/song/you-still-believe-in-me-t2827562 |archive-date=May 9, 2012}} Comparing the group's past celebrations of adolescence and teenage romance, journalist Seth Rogovoy felt that Pet Sounds "upends and overturns every Beach Boys cliché, exposing the hollowness at their core." Rogovoy points to "Wouldn't It Be Nice", which "starts right out with a 180-degree turn – 'Wouldn't it be nice if we were older.'"{{cite web |last1=Rogovoy |first1=Seth |title='Pet Sounds' On The Road: Revisiting The Sad Genius Of Brian Wilson |url=http://www.wbur.org/artery/2016/06/14/pet-sounds-brian-wilson |publisher=WBUR |date=June 14, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521163247/https://www.wbur.org/news/2016/06/14/pet-sounds-brian-wilson |archive-date=May 21, 2022}}

"Wouldn't It Be Nice" begins with an eight-beat introduction in the key of A major. Following a single drum hit, the song shifts to the remote flat submediant key of F.{{sfn|Adams|2011|p=40}} Classical composer John Adams called this key change "nothing new in the classical or jazz world, but appearing here in the context of a standard rock-and-roll song, it felt novel and fresh. More than any other songwriter of that era, Brian Wilson understood the value of harmonic surprise."{{sfn|Adams|2011|pp=40–41}}

The verse bass line was inspired by the Ronettes' "Be My Baby" (1963). Asked about the song's bass line, Wilson, explained, "It's just a feel you get. I sort of feel my way through the line. I can't explain how it's done, in terms of words. [The verses are] similar to the Phil Spector-type bass. It's a one-note walking bass that goes [singing with triplet feel:] 'Bom-buh-bum-bah, bom-buh-bum-bah...' It keeps going one scale tone up ['bah'], then down like a walking bass."{{cite magazine|last1=Turner|first1=Dale|title=The Low Down on the Low End|magazine=Bassics|date=June–July 2000|url=http://www.intimateaudio.com/brian_wilson_interview.html}}

The next section modulates down a minor third, to D major, and contains the return of a melodic figure from the intro.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|pp=227, 234}}{{refn|group=nb|The same key change occurs in "Let's Go Away for Awhile", another Wilson composition from Pet Sounds.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=227}}}} After this section, the song repeats the end of the verse melody,{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=234}} but this time engages in a decrescendo and ritardando, a device that doesn't often appear in pop music, but does in classical music.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=110}} At the end, the song returns to its original tempo and fades out.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=234}} Asher commented, "I love the fact that the song has such a nice, bouncy feel to it. When we were writing, I was aware of the intricate rhythms that Brian had accomplished musically. There are changes in tempo and legato parts that make it very interesting."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=90}}

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Instrumental tracking for "Wouldn't It Be Nice" began at 7:00{{nbsp}}p.m. on January 22, 1966, at Gold Star Studios.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=111}} Wilson produced the session with engineer Larry Levine.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=111}} The calliope-like instrument heard in the opening bars is an electric 12-string guitar plugged directly into the recording console.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=145, 149}}{{refn|group=nb|Some sources mistake this as a harp.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=106}} It is actually a mando-guitar, a specialized electric 12-string guitar.}} Due to recording logistics, this created an unusual situation in which the player had to perform the instrument in the control room, away from the rest of the musicians, who could not hear his playing in the regular recording space. The exception was drummer Hal Blaine, who wore headphones and was tasked with signaling the other musicians to play on cue.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=145}} All of the instruments were played live in a continuous take, with no overdubs.{{cite AV media notes |first=Mark |last=Linett |author-link=Mark Linett |chapter=Notes on Recording and Mixing |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet|chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Recording_Mixing_Notes.html}}

Much of the track's rhythmic accompaniment was provided by two accordions playing a shuffle beat in a manner similar to the band's "California Girls" (1965).{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=145–147}} Wilson recalled, "I had two accordion players playing at once, both playing the same thing and it just rang through the room, in the booth, and everyone was saying, 'What is that sound?'"{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=111}} During the second bridge, the players performed a technique known as a "triple bellow shake" to make the accordions sound like a violin.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=145–147}} On "Wouldn't It Be Nice", Wilson used one of his favorite recording techniques, applying reverb exclusively to a timpani. This same technique can be observed on "You Still Believe in Me" and "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)".{{Cite book |last=Everett |first=Walter |title=The foundations of rock: from "Blue suede shoes" to "Suite : Judy blue eyes" |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-531024-5 |location=Oxford New York |pages=24}}

