The Beach Boys had their earliest success singing about surfing, girls, and cars. They evolved into much more as Brian Wilson began experimenting with using the recording studio as an instrument and writing more introspective songs. From the first beat of the drums to the vocal harmonies and the lush guitar sounds, “Don’t Worry Baby” has all the elements of a Beach Boys song. It was still early in their career, and Wilson and Roger Christian wrote an introspective classic. But is it about a girl or about a car? Let’s look at the story behind “Don’t Worry Baby” by The Beach Boys.
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Well, it’s been building up inside of me
For oh, I don’t know how long
I don’t know why
But I keep thinking
Something’s bound to go wrong
The Inspiration
In August 1963, The Ronettes released “Be My Baby” on Philles Records. It became a huge hit and absolutely floored Wilson when he heard it. He loved everything about it: the voices, the “wall of sound” production from Phil Spector, the lyrics, all of it.
“I was driving down the street listening to the radio, and the DJ came on and announced a new song. It was ‘Be My Baby,’ and it just knocked me out,” Wilson wrote in 2016 in I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir. “I think I said something out loud, even though I was the only one in the car. I said, ‘What in the heck?’ and then I pulled over to the side of the road and listened to the rest of the record so I could hear the chorus again. I tried to figure out how all the instruments were working. Before Spector, people recorded all the instruments separately. They got great piano, great guitar, and great bass. But he thought of the song as one giant instrument. It was huge. Size was so important to him, how big everything sounded. And he had the best drums I ever heard. The song was on the radio, which meant that it was coming to me from far away, but it was also right there with me in the car.”
But she looks in my eyes
And makes me realize
And she says don’t worry, baby
Don’t worry, baby
Don’t worry, baby
Everything will turn out alright
Don’t worry, baby
Don’t worry, baby
Don’t worry, baby
The Title
Wilson was full of self-doubt. After a frustrating day in the studio, his then-girlfriend Marilyn Rovell would offer comforting words such as, “Don’t worry baby, it’s going to be great.” Wilson recalled in his 1991 memoir, Wouldn’t It Be Nice: My Own Story, “I called lyricist Roger Christian and told him I had an idea. He met me one afternoon at my parents’ house where, in one of our last collaborations, we wrote a lush ballad whose title and chorus came directly from Marilyn’s comforting words, ‘Don’t Worry, Baby.’ I knew the song was a smash before we finished writing it.”
I guess I should’ve kept my mouth shut
When I started to brag about my car
But I can’t back down now
I pushed the other guys too far
She makes me come alive
And makes me want to drive
When she says, don’t worry, baby
Don’t worry, baby
Don’t worry, baby
Everything will turn out alright
“It Was An Era-Change for Us”
Wilson first felt The Ronettes should record “Don’t Worry Baby” and spread the word through the studio personnel that the song was there for the taking, but Spector was not interested in recording a song for which he had no stake in the songwriting.
Guitarist Al Jardine told Mojo magazine in 2012, “(Engineer) Chuck Britz got such a great sound on that song; the drums, the singing, the clicky sound on the Fender Precision bass. There’s something about the way the track sat. Just about everything about it was an era-change for us.”
Don’t worry, baby
Don’t worry, baby
Don’t worry, baby
The Guitar Solo
It is disputed who exactly performed the ultra-simple yet perfect guitar solo. Some sources credit Carl Wilson, while others say David Marks, who had left the band half a year earlier. After the main band members recorded their parts together, the part was overdubbed onto the recording. This was before Wilson began enhancing his recordings with studio musicians.
She told me, baby, when you race today
Just take along my love with you
And if you know how much I loved you
Baby, nothing could go wrong with you
The Influence
Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo told Billboard magazine in 2008, “I love Brian Wilson’s melody when he’s saying, ‘Well, it’s been building up inside of me for oh, I don’t know how long.‘ I love the lyrical innocence. It’s just like a straightforward pop song, singing about a girl, as opposed to something like the Pixies, where the lyrics were pretty abstract. And I love the big harmonies in the chorus—actually five-part vocal harmonies—and I carefully transcribed them in my bedroom on my tape player. But then I added the element of the modern crunchy guitar sound. And that’s what really helped me figure out what I wanted to do as a songwriter and a performer in Weezer.”
Oh, what she does to me
When she makes love to me
And she says don’t worry, baby
Don’t worry, baby
Don’t worry, baby
Everything will turn out alright
So, Is It About a Car or a Girl?
Wilson summed it up in a 2011 interview with Goldmine magazine: “It took me two days to write it. I started out with the verse idea and then wrote the chorus. It was a very simple and beautiful song. It’s a really heart and soul song. I really did feel that in my heart. Some say it’s about a car, and others say it’s about a girl, who’s right? It’s both. It’s about a car and a woman.”
Don’t worry, baby
Don’t worry, baby
Don’t worry, baby
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Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
