“Don't Worry Baby” by The Beach Boys

"Don't Worry Baby" sits on Shut Down Volume 2, the Beach Boys' March 1964 album, and it's Brian Wilson's love letter to the Ronettes' "Be My Baby", built on much the same frame but steered somewhere all its own. He wrote it with Roger Christian and meant it for the Ronettes, but Phil Spector passed, so Wilson produced it himself with the band playing every note.

The story is pure hot-rod teen melodrama: a guy talks too big, gets himself into a drag race, regrets it, and his girl talks him down. Wilson's lead, aching and feather-light, is one of the defining vocals of his career, and he later counted the record among the band's best. In May 1964 it rode out as the B-side of "I Get Around" and charted in its own right at 24, and Spin and Rolling Stone have since put it on their all-time lists.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.