Released May 16, 1966 Length 2:25 Composer(s) Brian Wilson | Genre Lounge Label Capitol | |
Recorded January 18–19, 1966; United Western Recorders, Los Angeles | ||
"Let's Go Away for Awhile" [sic] is an instrumental composed and produced by Brian Wilson for the American rock band the Beach Boys. It was released as the sixth track on their 1966 album Pet Sounds. Wilson has since called the song his favorite instrumental that he wrote.
Contents
Composition
The track was composed and produced by Brian Wilson and was originally titled "The Old Man and The Baby". An early full working title was "Let's Go Away for Awhile (And Then We'll Have World Peace)"—the parenthetical being a reference to Del Close and John Brent's comedy album How to Speak Hip. Tony Asher explained,
"There was an album out called How to Speak Hip [...] a lampooning of the language instruction albums. I played it for Brian, and it destroyed him, killed him. Brian picked up a couple of references on the album. One of them was this hip character that said if everyone were 'laid back and cool, then we'd have world peace.' So Brian started going around saying, 'Hey, would somebody get me a candy bar, and then we'll have world peace.'. [Brian] even made an acetate disc with a label on it with the title."
Wilson speculated that he may have subconsciously based the chord progression similar to the way Burt Bacharach would construct his compositions, believing that Bacharach "had such a profound thing" which made Wilson go in a particular direction with his music. Author Serene Dominic compared the piece to Bacharach's "Are You There (With Another Girl)", recorded by Dionne Warwick.
Recording
The bulk of "Let's Go Away for Awhile" was recorded on January 18, 1966 at United Western Recorders. String overdubs were recorded the next day. Wilson stated: "We used dynamics like Beethoven. You know, Beethoven, the dynamic music maker." In 1966, Wilson considered the track to be "the finest piece of art" he had made up to that point, and that every component of its production "worked perfectly". A year later he expounded,
"I applied a certain set of dynamics through the arrangement and the mixing and got a full musical extension of what I'd planned during the earliest stages of the theme. I think the chord changes are very special. I used a lot of musicians on the track; twelve violins, piano, four saxes, oboe, vibes, a guitar with a Coke bottle on the strings for a semi-steel guitar effect. Also, I used two basses and percussion. The total effect is 'Let's Go Away For Awhile', which is something everyone in the world must have said at some time or another. Nice thought; most of us don't go away, but it's still a nice thought. The track was supposed to be the backing for a vocal, but I decided to leave it alone. It stands up well alone."
In 1995, it emerged that the final Pet Sounds session was originally intended to add vocals to "Let's Go Away for Awhile", but Capitol insisted that the session date be the only one used for the album's entire mixing.
Other releases
Personnel
Sourced from liner notes included with the 1999 mono/stereo reissue of Pet Sounds.