Through the years, Beach Boy Brian Wilson has given songs to other artists and even produced some of them. The Beach Boys may have discarded them, or the songs weren’t suitable for any of the vocalists in the band. His father, Murry, was unhappy when he learned Brian had “gone outside of the family” and worked with Jan & Dean to co-write “Surf City”—especially when it became a big hit. “Guess I’m Dumb” by Glen Campbell, “Thinkin’ ‘Bout You Baby” by Sharon Marie, “He’s a Doll” by The Honeys, and “Good Time” by American Spring were all songs Brian Wilson had a hand in. One would be reworked, rerecorded, and turned into a Beach Boys hit. Let’s take a look at the story behind “Darlin'” by The Beach Boys.
Videos by American Songwriter
Ohh darlin’
My darlin’, you’re so fine
Ohhhh-hhh-hhh
The Opera Singer
On June 1, 1963, The Beach Boys were playing a show in Sonoma County, California, when singer Mike Love met 20-year-old Sharon Marie Esparanza. The young woman sang some opera backstage for Love and Wilson, who were impressed enough to help her secure a record deal with Capitol Records.
Don’t know if words can say
But darlin’, I’ll find a way
To let you know what you meant to me
Guess it was meant to be
I hold you in my heart
As life’s most precious part
Gold Star Studios
Two weeks later, Wilson, Love, and Esparanza went to Gold Star Studios in Hollywood to record a single. The A-side was a Wilson/Love song called “Run-Around Lover” backed with the Gershwin standard “Summertime.” The Honeys (Darlene Love and Ginger Blake) provided background vocals, and producer Phil Spector’s session musicians provided the instrumentation, which Wilson would employ on future Beach Boys recordings. On October 21, 1963, Capitol released the single under the name Sharon Marie. The record failed to chart.
Oh darlin’
I dream about you often, my pretty darlin’
(darlin’, you’re so fine)
I love the way you soften my life with your love
Your precious love, uh huh oh
“Thinkin’ ‘Bout You Baby”
In April 1964, they returned to the studio to cut another single. This time, Love and Wilson wrote both sides. The A-side was “Thinkin’ ‘Bout You Baby,” backed with “Story of My Life.” Again, Wilson employed The Honeys and the best studio musicians in the area. Capitol released the single on June 1, 1964. Again, there was no chart action, signaling the end of Marie’s career.
I was living like half a man
Then, I couldn’t love, but now I can
You pick me up when I’m feeling sad
More soul than I ever had
Gonna love you every single night
‘Cause I think you’re too outta sight
Three Dog Night
Three years later, The Beach Boys formed a new production company in response to Capitol Records not supporting some of their more ambitious album projects. One of the main objectives of Brothers Records was for everyone to produce outside artists. Wilson’s first project was with a band called Redwood. Wilson revisited “Thinkin’ ‘Bout You Baby” when he reworked the song and called it “Darlin’.” He recorded the backing track, and Redwood’s lead singer Danny Hutton recorded a guide vocal when other Beach Boys expressed their displeasure at Wilson sharing his songs with other artists.
Wilson wrote about the encounter in his 2016 memoir I Am Brian Wilson, “Mike decided he didn’t like the idea that I was writing for Danny. I was in the studio working, and he came by with [brothers Carl and Dennis Wilson] … as a way of telling me he thought it was wrong of me to go outside the group. Mike did all the talking. Dennis and Carl just stood there with their heads down. They couldn’t look me in the eye. Mike really put the screws on me. I had to take the song away from them.”
Redwood went on to change their name to Three Dog Night. They did not release a version of “Darlin’.”
Oh darlin’
I dream about you often, my pretty darlin’
(darlin’, you’re so fine)
I love the way soften my life with your love
Your precious love, uh huh, huh
Wild Honey
Wilson said it was reminiscent of when his father had scolded him for working with Jan & Dean. Wilson used the same backing track he recorded for Redwood and had his brother Carl add the lead vocal to include on The Beach Boys’ album Wild Honey. The song hit the Top 20 in both America and the UK. In 2011, Wilson told Goldmine magazine, “I was writing more in a soul/R&B bag. The horns were conceived as a Phil Spector kind of a horn thing. ‘Darlin” was for Three Dog Night. They recorded it and said, ‘No, you can have it,’ so I gave it to Carl to sing. That song took about a week to write.”
Woah, oh, oh oh
Every night darlin’
Gonna love you every single night, yes I will
‘Cause I think you’re too doggone outta sight
Spring
In 1972, Wilson revisited “Thinkin’ ‘Bout You Baby” when he produced an album for the duo Spring, which consisted of his wife Marilyn and her sister Diane Rovell. The album was a critical success but sold poorly. Eventually, the duo would have to change their name to American Spring, as there was an English band with the same name.
Oh darlin’
I dream about you often, my pretty darlin’
(darlin’, you’re so fine)
I love the way soften my life with your love
Your precious love, uh huh, huh
Oh
The Big Bang Theory
In 2015, The Big Bang Theory used “Darlin'” as a plot point in “The Earworm Reverberation” episode. One of the characters gets the melody of the verse stuck in his head and can’t place where it is from. When he feels he is losing his sanity, he starts listing geniuses who have also gone crazy. He lists Vincent Van Gogh, Bobby Fischer, Jackson Pollock, … and Brian Wilson. This causes him to place the song.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
