Solar System (song)

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"Solar System"
Single by the Beach Boys
from the album The Beach Boys Love You
A-side"Honkin' Down the Highway"
ReleasedMay 30, 1977
RecordedOctober 1976 – January 1977
Length2:47
LabelBrother
Songwriter(s)Brian Wilson
Producer(s)Brian Wilson
The Beach Boys singles chronology
"Everyone's in Love with You"
(1976) 		"Solar System"
(1977) 		"Peggy Sue"
(1978)

"Solar System" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1977 album The Beach Boys Love You. It was written and sung by Brian Wilson.[1][2] The lyrics discuss the planetary system in a similar vein as the band's 1965 hit "California Girls".[3] In "Solar System", the narrator asks, "What do the planets mean? / And have you ever seen / sunrise in the mornin'? / It shined when you were born".[3]

Background[]

In a 1995 interview, Brian explained that the lyrics were written while driving to a parents' meeting at his daughters' school. When he got home, he finished the song on his piano, exclaiming, "This is a gr-eat song! These lyrics are great. This melody is great. (whistles) I've got a beauty here!" He then named it one of his favorites on The Beach Boys Love You, adding, "When I'm 90, I'm gonna be as proud of that song as I am now."[4]

Wilson gave a similar account in 1977.[5] In 2007, he offered a different recollection, saying that the song was written in his head while he was attending a weekly astrology class at UCLA.[6]

Trish Campo, former chief administrator of Brother Studios recalled Brian at the studio sitting at a Hammond B3 organ, absently gazing at the giant circular stained glass window over him depicting planets and stars. Later that afternoon, Campo heard "Solar System" coming out of the studio.[3]

Reception[]

Music critic Robert Christgau praised "Solar System" as "impossible to shake", and characterized by a "silliness that registered as charming".[7]

Cover versions[]

  • Alex Chilton covered "Solar System" in concert during the mid-eighties.

References[]

  1. ^ "Love You". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
  2. ^ Lambert, P. (2007). Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: The Songs, Sounds and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius. Continuum. p. 312. ISBN 978-0-8264-1877-7.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Carlin, Peter Ames (2006). Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, & Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. Rodale Books (New York). p. 212, 214. ISBN 978-1-59486-320-2.
  4. ^ Benci, Jacopo (January 1995). "Brian Wilson interview". Record Collector. UK (185).
  5. ^ Wilson, Brian (May 1977). "I'm a Pooper, Not a Buzzer". Crawdaddy!. p. 63.
  6. ^ Beard, David (Spring 2007). "Ding Dang". Endless Summer Quarterly.
  7. ^ "CG: beach boys". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
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