Tag Archives: Musical Composition (B. Wilson-R. Christian) – Don’t Worry Baby (1964)

The Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry Baby” is a “heart and soul” song on their last “hot rod” album in February 1964 before the British Invasion.

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Feature image: The site of the Wilson family home in Hawthorne, California, where Brian Wilson composed Don’t Worry Baby with lyrics by then-collaborator Roger Christian, a DJ at KFWB in L.A., over the course of a couple days in 1963. The home where Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson grew up with their parents Murray and Audree Wilson, and where they honed their musical skills and formed the Beach Boys with cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine in 1961, was lost to development in the name of progress (a new highway). Similarly, in February 1964, the Beach Boys, who had the no. 1 single of 1963 (Surfin’ U.S.A.), overnight had to rethink the direction of their opus in the wake of the Beatles and British Invasion that forever changed the trajectory of rock and roll and the recording industry in the 1960s and beyond. “Beach Boys Landmark – Plano general I” by tkksummers is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Beach Boys in 1963. Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, David Marks, Mike Love. Since spring of 1963 they had 3 top-5 hits (and two more top-10 hits). “Surfin’ U.S.A.” peaked at no. 3 in May 1963 and became Billboard’s no.1 song for the year. “Little Saint Nick” released in December 1963 peaked at no. 3 on the Billboard Christmas Singles chart. It was in this time period that Brian Wilson with Roger Christian wrote “Don’t Worry Baby,” one of the Beach Boys’ finest songs pre-British Invasion about a guy who agrees to drag race but regrets it and, confiding his situation to his girlfriend, is tenderly consoled by her with the song’s title phrase. Public Domain. This is a publicity still taken and publicly distributed to promote the subject or a work relating to the subject.
As stated by film production expert Eve Light Honathaner in The Complete Film Production Handbook (Focal Press, 2001, p. 211.):
“Publicity photos (star headshots) have traditionally not been copyrighted. Since they are disseminated to the public, they are generally considered public domain, and therefore clearance by the studio that produced them is not necessary.”
Nancy Wolff, in The Professional Photographer’s Legal Handbook (Allworth Communications, 2007, p. 55.), notes:
“There is a vast body of photographs, including but not limited to publicity stills, that have no notice as to who may have created them.”
Film industry author Gerald Mast, in Film Study and the Copyright Law (1989, p. 87), writes:
“According to the old copyright act, such production stills were not automatically copyrighted as part of the film and required separate copyrights as photographic stills. The new copyright act similarly excludes the production still from automatic copyright but gives the film’s copyright owner a five-year period in which to copyright the stills. Most studios have never bothered to copyright these stills because they were happy to see them pass into the public domain, to be used by as many people in as many publications as possible.”
Kristin Thompson, committee chairperson of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies writes in the conclusion of a 1993 conference of cinema scholars and editors[1], that:
“[The conference] expressed the opinion that it is not necessary for authors to request permission to reproduce frame enlargements… [and] some trade presses that publish educational and scholarly film books also take the position that permission is not necessary for reproducing frame enlargements and publicity photographs.”

Brian Wilson’s first car was a light burgundy Mercury. It was passed down from his mother and Wilson called it “the Merc.” He failed his first driver’s test and got a reputation for being a bad driver because he was constantly distracted thinking about other things. His father tutored him behind the wheel and Brian started to get the hang of driving when he compared the car’s controls to playing a musical instrument. As the comparison dawned on him, it developed: like a musical instrument a driver had to play the car just right – not to hard or fast – so to get the results desired. But the comparison was also limited: Brian realized you could do a lot more unique things playing a musical instrument than driving a car. After he passed his driving test the second time, he drove “the Merc” for a year until he acquired a used 1957 Ford Fairlane. For Hawthorne, Brian knew it was a great car but he saw there were greater cars driven by other guys. He loved his used ’57 Ford and it was when he was in it that he first heard the Beach Boys’ first single, Surfin‘, playing on the radio in 1962. Brian said he revved and raced his Ford fast – but nobody believed it. (i am Brian Wilson a memoir, pp. 115-116).

