#caroline no

[tidepoolfan]

where did your long hair go... where is the girl I used to know... how could you lose that happy glow... oh caroline no...

[myimaginaryradio]

Caroline No - The Beach Boys

[fireflyporch]

I can’t stop listening to the song Caroline, No from Pet Sounds so I’m gonna write about why I think it’s so impactful. It’s one of two Pet Sounds songs to not have any vocal harmonies (along with Don’t Talk), probably because it wasn’t originally intended to be a Beach Boys song, it was a Brian Wilson single.

In my opinion this is one of the neglected Pet Sounds masterpieces. It doesn’t have the massive wall of sound feeling that other beach boys songs do, and I think that’s what makes it gives it that particularly sad and isolating feeling to it. Even the lyrics are simple in a way that’s almost childlike:

Where did your long hair go?

Where is the girl I used to know?

How could you lose that happy glow?

Oh, Caroline, no

I think the simplicity of the words are really what makes this song so gut-punchingly sad. It’s the kind of breakup where neither person did anything wrong, they simply just grew up in different ways. It doesn’t feel like the narrator is mad at Caroline for changing, but purely longing for the lost innocence of teenage love.

Brian’s voice was sped up by a semitone to make him sound younger, which I think only adds to the visual of a confused sad teenager.

The end of the song is also the only time we actually hear literal Pet Sounds on the album. It’s hard to describe how impactful of an ending this is. The flute fades out and we hear a cacophony of trains and dogs barking. It creates such a sense of finality and loneliness; the music is over now, and all you have left are the harsh sounds of reality.

[tuesdaynightmusicclub-archive]

Tuesday Night Music Club No. 98 - 'Caroline, No' by The Beach Boys

[wallisninety-six]

Brian Wilson- as seen on the sheet music of his first single, "Caroline, No" in 1966

[wonderfulnonbeliever]

Here's another wonderful performance Paul dano was able to capture

[jt1674]

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