Some of the charts that Wilson handed to his musicians were written in different keys from each other. Session musician Lyle Ritz, who was playing in D, mistook the arrangement as an error, as he recalled: "[The] rest of the band was in another key. I knew that was wrong. So during a break, I looked at everybody else's music to see if it was a mistake. Because you can't do that. But he [Brian] pulled it off."{{cite AV media notes |chapter=Musician Comments: Lyle Ritz |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records|type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://www.albumlinernotes.com/Lyle_Ritz.html}} After recording 21 takes of the instrumental track,{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=106}} the session concluded at{{nbsp}}11:30 p.m. with a lead vocal overdub by Wilson.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=111}} Wilson did not use Gold Star for any other song on the album except "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times".{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=109}}

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| quote = The one song that sticks out in my mind the most is "Wouldn't It Be Nice." Brilliant parts. It was hard to sing without getting tears in your eyes. We all seem to remember singing it a lot. Many times. Many days.

|source=—Carl Wilson, 1996{{cite AV media notes|chapter=Comments by Carl Wilson|title=The Pet Sounds Sessions|others=The Beach Boys|year=1997|publisher=Capitol Records|type=Booklet|chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Comments_by_Carl_Wilson.html}}

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The vocal sessions for Pet Sounds were the most challenging of the group's career, and their performance on "Wouldn't It Be Nice" took longer to record than any other track on the album, as Wilson's bandmates struggled to sing the multiple vocal parts to his satisfaction.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=168, 172}} Al Jardine later said that the challenge of meeting Wilson's standards on the song "was painful beyond belief for all of us."{{sfn|Love|2016|p=131}} Carl Wilson remembered, "We really tried to make a good album. We wanted to take another step. 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' was the track that really brought that hope to all of us. We did at least ten sessions on that one, and it still wasn't right. I still think we sang it a little rushed."{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=126}}

Mike Love, who affectionately nicknamed Brian "the Stalin of the studio" during these sessions,{{sfn|Love|2016|p=131}} said, "We did one passage of 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' close to 30 times—and some of the tries were nearly perfect! But Brian was looking for something more than the actual notes or the blend: he was reaching for something mystical—out of the range of hearing."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=168}} Bruce Johnston similarly likened Wilson to General Patton.{{sfn|Love|2016|p=131}} In his recollection, "We re-recorded our vocals for 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' so many times that the rhythm was never right. We'd slave [...] singing this thing and then Brian would say, 'No it's not right! It's just not right!'"{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=126}} According to Johnston, Wilson had been dissatisfied with the Beach Boys' vocal performances on the prior hit "California Girls" and was aiming for a "perfect" vocal sound for "Wouldn't It Be Nice".{{Cite news |title=Comments/Bruce Johnston |work=albumlinernotes |url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Comments_Bruce_Johnston.html |access-date=2023-07-02}}

On February 16, Wilson created a rough mono mix of the song at United Western Recorders.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=117}} Another mono mix with different, incomplete vocals was made on March 3, using the eight-track console at Columbia Studio.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=120}} Further vocal overdubs were taped on March 10, followed by more rough mixes on March 22.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=120, 122}} The final round of vocal overdubs were recorded at Columbia on April 11 and shortly thereafter. According to Brian, "One of the features of this record is that Dennis sings [his harmony parts] in a special way, cupping his hands. I had thought for hours of the best way to achieve the sound and Dennis dug the idea because he knew it would work."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=172}} Love developed the "good night my baby / sleep tight, my baby" couplet during the studio sessions.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=91}}

Like other tracks on the album, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" contains a prominent technical flaw in the final mix, in which an audible tape splice is heard between the chorus and Love's vocal entrance in the bridge.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=179–180}} The error was mended on the track's 1996 stereo mix created by Mark Linett for The Pet Sounds Sessions. Linett explained, "The abrupt edit [...] was an edit that took an older mix with Mike Love singing and put it in the bridge. I didn't figure that out for years!"{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=223}} The 1996 stereo mix features Wilson singing the bridge because the tape with Love's singing was not available.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=223–224}}

