It was November 21, 1963, and Brian Wilson had just moved into a rented house in Hawthorne, California, within close proximity to his family home. At the time, cousin Mike Love was living in an apartment a few miles away in Manhattan Beach. The two convened at Wilson’s that night to write some songs and came out with “Surfin’, Surfin’ Safari” and “Surfin’ USA,” and another more melancholy love song that opened up more introspective lyrics.
“This night was not about surfing, cars, girls, or school,” said Love in 2017. “It was about something different. For our band, the song we were writing offered a window into some of the lyrics and sounds that would come later in the decade. In just a few hours, this song would take on an entirely different meaning.”
On the morning of November 22, 1963, Love and Wilson woke to the news that President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas, Texas, and was taken to the hospital. The impact of JFK’s assassination shocked and saddened them and prompted Wilson and Love to start writing a reflective song of love and an “innocence” lost.
“After completing this song, it must have been 2 a.m. in the morning when we finally called it a night,” recalled Love of the song in 2017. “We were awakened to the news that President Kennedy had been taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. For a bunch of carefree guys in our early twenties, our innocence was lost.”
What good is the dawn
That grows into day?
The sunset at night
Or living this way
For I have the warmth of the sun (warmth of the sun)
Within me at night (within me at night)
The love of my life
She left me one day
I cried when she said
“I don’t feel the same way”
Still, I have the warmth of the sun (warmth of the sun)
Within me tonight (within me tonight)
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“The Warmth of the Sun” didn’t take long to write, said Love, yet it took on an entirely different meaning after the JFK assassination. “It’s just such a beautiful song, and the interesting thing about it was I remember waking up that morning to the news that President Kennedy had been taken to the hospital in Dallas,” he added. “A month later, we recorded it, and it was charged with the extra emotion of that terrible event that had happened.”
What good is the dawn that grows into day?’ — I thought that was a very nice way to start out a song.
Brian Wilson
Wilson added, “President Kennedy got assassinated, and we wrote that on behalf of him. ‘What good is the dawn that grows into day?’ — I thought that was a very nice way to start out a song.”
Alongside hits “Fun, Fun, Fun” and “Don’t Worry Baby,” their ballad was later released on the Beach Boys’ fifth album Shut Down Volume 2.
“We didn’t think of it as a big song,” said Wilson of “The Warmth of the Sun” in his 2016 memoir, I am Brian Wilson. “It was a personal response. But it got bigger over time because of the history linked to it.”
Another Love Song
Wilson and Love’s lyrics ultimately revolve around a love story. “It’s about being in love with someone and them not feeling the same way as you,” said Love. “Many of us have felt that, whether it was a crush in grade school, or junior high or high school or as a young adult when things didn’t work out — you were into it and they weren’t. It’s a kind of loss of love.”
Love continued, “However, the whole premise of ‘The Warmth of the Sun’ is having felt that way, the warmth of the sun is the love that still resonates within you.”
In 2016, Love also released his solo album Unleash the Love, which features a cover of “The Warmth of the Sun” sung by his daughter Ambha. “It’s beautiful with a woman singing,” said Love. “She’s a phenomenal singer.”
Photo: Jeff Hochberg/Getty Images
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