7 Songs You May Not Know Brian Wilson Wrote

Brian Wilson was the primary songwriter behind many of the Beach Boys’ biggest hits. Widely renowned for his musical innovativeness, he was the mastermind behind the 1966 album Pet Sounds, which was of such high quality that it inspired The Beatles to create Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Still, Wilson struggled with many aspects of fame and faced intense stage fright, among other issues. Because of this, it makes sense that the gifted songwriter often penned and produced songs for other artists behind the scenes. Here are seven of those songs.“Surf City” // Jan and Dean“Guess I’m Dumb” // Glen Campbell“He’s a Doll” // The Honeys“Good Time” // American Spring"Is There A Chance" // David Foster “Run-Around Lover” // Sharon Marie“My Buddy Seat” // The Hondells“Surf City” // Jan and DeanWidely labeled as the first surf rock song to hit No. 1 in the U.S., this track helped another band soar to the top of the charts before the Beach Boys had a top hit of their own. Things came together at a party, where Wilson played his song “Surfin’ U.S.A.” for duo Jan Berry and Jean Torrence. Amazed, they naturally asked to record it themselves. Wilson instead gave them an instrumental track of the song “Surf City,” plus the opening line—which happened to be the famous refrain “two girls for every boy.” The song was a hit and helped cement California’s reputation as a romantic, sunlit dreamscape. It paved the way for summery surf music’s ascent to the top of the chart. Wilson later helped write five more of Jan and Dean’s 14 Top 40 hit singles: “Drag City,” “Dead Man's Curve,” “The New Girl in School,” “Ride the Wild Surf,” and “Sidewalk Surfin.’”“Guess I’m Dumb” // Glen CampbellCo-written by Brian Wilson and Russ Titelman, the song “Guess I’m Dumb” was originally meant to be recorded by the Beach Boys. “It took a while to get it right because I was trying something more adult,” Wilson wrote in his memoir, I Am Brian Wilson. “I was trying to score a Burt Bacharach vibe.” Yet ultimately, no one in the band wanted to record the lead vocals. “The message was okay, but maybe it was just the idea of being dumb,” Wilson theorized.After the song was rejected by the Beach Boys, Wilson subsequently gifted it to Glen Campbell. Following Wilson’s panic attack that led to his withdrawal from touring, Campbell had replaced him in the Beach Boys from December 1964 to March 1965. “Brian [said], ‘Glen, you want to sing it?’” Campbell said of the tune. “I said, ‘Sure, I do.’ Because I kind of liked it. It was a great track, and the guys already had some background on it.” The song, which describes regret over ending a relationship, wasn’t a hit, but Wilson and Campbell went on to share a lifelong mutual admiration for one another.“He’s a Doll” // The HoneysThe girl group The Honeys was originally called the Rovell Sisters, but was renamed The Honeys by Wilson, who also wrote, arranged, and produced most of their songs. Wilson imagined the band as a counterpart to the Beach Boys, and eventually married band member Marilyn Rovell in 1964. One song Wilson wrote for the group was “He’s a Doll,” which describes a seemingly perfect love interest and incorporates producer Phil Spector’s famous “Wall of Sound” technique. “Brian would always notice when we saw a cute guy we would say, ‘He's such a doll’ so he picked up on it and wrote one of the great songs for us. We feel it’s a classic with the Wrecking Crew jamming too. That track and arrangement is amazing,” Marilyn told Rock Cellar Magazine in 2016.“Good Time” // American SpringThis song was written by Brian Wilson and Al Jardine for American Spring, a group consisting of former Honeys members Marilyn Wilson and Diane Rovell. Wilson was very involved in many American Spring hits, just as he had been with the Honeys. “Good Time” was written for the Beach Boys’ Sunflower album but was initially released by American Spring, before being released by the Beach Boys a few years later. "Is There A Chance" // David Foster This song was co-written by Wilson, Foster, and Linda Thompson-Jenner, and appeared on the latter’s 1990 album River of Love. It came together during a quick session. “We wrote it in one morning, working from 11:00 to 1:00 in the afternoon. We went solid for two hours... it took two hours to write. This was back in 1988,” Wilson recalled in a 1995 interview. He later recorded his own version with new lyrics, renamed it “Fairy Tale,” and released it on his 2004 album Gettin’ In Over My Head.“Run-Around Lover” // Sharon MarieBeach Boys Brian Wilson and Mike Love co-wrote this song for the artist Sharon Marie, who released it in 1963. Later, the Beach Boys rewrote the lyrics and released it as their 1967 megahit “Darlin’.” Love and Wilson also wrote the song “Thinkin’ ‘Bout You Baby” for Marie, whose real name was Sharon Marie Esparza, and who disappeared from the music scene soon after these songs were released.“My Buddy Seat” // The HondellsSurf rock band The Hondells’ first single was a cover of the Beach Boys’ track “Little Honda.” Wilson then penned their next single, “My Buddy Seat,” along with producer Gary Usher. The song wasn’t a hit, but the band did perform it in a scene in the movie Beach Ball.