All I Wanna Do (Beach Boys song)

"All I Wanna Do" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love of the American rock band the Beach Boys, released in 1970 as the eighth track on the group's 16th studio album Sunflower.[4] It has been retrospectively cited as the earliest example of chillwave[1][2] and a precursor to the shoegazing genre.[2][3]

Not to be confused with All I Want to Do (Beach Boys song).
"All I Wanna Do"
Song by the Beach Boys
from the album Sunflower
ReleasedAugust 31, 1970 (1970-08-31)
RecordedMarch 19, 1969
StudioGold Star Studios, Hollywood
Genre
Length2:34
LabelBrother/Reprise
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)The Beach Boys
Audio sample
  • file
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Composition

In 2015, Love commented that "All I Wanna Do" was "totally poetic and quite heartfelt".[5] The song was characterized by music review site Pitchfork as "proto-shoegaze".[3] According to academic Philip Lambert,

In "All I Wanna Do" the lush backing chorus grows in intensity along with the love expressed in the lyric. By the time the chorus arrives, the depth and complexity of the singer's feelings are captured by an intricate layering of a main tune repeating the song title, a midrange non-texted countermelody in response, a "doot-doot-doot" line reaffirming the mellow beat, and a foundational bass line. It's the next step beyond the elegantly transparent layered endings of "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "God Only Knows" and so many others.[6]

Talking about the song in 1995, Brian expressed: "That was one of those songs that had a nice chord pattern, but I think it was a boring song, and I thought it wasn't done right. I thought it should have been softer, with boxed guitars."[7] In 2000, he called the song "a real nice one".[8]

Recording

On February 24, 1968, an early version of the song was recorded during the Friends sessions. Another version was recorded on May 24 and June 8.[9] One of these versions, which makes use of the sitar,[10][11] appears on the 2018 compilation: I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions.

The song's arrangement was revised and the recording which ultimately ended up on Sunflower took place on March 19, 1969, at Gold Star Studios.[12] Instead of a sitar, the final arrangement opted for a guitar line which Mathew Greenwald of AllMusic describes as "Byrds-like".[13] Carl Wilson produced the session.[14]

Critical reception

In 1970, Jim Miller of Rolling Stone noted production elements made the listening experience "mind-wrenching".[15] Matthew Greenwald called the song a lost classic, writing: "Possibly one of the most beautiful and unusual songs and recordings on the Sunflower album... Mike Love deserves high marks for his vocal and lyric contributions, which may be his most tasteful in the scope of the entire Beach Boys canon. Brian Wilson's haunting, minor-key melody and ghostly arrangement is truly bittersweet evidence that he had certainly not lost his artistic grasp." Greenwald went on to give accolades to the song's arrangement, citing the effectiveness of the piccolo snare drum and the interesting, well-executed harmonies.[13]

Personnel

Credits sourced from Beach Boys archivist Craig Slowinski.[14][16]

The Beach Boys

Additional musicians and production staff
  • Hal Blaine – drums
  • Jimmy Bond – double bass, electric bass
  • Al Casey – rhythm guitar
  • Gene Estes – shaker
  • Mike Melvoin – piano
  • Stephen Desper – engineer, Moog synthesizer
  • Doc Siegel – engineer

References
  1. "Song Premiere: The Bright Light Social Hour "All I Wanna Do" (Beach Boys Cover)". Relix. March 14, 2016.
  2. Polinice (November 25, 2013). "Gli Uomini del Capitano: pezzi scritti dai membri secondari di una band". Polinice.
  3. Macauley, Hefner (18 July 2000). "The Beach Boys: Sunflower/Surf's Up". Pitchfork Media Inc. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  4. Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys. The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band: On Stage and in the Studio Backbeat Books, San Francisco, California, 2004. ISBN 0-87930-818-4 p. 278
  5. Sharp, Ken (September 9, 2015). "Mike Love of the Beach Boys: One-On-One (The Interview Part 1)". Rock Cellar Magazine. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  6. Lambert, Philip (2007-03-19). Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: The Songs, Sounds, and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 395. ISBN 978-1-4411-0748-0.
  7. Benci, Jacopo (January 1995). "Brian Wilson interview". Record Collector. UK (185).
  8. White, Timothy (2000). Sunflower/Surf's Up (CD Liner). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records.
  9. Doe, Andrew G. "Sessions 1968". Bellagio 10452. Endless Summer Quarterly. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  10. Chidester, Brian (March 5, 2014). "Brian Wilson's Secret Bedroom Tapes: A Track-by-Track Description". LA Weekly. Archived from the original on 2014-03-07. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
  11. Doe, Andrew G. (2018). "GIG68". Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  12. Doe, Andrew G. (2013). "GIG69". Retrieved March 7, 2014.
  13. Greenwald, Matthew. "All I Wanna Do review". AllMusic. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  14. Slowinski, Craig (October 9, 2009). "Re: All I Wanna Do (SFlowr): are there vocals only, and backing tracks?".
  15. Miller, Jim (October 1, 1970). "Sunflower; Albums Reviews". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
  16. Slowinski, Craig (Summer 2020). "Sunflower: 50 Year Anniversary Special Edition (Issue 130, Volume 33, No. 3)". Endless Summer Quarterly Magazine (Magazine). Charlotte, North Carolina, USA: David Beard. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
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