I’m pickin’ up good vibrations
She’s giving me excitations.

There are a few songs on this list that seem to transcend the rock genre: The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations” is bigger than labels like “Rock”, “Pop”, or “Folk”. Court of the Crimson King and Funeral for a Friend are two other examples of songs that are closer to symphonies than rock songs.

I mean, who uses a Theremin—and productively? This is Brian Wilson just about at the peak of his powers.

The lyrics in “Good Vibrations” are straightforward. They tell a story about getting a great vibe from a girl–and pursuing her. We know exactly what he’s talking about, and he describes his feelings in a colorful way, because when you are first attracted to someone you start to feel a little different. Maybe even happy. Also notice the experimentation with words like “excitations”…we don’t hear that word often in music. (Is it even a word?)

As with every Beach Boys song the harmonizing is amazing, so I am going to try and not concentrate on that too much. The call and response effect works sounds really good in this song, it is a tried and true technique.

Note the difference between the sounds of the chorus, verse and the two bridges.  They sound great together, but if you look at them individually, they are quite different. This is a feature of psychedelic rock. We usually don’t think Beach Boys when we think psychedelic rock but all the characteristics are here: dreamy or surreal lyrics, experimentation with new instruments and song structure and usually from 1965-70.

Good Vibrations Lyrics

I-I love the colorful clothes she wears/
And the way the sunlight plays upon her hair.
I hear the sound of a gentle word/
On the wind that lifts her perfume through the air.

Will you walk with me out on the wire?
Cause baby, I’m just a scared and lonely rider.

“Born to Run” is Springsteen’s signature song, and on the surface, it is about riding motorcycles. What elevates this song above “car songs” (like the early Beach Boys) is that it is not just a song about a singer bragging about how great his motorcycle is.

The song is about the escape from the soul-sucking lives we live to put food on our table. At nights (and weekends) there is an opportunity to hop on my motorcycle and feel different. You feel alive, look great and the road can take you anywhere.

Springsteen mentions suicide twice in “Born to Run”. The first time is when he calls motorcycles “suicide machines”. Motorcycles are very dangerous. My uncle has pain 40 years after his motorcycle accident. Springsteen also calls the daily grind from the blue-collar work that never ends a “suicide trap”. For a young man, it is easy to see how risking your life on a motorcycle is appealing. It is just as dangerous as the soul-crushing life you lead, but at least you get to drive fast and have some fun.

We can hear the importance of the E-street Band in this song perhaps more than any other of Springsteen’s songs. The production involves so many instruments woven together to produce a sort of rock symphony. It is production of the finest degree. There are a couple Springsteen tropes in this song that are worth noting. We have his “Wendy” (sometimes “Mary”) his muse similar to Simon’s “Kathy”. We also hear about some locations in New Jersey, which would become a big theme for him.

Born To Run Lyrics

In the day, we sweat it out on the streets
Of a runaway American dream
At night, we ride through mansions of glory
In suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on Highway 9
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected and steppin’ out over the line
Oh, baby this town rips the bones from your back
It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we’re young
`Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run
Yes, girl, we were

Wendy let me in, I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs ’round these velvet rims
And strap your hands across my engines
Together we could break this trap
We’ll run till we drop, baby we’ll never go back
Oh, will you walk with me out on the wire?
`Cause baby I’m just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild, babe
I want to know if love is real
Oh, can you show me?

written by Bruce Springsteen

And in the end/
The love you take/
Is equal to the love you make.

This is The Beatles’ Abby Road Medley consisting of: “Golden Slumbers”, “Carry That Weight”, and “The End”.   The lyrics of each individual song don’t really go together; it is pretty clear that The Beatles had three short songs and stuck them together and it sort of felt right.

And it does. In a short five minutes you get to experience all the different sounds of The Beatles, from their ballads to an anthem to a pensive ditty. In “The End”, you get to hear each of The Beatles with a solo, and this is also the last song they recorded together.

This song is a medley and you can’t listen to this as one song on on Spotify and other streaming platforms…which is how you experience it when you are listening to Abbey Road. Is there ever a time when you don’t want to hear all three at the same time? I suppose this is a first world problem.

Abbey Road Medley Lyrics

Once there was a way
To get back homeward
Once there was a way
To get back home
Sleep, pretty darling
Do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby
Golden slumbers
Fill your eyes
Smiles await you when you rise
Sleep pretty darling
Do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby
Once there was a way
To get back homeward
Once there was a way
To get back home
Sleep, pretty darling
Do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby.

Carry That Weight Lyrics
Boy, you gotta carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
Boy, you gonna carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
I never give you my pillow
I only send you my invitation
And in the middle of the celebrations
I break down
Boy, you gotta carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
Boy, you gotta carry that weight
You’re gonna carry that weight along time

The End Lyrics
Oh yeah, all right
Are you going to be in my dreams
Tonight?
And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love you make
written by lennon/mccartney