"Wouldn't It Be Nice" was first released on May 14, 1966, as the opening track on Pet Sounds.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=134}} On July 18, the song was issued in the U.S. with the B-side "God Only Knows" as the third single from Pet Sounds.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=142}} In other countries such as the United Kingdom, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" was issued as the B-side of "God Only Knows".{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=142}}

The single debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number 84 on July 30, and it peaked at number 8 on September 17.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=142, 144}} Also in September, it peaked at number four in Canada and number two in Australia.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=145}} In October, it peaked at number 12 in New Zealand.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=156}}

In his self-described "unbiased" review of the album for Record Mirror, published in July 1966 upon Pet Sounds' British release, Norman Jopling said that the song "starts off prettily, and develops into a complicated ponderous beat number taken at a reasonably fast tempo. It slows down half-way through but brightens up again, and the lyric is pleasant. But not exceptional Beach Boys."{{cite magazine |last1=Jopling |first1=Norman |title=The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds (Capitol) |magazine=Record Mirror |date=July 2, 1966 |url=http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beach-boys-pet-sounds-capitol|url-access=subscription}} Billboard{{'}}s review highlighted the track for its "strong single potential".{{cite magazine |last1=Billboard{{'}}s Review Panel|title=Album Reviews|magazine=Billboard|date=May 28, 1966|volume=78|issue=21|page=68|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6xAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PT1|access-date=19 April 2016}} Cash Box described the song as a "rhythmic, medium-paced, danceable sincere pledge of devotion."{{cite magazine |title=CashBox Record Reviews |date=July 16, 1966 |page=36 |access-date=2022-01-12 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1966/CB-1966-07-16.pdf |magazine=Cash Box}}

Writing in his 2012 book Fifty Sides of the Beach Boys, biographer Mark Dillon describes "Wouldn't It Be Nice" as perhaps the band's "most gloriously innocent song" and one of Wilson's "most adventurous" arrangements.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|pp=105–106}} Nick Kent declared the harmonies to be "so complex they seemed to have more in common with a Catholic Mass than any cocktail lounge acappella doo-wop."{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=17}} Writing for American Songwriter magazine, Jason Scott noted the song's "whimsy" and "blissful" feeling, highlighting the "harp-like texture" of the guitar intro.{{Cite web |last=Scott |first=Jason |date=2019-11-22 |title=Behind The Song: The Beach Boys, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" |url=https://americansongwriter.com/behind-the-song-the-beach-boys-wouldnt-it-be-nice/ |access-date=2023-07-02 |website=American Songwriter |language=en-US}} In Far Out magazine, Aimee Ferrier named "Wouldn't It Be Nice" as a "pop masterpiece" and "puppy-love anthem", listing its nostalgic lyrical themes and layers of instruments as elements of the song worthy of note.{{Cite web |last1=Ferrier|first1=Aimee|date=2023-03-06 |title=The story behind The Beach Boys song 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-story-behind-the-beach-boys-song-wouldnt-it-be-nice/ |access-date=2023-07-02 |website=faroutmagazine.co.uk |language=en-US}}

In 2006, Pitchfork ranked it number seven on its list of "The 200 Best Songs of the 1960s". Contributor Joe Tangari wrote in its entry: "'Wouldn't It Be Nice' has everything you love about the Beach Boys in spades [...] It's the ultimate starry-eyed teenage symphony to God, and it perfectly captures the earnest devotion we only seem capable of in a small window of years."{{cite web |title=The 200 Best Songs of the 1960s |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/6405-the-200-greatest-songs-of-the-1960s/?page=10 |website=Pitchfork |access-date=October 5, 2020 |date=August 18, 2006}} In 2008, Popdose staff members ranked it the 22nd-best single of the previous 50 years, writing that "no other song [...] so perfectly captures the idea of innocent love."{{cite web|author=Popdose Staff|title=The Popdose 100: Our Favorite Singles of the Last 50 Years|url=http://popdose.com/the-popdose-100-our-favorite-singles-of-the-last-50-years/|website=Popdose|date=November 24, 2008}} National Review ranked it number five on a 2006 list of the greatest politically conservative rock songs, where it was described as "pro-abstinence and pro-marriage".{{cite web |last1=Miller |first1=John J. |title=Rockin' the Right: The 50 greatest conservative rock songs. |url=http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NzZkNDU5MmViNzVjNzkzMDE3NzNlN2MyZjRjYTk4YjE= |website=National Review |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202130538/http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NzZkNDU5MmViNzVjNzkzMDE3NzNlN2MyZjRjYTk4YjE= |date=May 26, 2006 |url-status=dead|archive-date=February 2, 2007}} In 2021, it was ranked number 297 on Rolling Stone{{'s}} list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/beach-boys-wouldnt-it-be-nice-1225041/|title=The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: Wouldn't It Be Nice|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=September 23, 2021}}

