Tony Asher (born May 2, 1939) is a British-American lyricist who co-wrote eight songs on the Beach Boys’ 1966 album Pet Sounds in conjunction with Brian Wilson, including “God Only Knows” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”. Asher, who formally helped translate Wilson’s ideas into words, had a significant influence on the album. In Asher’s own words: “The general tenor of the lyrics was often [Brian’s]; however, the actual choice of words was usually mine. I was really just his interpreter.” (More from Wikipedia)
The single was originally issued by the Beach Boys in July 1966 backed with “Wouldn’t it be Nice”; in some countries, “God Only Knows” was the “A” side, and in others, it was the “B” side. Both songs were co-written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher; Asher says of his role in the songwriting (as quoted in Wikipedia): “The general tenor of the lyrics was often [Brian’s]; however, the actual choice of words was usually mine. I was really just his interpreter.”
Again as quoted in Wikipedia, Tony Asher says of “God Only Knows”: “This is the one [song] that I thought would be a hit record because it was so incredibly beautiful. I was concerned that maybe the lyrics weren’t up to the same level as the music; how many love songs start off with the line, “I may not always love you”? I liked that twist, and fought to start the song that way. Working with Brian [Wilson], I didn’t have a whole lot of fighting to do, but I was certainly willing to fight to the end for that. . . . ‘God Only Knows’ is, to me, one of the great songs of our time. I mean the great songs. Not because I wrote the lyrics, but because it is an amazing piece of music that we were able to write a very compelling lyric to. It’s the simplicity — the inference that ‘I am who I am because of you’ — that makes it very personal and tender.”
In addition to these two songs, “Wouldn’t it be Nice” and “God Only Knows”, Tony Asher also wrote lyrics for 6 additional songs on the Beach Boys’ landmark 1966 album, Pet Sounds. (Asher also wrote the original lyrics for “Good Vibrations” that was intended to be included on that album also; his lyrics were not recorded until the 2004 release of “Good Vibrations” as part of the album, Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE). Although sales in this country were slow initially, Pet Sounds had strong sales overseas and is now regarded as one of the most influential popular music albums ever recorded.
(October 2014)
