| Kiss Me, Baby | |
| Cover: | Kiss_Me,_Baby_-_The_Beach_Boys.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | the Beach Boys |
| Album: | The Beach Boys Today! |
| A-Side: | Help Me, Rhonda |
| Released: | April 5, 1965 |
| Recorded: | December 16, 1964January 15, 1965 |
| Studio: | Western, Hollywood |
| Genre: | Pop[1] |
| Length: | 2:35 |
| Label: | Capitol |
| Composer: | Brian Wilson |
| Producer: | Brian Wilson |
| Prev Title: | Do You Wanna Dance? |
| Prev Year: | 1965 |
| Next Title: | California Girls |
| Next Year: | 1965 |
"Kiss Me, Baby" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1965 album The Beach Boys Today!. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, it was issued as the B-side of the group's "Help Me, Rhonda" single on April 5.
"Kiss Me, Baby" is about a quarrel between the narrator and his lover, and his attempt to repair their relationship. Wilson was inspired to write "Kiss Me, Baby" while walking around a red light district in Copenhagen. He composed it at his hotel room there on November 14, 1964, days after proposing to singer Marilyn Rovell. Love said that the "wistful bass line ... led to my lyrics about a guy who has a disagreement with his girlfriend, even though they can't even remember what they fought about, leaving them both brokenhearted."
The arrangement features basses, guitars, saxophone, pianos, vibraphone, drums, and temple blocks—the sound of the latter percussion soon became a signature for Wilson– as well as English horn and French horn.[2] Doo-wop style background vocals sing "Kiss a little bit, fight a little bit" repetitively throughout the chorus and outro. Love described the "R&B, doo-wop, bass thing" as an "'In the Still of the Night' type vibe".[3] Journalist Scott Interrante interpreted this part of the lyric as implying that the narrator "knows the on-again/off-again relationship should remain off. But this doesn’t stop him from wondering, as he lies awake at sunrise, 'Are you still awake like me?'"
Biographer Mark Dillon cited it as "a ballad that pleaded for the romantic reconciliation [Wilson] anticipated with Marilyn." Conversely, Interrante said that it "doesn’t seem to lyrically parallel Brian Wilson’s personal life at the time ... For an album whose songs are so concerned with the future—whether worrying about it or anticipating it—'Kiss Me, Baby' is an odd man out, focusing on coming to terms with the present."
The song was recorded over two dates at Western Recorders, both produced by Brian Wilson. The instrumental track was recorded on December 16, 1964, with Chuck Britz engineering. The vocals were overdubbed on January 15, 1965. It has the distinction of being the only track on Today! whose recording spanned before and after Wilson's nervous breakdown in late December 1964.
Thomas Ward of AllMusic praised "Kiss Me, Baby" as a product of Wilson's "dense, multi-layered confessional songs, with adult themes and exploring issues previously only developed by performers such as Bob Dylan".[4] Interrante described it as among Wilson's "most interesting compositions" in addition to containing "some of the thickest and most beautiful harmonies the group had pulled off up to that point." Biographer Jon Stebbins praised "Kiss Me, Baby" as "the pinnacle of balladry", one of the group's "most romantic and emotional songs", and "a mammoth artistic achievement". Billboard described "Kiss Me, Baby" as "good ballad material with strong arrangement and vocalperformances."[5] Cash Box described it as "a tender, slow-moving moody ballad which effectively blends in snatches of harmony and counterpoint."[6]
Per band archivist Craig Slowinski.[7]
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