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"Wouldn't It Be Nice" was pivotal in the formation of the progressive pop genre. Writing for Cleveland, Troy L. Smith said that it was one of the Pet Sounds tracks that solidified the band as the genre's forefathers, characterizing the song as "a Wall of Sound style single that contains some of the best harmonizing in the history of music."{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Troy L.|title=50 greatest album-opening songs|url=http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/05/50_greatest_album-opening_song.html#42|work=cleveland.com|date=May 24, 2016}} He called it "the first taste of progressive pop that would be picked up by the Beatles and the likes of Supertramp, Queen and others moving forward." The Beatles' Paul McCartney praised the melody while noting his fascination at the time with the song's arrangement.{{Cite web |title=Paul McCartney Comments |url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Paul_McCartney_Comments.html |access-date=2023-07-02 |website=albumlinernotes}}

The song was also influential to the development of power pop. Author Michael Chabon named it as a "founding document" of the genre, citing its "sadness and yearning [...] smuggled into the melody, the harmonies, the lyrics, and even the title, which marks the broken place, the gap between the wish and the world."{{cite web|author-link=Michael Chabon|last=Chabon|first=Michael|title=Tragic Magic: Reflections on Power Pop|url=http://michaelchabon.com/uncollected/musical/tragic-magic/|access-date=March 30, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411092844/http://michaelchabon.com/uncollected/musical/tragic-magic/|archive-date=April 11, 2013}}

Among the other artists that have afforded praise to "Wouldn't It Be Nice", Zooey Deschanel performed the song regularly at concerts with her band She & Him and said, "On the surface, it's a really well-crafted pop song, but then it has so many layers: production-wise, songwriting-wise, and lyrically. It's a perfect record."{{sfn|Dillon|2012|pp=107, 110}} She added that her mind was "blown" by the vocals-only track included on The Pet Sounds Sessions box set.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=108}} Singer Taylor Swift selected it as the song she would play for walking down the aisle in the event that she would ever get married.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=109}} A 1977 live rendition by Alex Chilton – in which he jokingly introduces it as "a song by Charlie Manson" – was included on the posthumous release Ocean Club '77 (2015).{{cite web |last1=Valish |first1=Frank |title=Reissued and Revisited: Alex Chilton Alex Chilton: Ocean Club '77 (Norton) |url=http://undertheradarmag.com/blog/reissued_and_revisited_alex_chilton |website=Under the Radar |date=August 10, 2015}}

The song has occasionally appeared in the soundtracks of films such as Shampoo (1975), 50 First Dates (2004), and It's Complicated (2009).{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=109}} In the 1989 documentary Roger & Me, it was used to underscore visuals of the economic devastation caused by the closure of several auto plants in Flint, Michigan.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=109}} Critic Anthony Kaufman highlighted the scene as an especially effective piece of "ironic counterpoint".{{cite news |last1=Strachan |first1=Jessica |title=Film critic labels Michael Moore's 'Roger & Me' as one of the most 'politically effective' films |url=https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/flint/2011/08/film_critic_labels_michael_moo.html |access-date=October 10, 2020 |work=Michigan Live |date=August 24, 2011}} The band's film-themed compilation Still Cruisin' (1988) included the song for its appearance in The Big Chill (1983),{{cite AV media notes |title=Still Cruisin' |others=The Beach Boys |year=1989 |publisher=Capitol Records|type=Liner notes |url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Still_Cruisin_.html}} although the compilers accidentally used an alternate mix of the track with a different vocal take.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

