Please Let Me Wonder
| "Please Let Me Wonder" | |||||||
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| Single by The Beach Boys | |||||||
| from the album Today! | |||||||
| A-side | "Do You Wanna Dance?" | ||||||
| Released | February 15, 1965 | ||||||
| Format | 7" vinyl | ||||||
| Recorded | January 7–9, 1965 | ||||||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock | ||||||
| Length | 2:45 | ||||||
| Label | Capitol | ||||||
| Writer(s) | Brian Wilson, Mike Love | ||||||
| Producer(s) | Brian Wilson | ||||||
| The Beach Boys singles chronology | |||||||
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"Please Let Me Wonder" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for American rock band the Beach Boys. The song was the B-side of the single "Do You Wanna Dance?" which was released by The Beach Boys in 1965 through Capitol Records.[1] It peaked at a number 52 in Billboard and number 46 in Cash Box. The contemporary Gilbert Youth Survey conducted nationally in April 1965 placed this song at number 9 in its chart one week.
The song was the first that Wilson wrote while under the influence of marijuana.[2][3] The song was first released on the band's 1965 album The Beach Boys Today!. Due to the lyrics, which are filled with a sense of longing and uncertainty, it is a contrasting piece to Wilson's "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)".[2]
Personnel
Per Craig Slowinski.[4]
- The Beach Boys
- Al Jardine - harmony and backing vocals
- Brian Wilson - lead, harmony and backing vocals, grand piano
- Carl Wilson - harmony and backing vocals, lead guitar
- Dennis Wilson - harmony and backing vocals, percussion
- Mike Love - harmony and backing vocals
- Additional musicians and production staff
- Glen Campbell - guitar
- Steve Douglas - saxophone
- Plas Johnson - saxophone
- Carol Kaye - bass guitar
- Barney Kessel - guitar
- Jack Nimitz - saxophone
- Earl Palmer - drums, timbales
- Don Randi - piano, organ
- Billy Lee Riley - harmonica
- Billy Strange - guitar
- Jerry Williams - vibraphone, timpani
Live version
A live version recorded during The 50th Reunion Tour in 2012 appears on Live – The 50th Anniversary Tour (2013).
Cover versions
- 1984 – Tatsuro Yamashita, Big Wave
References
- ↑ Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys. The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band: On Stage and in the Studio Backbeat Books, San Francisco, California, 2004. ISBN 0-87930-818-4 p. 84
- 1 2 "Matthew Greenwald review".
- ↑ Wilson, Brian; Greenman, Ben (2016). I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir. Da Capo Press. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-306-82307-7.
- ↑ Slowinski, Craig (2007). "The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys Today!" (PDF). Retrieved October 27, 2012.
