Song · The Beach Boys
“I Know There's an Answer” by The Beach Boys
From the album Pet Sounds (1966)
“I Know There's an Answer” by The Beach Boys appears on 1 radio countdown from 1 station in 2004. It was first released in 1966 on the album Pet Sounds. Its best result is #593 on the WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #6,285 indie & aaa song of all time.
Brian Wilson built "I Know There's an Answer" for the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds in 1966 out of his own experience with LSD and the fight with ego death that came with it, and it didn't start out under that title. Mike Love heard the first lyric as a plug for the drug and wouldn't sing it, so Wilson let him turn the message toward finding meaning inside yourself and letting people live as they choose, while keeping some doubts about those who use acid as an escape. Love, who wrote with Terry Sachen, only got his official credit in 1994.
Wilson, Love and Al Jardine pass the lead between them over a melody that stretches two octaves, and the arrangement is a toy box: banjo, tack piano, clarinets, flutes, timpani, tambourine and, standing out from all of it, a bass harmonica solo.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 593 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) | 885 |
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