In 1990, the political cartoon strip Doonesbury ran a controversial story arc involving the character Andy Lippincott and his terminal battle with AIDS. It concludes with Lippincott expressing his admiration for Pet Sounds and, in the last panels, depicts the character's death while listening to "Wouldn't It Be Nice", as well as his last written words, the line "Brian Wilson is God" scrawled on a notebook (a reference to the line "Clapton is God"). According to cultural theorist Kirk Curnett in 2012, the panel "remains one of the most iconic in Doonesbury{{'}}s forty-three year history, often credit[ed] with helping humanize AIDS victims when both gay and straight sufferers were severely stigmatized."{{sfn|Lambert|2016|pp=20–21}}{{refn|group=nb|Comic book artist Ty Templeton said that the song "made me sob like a baby for years because of Andy's relationship to that song. It no longer belongs to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys [...] It's Andy's."{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=20}}}} Curnett also noted that while "[i]t may overstate the case to describe [the song] as a gay anthem", it had been used at recent LGBT rallies.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|pp=20, 30}} The song is also featured in the 2024 film Sonic the Hedgehog 3 when Ivo Robotnik and his grandfather Gerald get to spend the perfect day in a virtual reality simulation, giving Ivo the childhood he missed out on.{{Cite web |last=Zachary |first=Brandon |date=December 19, 2024 |title=Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Soundtrack Guide: Every Song & When They Play |url=https://screenrant.com/sonic-the-hedgehog-3-soundtrack-songs-guide/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241223043941/https://screenrant.com/sonic-the-hedgehog-3-soundtrack-songs-guide/ |archive-date=December 23, 2024 |access-date=January 22, 2025 |website=ScreenRant |language=en}}

{{external media

| float = right

| video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhprRAEMcuo "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (Live in London)]

| video2 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srm9vJeMsLE "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (The Beach Boys In Concert)]

}}

The Beach Boys adopted the song into their live performances, typically with Al Jardine handling the lead vocal originally sung by Wilson. They did not initially incorporate the tempo change into the live arrangement, and instead skipped that section entirely, as can be heard on the 1968 recording released on the live album Live in London (1970).{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=107}} In April 1971, a version recorded Live At Big Sur was released as a single.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=289}} By the early 1970s, the group had begun playing the whole song in their live arrangement, as demonstrated on 1973's The Beach Boys in Concert.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=107}}

Per band archivist Craig Slowinski.{{cite web |last1=Slowinski |first1=Craig |title=Pet Sounds LP |url=http://www.beachboysarchives.com/page10 |website=beachboysarchives.com |publisher=Endless Summer Quarterly |access-date=September 24, 2018}}

The Beach Boys

• Al Jardine – backing vocals
• Bruce Johnston – backing vocals
• Mike Love – bridge and outro lead vocals, backing vocals
• Brian Wilson – lead vocals, backing vocals
• Carl Wilson – backing vocals
• Dennis Wilson – backing and bass vocals

Session musicians (also known as "the Wrecking Crew")

{{div col}}

• Hal Blaine – drums
• Frank Capp – timpani, jingle stick, glockenspiel
• Roy Caton – trumpet
• Jerry Cole – 12-string lead guitar
• Steve Douglas – tenor saxophone
• Carl Fortina – accordion
• Plas Johnson – tenor saxophone
• Carol Kaye – bass guitar
• Barney Kessel – 12-string mando-guitar
• Larry Knechtel – tack piano
• Al de Lory – grand piano
• Frank Marocco – accordion
• Jay Migliori – baritone saxophone
• Bill Pitman – acoustic rhythm guitar
• Ray Pohlman – Danelectro 6-string bass
• Lyle Ritz – string bass

{{div col end}}

Technical staff

• Larry Levine – engineer (instrumental session)
• Ralph Valentin – engineer (vocal session)
• Don T. — second engineer (vocal session)

Details adapted from Keith Badman's The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band, on Stage and in the Studio{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=111}}

January 22, 1966 - Instrumental track recorded by the Wrecking Crew produced by Brian Wilson, with Brian Wilson's lead vocal overdubbed at the end of the session.

