The Beach Boys wearing plaid shirts and holding a surfboardImage via Public Domain
By
Jazmin Kylene
Published 19 minutes ago
Jazmin Kylene is a Miami-bred writer and editor with a decade-long career that spans all editorial genres, though she has a particular passion for music journalism. Upon graduating Florida Atlantic University with a degree in Multimedia Journalism, she went on to write dozens for outlets and interview counless artists.
When Jazmin isn't typing the day away, she enjoys exploring nature, taking dance classes, going to the movies, and hanging out with her besties (mom and dog.) You can find her on Instagram @JazminKylene.
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The Beach Boys, consisting of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine, held the industry in the palm of their hands all throughout the ‘60s and '70s. Bringing California soft pop to a mainstream platform, their harmonies and drunken sense of adolescence was infectious, influencing a number of acts to come after them. However, there is one particular song in their discography that stands out as a career-defining venture, and it’s the one they least expected.
Released on July 18, 1966, “God Only Knows" is often praised as one of the greatest songs of all time and noted as the Beach Boys' most impressive feat. The song has received critical acclaim far beyond its numerous iconic covers, which range from artists like David Bowie, to Taylor Swift, to Olivia Newton-John.
As one of the most memorable records on their discography, “God Only Knows" was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll" and ranked highly on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” Here’s a closer look at the significance of the song and why it serves as The Beach Boys’ most covered classic.
The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows”
“God Only Knows,” a standout single off their 1966 album Pet Sounds, was born out of a pure artistic hunger for sonic evolution. While The Beach Boys were mostly known for surf anthems throughout the ‘60s, Brian felt moved by The Beatles’ Rubber Soul and was called to produce something more aged and emotionally mature. Fueled by artistic restlessness, “God Only Knows” was a grand orchestral feat written in about 45 minutes.
Making history as one of the first pop songs to use “God” in the title without being religious, there were varying levels of risk when it came to putting the song out. It was a sonic departure, far from what fans had grown to expect from the group. It also tackled themes of emotional vulnerability from a man, a taboo that would also serve as its greatest strength.
I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
I'll make you so sure about it
God only knows what I'd be without you
If you should ever leave me
Well, life would still go on, believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me?
God only knows what I'd be without you
With lyrics so poignant, the song is now a wedding staple and film soundtrack favorite, as it’s able to harness an emotional punch that can easily serve as any kind of homecoming. Its sophistication up-leveled the band into a new tier of stardom, promoting The Beach Boys from a surf band into visionary composers. Its harmonic structure is still considered near-perfect by musicologists, who continue to study its musicality as a format for producing a perfect love song.
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Posts By Karly B. Jun 11, 2025Though the song was a drastic pivot from the formula they found comfort in, “God Only Knows” was an unexpected pinnacle of success. Bigger than itself, the song marked a turning point in which pop music as a whole was taken more seriously as a form of high art. Its complexity was widely acknowledged, reformatting he industry entirely.
“God Only Knows” Covers
The Beach Boys wearing khaki pants and green plaid shirts while sitting on the sand.Image via Disney +
A song being covered helps to give it new life, and “God Only Knows" has most certainly been resurrected by a variety of big names. Spanning genres and generations, some of the artists to give the song their own spin include Neil Diamond, Olivia Newton-John, David Bowie, Mandy Moore, Michael Stipe, Rivers Cuomo, Avenged Sevenfold, Sting, and Taylor Swift, among countless more. One particular cover was regarded by Wilson as "the best version I ever heard, including the Beach Boys,” and that was Lyle Lovett’s 2007 rendition of the song during Wilson's Kennedy Center Honor commemoration.
A song about the awe that comes with loving someone deeply, “God Only Knows” was produced with a depth of sincerity that solidifies it as one of the most important songs in music history. As The Beach Boys continued to build upon their legacy for decades onward, the track is still their emotional centerpiece, reckoned as the moment that changed the course of their history.
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The Beach Boys
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