The Ten Best Songs of Brian Wilson

By Cory Franklin

June 27^th ,2025

With the recent death of Brian Wilson, all three Wilson brothers, who formed the Beach Boys in 1961, are now gone. One of the ironies of life is that if asked in 1967, which Wilson brother would survive the longest, no one would have answered Brian – he was plagued by more than a half century of health problems and serious drug use. As Chuck Berry once wrote, “It goes to show you never can tell.” (Incidentally, Chuck once sued Brian for essentially copying his Sweet Little Sixteen as the Beach Boy song Surfin’ USA, but the suit was settled with Chuck receiving a writing credit for Surfin’ USA. It’s a good bet Chuck never surfed a day in his life – but then Brian only surfed once.)

Make no mistake, not only was Brian Wilson the heart, soul, brains, and essence of the Beach Boys, he was rightfully recognized as one of the true musical geniuses of the 1960s – arguably the greatest. The tragedy is that his genius lasted only five years, from 1962 to 1966. Whether it was because of heavy drug use (including a bad LSD trip), mental illness, the pressure of having to churn out hits and compete with The Beatles, or a combination of those factors, nothing he ever did after that came close to approaching his work during that period.  (For those who believe drugs make the artist better and more creative, Brian Wilson is a cautionary lesson: perhaps true for a short time, but ultimately, they erode and then destroy the muse.)

But throughout the early to mid-1960s, his work was sublime and an influence on the music that is still played today. Here is my list of his ten best, and there will be some significant caviling because some great songs like California Girls, Little Deuce Coupe, Help Me Rhonda, Barbara Ann, and Fun, Fun, Fun are not on the list. Still enjoyable today, those are the warhorses that oldies radio plays – and perhaps overplays. Try listening to these ten, actually eleven, as an indicator of what Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys were all about.

1. The Little Girl I Once Knew (1965.)

This song is a late 1965 bridge between the Beach Boys surf/car songs and their graduation into the classic, more complex album Pet Sounds. The Little Girl I Once Knew was not a commercial success, largely because Brian included two eight-beat pauses, which meant five seconds of dead air each time – an absolute kiss of death for disc jockeys on AM radio. John Lennon felt this was the best Beach Boys song and among the best rock songs ever. Brian Wilson once said, “There’s no way the Beach Boys could sound any better than on “The Little Girl I Once Knew.” John Lennon and Brian Wilson- good enough for me to make it #1. This is probably the only list that has this song at the top.

2. God Only Knows (1966.)

Generally considered to be Brian Wilson’s masterpiece. The production is superior to that of The Little Girl I Once Knew, but you can hear primitive echoes of this song in that earlier one, so I rate Little Girl just slightly above it. Paul McCartney, who knows a little, thought God Only Knows was the greatest rock song ever. I’m going to go with Lennon over McCartney on it, but it’s this/close.

3. Good Vibrations (1966)

Peak Brian Wilson. No one had ever heard anything like this before. With its theremin and ocarina, it signified that the surfing Beach Boys were no more and, not coincidentally, there was an undeniable drug influence to this classic.

But just as this was the apogee of Brian Wilson’s talent it also signified the beginning of the end – his later work would never match this. Brian, a perfectionist, spent countless hours reworking this one, but the Wrecking Crew – the great studio session cats who played on it – didn’t mind because they were getting paid overtime.

4. Warmth of the Sun (Early 1964.)

The song was created on November 22,1963, after Brian and Mike Love heard that JFK had been assassinated. With that in mind, pay close attention to this somber metaphor of the California Sun. There is at once a sense of a poignant change in the Beach Boys – and in the country as well.

5. Caroline, No (1966.)

Caroline, No is a beautiful, wistful song, ostensibly about the lost innocence of a young girl. It can be reimagined as the lost innocence of Brian Wilson. At that point recognized as a musical success, Brian, beset by commercial and family pressures, was gradually retreating into his own world that included LSD and mental illness.

6. All Summer Long (1964.)

The consummate summer song – sun and fun in Southern California. George Lucas made the brilliant decision to use this song at the end of his film, American Graffiti. It was meant to symbolize the end of the Eisenhower era and doo-wop music and herald the beginning of the New Frontier and the fresh Beach Boys style. Ironically, by the time this song was released, the new paradigm was already almost finished. The Beatles and the British Invasion had taken over the music scene supplanting the Beach Boys, and JFK had been assassinated. Vietnam and civil unrest were looming on the horizon.

7. I Get Around (1964.)

The Beach Boys first #1 record, deservedly so, and the record that started their rivalry with The Beatles. Check out Glen Campbell, briefly a Beach Boy, on the electric bass.

8. Shut Down (1963.)

The Beach Boys’ best song about the car culture of Southern California. A drag racing drama in under two minutes that begins with the tantalizing line “It happened on the strip where the road is wide.” Little Deuce Coupe is a great car song; this one is even better.

9. In My Room (1963.)

The first indication Brian Wilson could be a profoundly introspective artist. Ironically, he would later go on to spend much of his life in his room. Compare this B-side (the flip side of a hit) to the similar-themed introspective song by John Lennon, There’s a Place.

10 (tie). Don’t Worry Baby (1964.)

The  B side of I Get Around, it actually presages the end of the Beach Boys car era songs. Melancholy and vaguely sexual, it features some great guitar work by Brian’s brother, Carl.

10 (tie). In the Parkin’ Lot (1964.)

An underrated masterpiece capturing a specific time and place: a guy and his girl sitting in his metal-flecked painted car, listening to the radio, and making out before school begins.  The line “Here comes the news, there’s no time to lose” refers to the AM radio tradition of broadcasting the news at the top of the hour. It was the sign they had to rush in and get to class.

There you have it. Begin the criticism and the arguments (yes, not voting God Only Knows at the top will draw brickbats.) But while you argue and make your own list, keep in mind we have Brian Wilson to thank for all this music.  Even if you are younger and couldn’t give a fig about the Sixties or Sixties music, listen to these songs. They might change your mind.

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Cory Franklin, physician and writer, is a frequent contributor to johnkassnews.com. Director of Medical Intensive Care at Cook County (Illinois) Hospital for 25 years, before retiring he wrote over 80 medical articles, chapters, abstracts, and correspondences in books and professional journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA. In 1999, he was awarded the Shubin-Weil Award, one of only fifty people ever honored as a national role model for the practice and teaching of intensive care medicine. 

Since retirement, Dr. Franklin has been a contributor to the Chicago Tribune op-ed page. His work has been published in the New York Times, New York Post, Washington Post, Chicago Sun-Times and excerpted in the New York Review of Books. Internationally, his work has appeared internationally in Spiked, The Guardian and The Jerusalem Post. For nine years he hosted a weekly audio podcast, Rememberingthepassed, which discusses the obituaries of notable people who have died recently. His 2015 book “Cook County ICU: 30 Years Of Unforgettable Patients and Odd Cases” was a medical history best-seller. In 2024, he co-authored The COVID Diaries: Anatomy of a Contagion As it Happened.

In 1993, he worked as a technical advisor to Harrison Ford and was a role model for the physician character Ford played in the film, The Fugitive.

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