At an August 1961 audition with Hite Morgan, a L.A. music publisher, Dennis Wilson said that Brian was working on a song about surfing. The truth was that no song existed. But the music publisher was intrigued and told the soon-to-be Beach Boys to come back when they had their new surfing song ready. “Surfin'” was recorded in October 1961 with Mike Love doing lead vocals, Brian on percussion/vocals, Carl Wilson on guitar/vocals, Al Jardine on acoustic bass/vocals and Dennis Wilson doing vocals. It was released in November 1961 on the independent label Candix. Though it peaked at no.75 on the Billboard Hot 100, its lyric which included the line”Surfin’ is the only life, the only way for me” capitivated listeners and was unique on the radio in late 1961. (Beach Boys FAQ, pp.25-26)

LYRICS Surfin’ is the only life, the only way for me
Now surf
Surf with me
I got up this mornin’, turned on my radio (Ooh, surfin’)
I was checkin’ out the surfin’ scene to see if I would go (Ooh, surfin’)
And when the DJ tells me that the surfin’ is fine (Ooh, surfin’)
That’s when I know my baby and I will have a good time
We’re goin’ surfin’, surfin’
Surfin’, surfin’, surfin’
Surfin’, surfin’, surfin’
Surfin’ is the only life, the only way for me
Now surf
Surf with me
From the early mornin’ to the middle of the night (Ooh, surfin’)
Any time the surf is up, the time is right (Ooh, surfin’)
And when the surf is down to take its place (Ooh, surfin’)
We’ll do the Surfer’s Stomp, it’s the latest dance craze
We’re goin’ surfin’, surfin’
Surfin’, surfin’, surfin’
Surfin’, surfin’, surfin’
Surfin’ is the only life, the only way for me
Now surf
Surf with me
Now the dawn is breaking and we really gotta go (Ooh, surfin’)
But we’ll be back here very soon, that you better know (Ooh, surfin’)
Yeah, my surfer knots are rising and my board is losing wax (Ooh, surfin’)
But that won’t stop me, baby, ’cause you know I’m comin’ back
We’re goin’ surfin’, surfin’
Surfin’, surfin’, surfin’
Surfin’, surfin’, surfin’
Surfin’ is the only life, the only way for me
Now come on, pretty baby and surf with me, yeah

Brian Wilson soon associated girls and cars. He was also beginning to understand the association of music and emotions after he heard Be My Baby by The Ronettes on the radio. Brian was also impressed by how simple vocal gestures, such as was achieved by Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick, could get maximum mileage from a listener’s reaction. (i am Brian Wilson a memoir, pp. 172).

In 1963 Brian Wilson offered Don’t Worry Baby to girl-group The Ronettes after the 21-year-old Wilson had become obsessed with their Be My Baby – a no. 1 hit (Cash Box) in August 1963. But they declined it and the Beach Boys produced it for themselves instead. It became one of the Beach Boys’s classics of the period. Wilson wrote Don’t Worry Baby as a response to Be My Baby and both songs have an affinity in pacing, structure, melodic lilt, and subject matter. Wilson wrote Don’t Worry Baby with lyrics by then-collaborator Roger Christian (1934-1991), a DJ at KFWB in L.A., over the course of a couple days at the Wilson family home in Hawthorne, California. It is ostensibly about a guy’s race car and his caring girlfriend, of which Wilson observed later: “It was a very simple and beautiful song. It’s a really heart and soul song, I really did feel that in my heart.” see – https://americansongwriter.com/brian-wilson-gods-messenger/4/ – retrieved February 24, 2025.

LYRICS Well, its 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
But she looks in my eyes
And makes me realize
And she says (now don’t) (don’t worry, baby)
Don’t worry, baby (don’t you worry) (don’t worry, baby)
Everything will turn out alright (now don’t) (don’t worry, baby)
Don’t worry, baby (don’t you worry) (don’t worry, baby)
I guess I should’ve kept my mouth shut
When I started to brag about my car
But I can’t back down now, because
I pushed the other guys too far
She makes me come alive
And makes me wanna drive
When she says (now don’t) (don’t worry, baby)
Don’t worry, baby (don’t you worry) (don’t worry, baby)
Everything will turn out alright (now don’t) (don’t worry, baby)
Don’t worry baby (don’t you worry) (don’t worry, baby)
She told me, “Baby, when you race today
Just take along my love with you
And if you knew how much I loved you
Baby, nothing could go wrong with you”
Oh, what she does to me
When she makes love to me
And she says (now don’t) (don’t worry, baby)
Don’t worry, baby (don’t you worry) (don’t worry, baby)
Everything will turn out alright (now don’t) (don’t worry, baby)
Don’t worry, baby (don’t you worry) (don’t worry, baby)
Everything will turn out alright (now don’t) (don’t worry, baby)
Don’t worry, baby (don’t you worry) (don’t worry, baby)

