Written by Brian Wilson, the song features his brother Carl on lead vocals and is credited as a Beach Boys production.

Earlier in the year, it had been included on the Warner Brothers promotional sampler album The Big Ball, and as a single, fronted with "Slip On Through", but did not make the U.S. or UK pop charts.

Biographer Mark Dillon characterized "This Whole World" as an "old-fashioned" rock song with "doo-wop trimmings" that contains an unorthodox structure and numerous key modulations.

This new phrase then moves through a diatonic bass descent from 1̂ to 5̂, eventually arriving at the key of B♭ using the same pivot relationship heard earlier between C and A (IV = ♭VI).

I taught Carl the lead and the other guys the background vocal, especially the meditation part at the end: 'Om dot dit it.