Artist: Beach Boys
Song: You Still Believe In Me
Album: Pet Sounds (1966)
The Beach Boys are known as one of the most influential pop groups ever, and are especially renowned for their masterpiece album Pet Sounds, which is often considered the greatest pop album of all time. Led by Brian Wilson, they initially had success extolling the virtues of California, surfing and sunshine with obviously commercial pop songs. But Wilson went on to develop ambitious artistic ideas… Read more
Every piece of Wilson's masterwork is reverentially placed back together. The bicycle bells on ''You Still Believe In Me'', that strange underwater guitar on ''Pet Sounds'', the forlorn soundtrack of barking dogs and passing trains that concludes ''Caroline, No''. ''Let's Go Away For Awhile'' retains its elusively unhummable melody while the opening bars to ''God Only Knows'' bring audience members to tears. Rather than being denigrated, the legend emerges enhanced perhaps even more powerful and poignant in this new context. Over a generation later and these songs still retain their magic.
This was the first song on Pet Sounds to which Asher wrote lyrics. The lead vocal was sung by Brian Wilson. The song was originally titled "In My Childhood" and a bicycle horn and bell from "In My Childhood" can be heard at the end of the song because they could not be edited out of the final track. This song "compositionally embodies the unique manner in which Brian writes his music. In a sense, Brian created a new way of using the scale. His progressions are always going up, then pausing before they go up again, like they're going towards God."[1]
In the original mono version of the song, the lead is shared by Brian and Carl Wilson. The 1997 stereo version, due to inability to locate the source material for Carl's vocal overdub, has only a single-tracked lead by Brian.
To achieve the unique sound in the introduction, Tony Asher explains that "one of us had to get inside the piano to pluck the strings, while the other guy had to be at the keyboard pushing the notes so that they would ring." Brian in 1966 explained that this song is "A little 'Boys Choir'-type song with me doing the soprano. Very, very spiritual."
I know perfectly well
I'm not where I should be
I've been very aware
You've been patient with me
Every time we break up
You bring back your love to me
And after all I've done to you
How can it be
You still believe in me
I try hard to be more
What you want me to be
But I can't help how I act
When you're not here with me
I try hard to be strong
But sometimes I fail myself
And after all I've promised you
So faithfully
You still believe in me
I wanna cry . . .
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