Feature Image: The Beach Boys in 1964; clockwise from left: Al Jardine, Mike Love, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson. Trade ad for The Beach Boys’s single “California Girls”/”Let Him Run Wild.” Public Domain. Permission details The ad appeared in the 11 September 1965 issue of Billboard and can be dated from that publication; it is pre-1978. There are no copyright markings as can be seen at the full view link. The ad is not covered by any copyrights for Billboard. US Copyright Office page 3-magazines are collective works (PDF) “A notice for the collective work will not serve as the notice for advertisements inserted on behalf of persons other than the copyright owner of the collective work. These advertisements should each bear a separate notice in the name of the copyright owner of the advertisement.”

Don’t Worry Baby was one of Brian Wilson’s strongest lead vocals countered by Mike Love singing bass, and Al Jardine, and Dennis and Carl Wilson singing back up. It was one of the last songs recorded before the Beatles’ appearances on Ed Sullivan that changed rock music’s trajectory. After the Beach Boys’ Surfin’ U.S.A. was ranked Billboard’s no.1 song of 1963 (Be My Baby was no. 35), Don’t Worry Baby was the second track and likely best song on Shut Down Volume 2, promoted as a “hot rod” album and released in February 1964 that rose to no.13 on the Billboard 200 and was certified Gold. It turned out that it was the final Beach Boys’ album exploring the dark and light of the California sound before the British invasion that shook things up fundamentally. Through the demise of their car and surfer music hastened by the Beatles – it can’t be known for sure what might have happened otherwise –  Brian Wilson understood that a gauntlet for musical supremacy was thrown down to which he must respond. At first Wilson thought about quitting for he was so disappointed that what they had been working on and striving for since 1961 was eclipsed overnight. After Fun, Fun, Fun peaked at no. 5 in March 1964, I Get Around was released in May 1964 with Don’t Worry Baby on the B-side. I Get Around became the no. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in July 1964 while Don’t Worry Baby charted on its own at no.24.

The Beach Boys in concert in February 1965. “Les Beach Boys en concert à l’aréna Maurice-Richard. 19 février 1965. De gauche à droite : Al Jardine, Carl Wilson et Glen Campbell (en remplacement de Brian Wilson). VM94-S32-010. Archives de la Ville de Montréal.” by Archives de la Ville de Montréal is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

With the Beatles in mind Brian Wilson set to work on new material, this time integrating older musical sources into something new, as well as being more open than ever before to experimenting with arrangements and instrumentation so to achieve a new sound. Wilson worked to reinvent the Beach Boys just as he had been succeeding in inventing them. By the end of 1964 it was the Beatles that secured not just the top spot on Billboard’s year-end singles (I Want To Hold Your Hand) but the second spot as well (She Loves You) though the Beach Boys were still in the top 5 with I Get Around.  

This cover by Foxes and Fossils is a good one of the Beach Boys’ 1964 top-40 hit “Don’t Worry Baby.” The song has been covered many times through the years and Brian Wilson would probably like this cover since his song was originally inspired by, and intended for, a girl group. But also because the Beach Boys were always thrilled when a new generation was introduced to their music and embraced it as their own. 

SOURCES:

The Beach Boys: America’s Band, Johnny Morgan, Union Square & Co.; Illustrated edition, 2015, p. 67.

Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy, Penguin Publishing Group, Mike Love, 2016, pp. 64-65, 96-97, and 248.

The Beach Boys FAQ, All That’s Left to Know about America’s Band, Jon Stebbins, Backbeat Books, 2011, pp. 8 and 49.

The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America’s Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio, Keith Badman, Backbeat Books; First Edition, 2004., p. 53.

Brian Wilson with Ben Greenman, Da Capo Press, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 115-116