Beach Boys Lyrics

The Beach Boys lyrics typical represent summer fun, sun, sand and a surfing lifestyle in Southern California. Though not as dark and brooding, perhaps as those of other bands, the Beach Boys lyrics tell tales of happy times, love and romance at the beach in story format.

The Beach Boys lyrics typically have a beginning, middle and end as one would expect from a story or poem. Images of the beaches in Huntington, Malibu, Laguna and Doheny are threaded throughout many of the lyrics.

Most of the Beach Boys’ success came in the 1960s, though all or part of the group has been performing in each decade to the present. Most of the Beach Boys lyrics were written by Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Tony Asher, Van Dyke Parks or Dennis Wilson in collaboration with one another or solo.

On the album 20/20 there was a line in the Beach Boys lyrics that caused an uproar between band members. In the song “Cabin Essence” a line near the end of the song read, “The crow cries uncover the cornfield”. Love confronted Parks about this lyric, demanding an explanation of its meaning. Parks walked out of this session and his collaboration with Brian Wilson came to a sudden end.

On the same album, there was another controversy that would be ignited years later regarding the Beach Boys lyrics on the song, “Never Learn Not to Love”. According to reports, convicted killer Charles Manson contributed un-credited lines to the lyrics and even picked a title, which was changed to one more marketable.

Even though the Beach Boys went to writers outside their band for help with the lyrics on occasion, the themes of writing about love and the Southern California lifestyle stayed consistent. Young love and romance, the beach, surfing, fast cars and fun were common and consistent staples in the Beach Boys lyrics, which garnered the band a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.