February 16, 1966 - Rough mono mix of Wouldn't It Be Nice completed by Wilson, notably featuring an alternate first verse with the opening lines transposed from the final version. Following this a rehearsal session takes place.

March 3, 1966 - Wilson completes a new mono mix, using an eight-track recorder for one of the first times in his career as a producer. The vocals are still incomplete without contributions from the rest of the band.

March 10, 1966 - Vocal overdub inserts recorded at Columbia Studios by all six band members for the first time.

March 22, 1966 - A rough mix featuring both lead and backing vocals is mixed by Wilson.

April 11, 1966 - Brian and Carl Wilson record new lead vocal parts for the song.

Mid-April, 1966 - final vocals overdubs recorded for the song and final mono mix assembled by Wilson.

{{col-begin}}

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{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for "Wouldn't It Be Nice"}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Beach Boys|title=Wouldn't It Be Nice|award=Platinum|relyear=2004|certyear=2023|id=14970-1917-1|access-date=November 24, 2023}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}

{{Reflist|group=nb}}

{{Reflist|20em}}

{{refbegin|indent=}}

• {{cite book|last=Adams|first=John|author-link=John Adams (composer)|title=Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OCsC7ZVyNOQC|year=2011|publisher=Faber & Faber|isbn=978-0-571-26089-8}}
• {{cite book |last=Badman |first=Keith |title=The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band, on Stage and in the Studio |url=https://archive.org/details/beachboysdefinit0000badm |url-access=registration |year=2004 |publisher=Backbeat Books |isbn=978-0-87930-818-6 }}
• {{cite book |first=Peter Ames |last=Carlin |author-link=Peter Ames Carlin |title=Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eYyovo_AbqAC |year=2006 |publisher=Rodale |isbn=978-1-59486-320-2 }}
• {{cite book|last=Dillon|first=Mark|title=Fifty Sides of the Beach Boys: The Songs That Tell Their Story|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=QAP0yVAVq3YC}}|year=2012|publisher=ECW Press|isbn=978-1-77041-071-8}}
• {{cite book |last=Granata |first=Charles L. |title=Wouldn't it Be Nice: Brian Wilson and the Making of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds |date=2003 |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=eduXp1caQ4YC}}|publisher=Chicago Review Press|isbn=978-1-55652-507-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Kent|first=Nick|author-link=Nick Kent|chapter=The Last Beach Movie Revisited: The Life of Brian Wilson|title=The Dark Stuff: Selected Writings on Rock Music|year=2009|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=9780786730742|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bPMO0CtuBAsC&pg=PA39}}
• {{cite book |last=Lambert |first=Philip |title=Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: The Songs, Sounds, and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3sGoAwAAQBAJ |date=2007 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4411-0748-0 }}
• {{cite book|editor-last=Lambert|editor-first=Philip|title=Good Vibrations: Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys in Critical Perspective|url=https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/nv935376j|year=2016|publisher=University of Michigan Press|doi=10.3998/mpub.9275965 |isbn=978-0-472-11995-0}}
• {{cite book |last=Love |first=Mike |author-link=Mike Love |title=Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ioG0CwAAQBAJ |year=2016 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-698-40886-9}}

{{refend}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofByti7A4uM&NR=1 Making of the studio recording]
• {{YouTube|id=BJlWKziPUEQ|title=Wouldn't It Be Nice (Instrumental Stereo Mix)}}
• {{YouTube|id=8_rG_W4yUOU|title=Wouldn't It Be Nice (Live At Michigan State University/1966)}}
• {{YouTube|id=3AqvifHVNGQ|title=Wouldn't It Be Nice (Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67)}}
• {{YouTube|id=GJAwT6fsUHU|title=Wouldn't It Be Nice (Live At Daughters Of The American Revolution Constitution Hall, Washington DC/1967)}}

{{Pet Sounds}}

{{The Beach Boys singles}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1966 singles

Category:1966 songs

Category:American power pop songs

Category:Avant-pop songs

Category:The Beach Boys songs

Category:Capitol Records singles

Category:Progressive pop songs

Category:Songs about marriage

Category:Song recordings produced by Brian Wilson

Category:Songs used as jingles

Category:Songs written by Brian Wilson

Category:Songs written by Mike Love

Category:Songs written by Tony Asher

Category:Song recordings with Wall of Sound arrangements