I've always loved The Beach Boys. So bright, so fun, so much joy! In recent years, however, I have found their upbeat tunes about young love increasingly depressing!
In many of their songs there is an underlying tinge of sadness and anxiety. While super fun to dance to, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" has a prominent longing for an ideal future, that in fact, may never come.
While the BB's orginal is a classic, I found that JR JR really played up the mournful elements in "God Only Knows" in their 2010 cover.
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In the tracks that follow, these male musicians tell stories of love, pain and nostalgia. The overall thesis is "I'm a sensitive man/boy, upset over love/life, but this nice melody masks my dark feelings."
The one outlier in this playlist is Elton John's "Mellow" - my favorite track on the 1972 album, Honky Chateau.
Elton's very funky melody perfectly matches the genuine gratitude in his lyrics: "it can't be bad, all the love I've had coursing through my life."
- Leslie
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