"Wouldn't It Be Nice" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys and the opening track from their 1966 album Pet Sounds.

Written by Brian Wilson, Tony Asher, and Mike Love, it is distinguished for its sophisticated Wall of Sound-style arrangement and refined vocal performances, and is regarded among the band's finest songs.

[3] The song was inspired by Wilson's confused infatuations for his sister-in-law, who projected an "innocent aura" that he wished to capture in "Wouldn't It Be Nice".

Lyrically, the song describes a young couple who feel empowered by their relationship and fantasize about the romantic freedom they would earn once married to each other.

Like the other tracks on Pet Sounds, it subverted listeners' expectations, as past Beach Boys songs had normally celebrated superficial conceits such as material possessions and casual flings.

Wilson produced the record between January and April 1966 with his band and 16 studio musicians who variously played drums, timpani, glockenspiel, trumpet, saxophones, accordions, guitars, pianos, and upright bass.

The band struggled to sing the multiple vocal parts to Wilson's satisfaction, and the song ultimately took longer to record than any other track on the album.

Wilson's since-discredited 1991 memoir suggested that he was inspired to write the song after having sexual fantasies about the Honeys' singer Diane Rovell, his sister-in-law.

The lyrics describe a young couple fantasizing about the romantic freedom they would earn once married,[18] including the benefits of being able to "hold each other close the whole night through" and to "say goodnight and stay together".

[23][nb 1] Journalist Nick Kent felt that, although Wilson had captured similar "teen angst dialogue" before: "This time [he] was out to eclipse these previous sonic soap operas, to transform the subject's sappy sentiments with a God-like grace so that the song would become a veritable pocket symphony.

"[23] Musicologist Phillip Lambert called the themes "a significant twist" on the lyrics of Wilson's past songs, "which fantasized about material possessions [...] feats of physical skill [...] and one-night stands [...] Now the young lovers just want to be monogamous and draw strength and happiness from each other, 'in the kind of world where we belong.

'"[19] According to AllMusic reviewer Jim Esch, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" inaugurates Pet Sounds' pervasive theme of "fragile lovers" who struggle with "self-imposed romantic expectations and personal limitations, while simultaneously trying to maintain faith in one other.

"[25] Comparing the group's past celebrations of adolescence and teenage romance, journalist Seth Rogovoy felt that Pet Sounds "upends and overturns every Beach Boys cliché, exposing the hollowness at their core.

[37] Much of the track's rhythmic accompaniment was provided by two accordions playing a shuffle beat in a manner similar to the band's "California Girls" (1965).

"[45] Mike Love, who affectionately nicknamed Brian "the Stalin of the studio" during these sessions,[44] said, "We did one passage of 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' close to 30 times—and some of the tries were nearly perfect!

[11] Like other tracks on the album, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" contains a prominent technical flaw in the final mix, in which an audible tape splice is heard between the chorus and Love's vocal entrance in the bridge.

[59] In his self-described "unbiased" review of the album for Record Mirror, published in July 1966 upon Pet Sounds' British release, Norman Jopling said that the song "starts off prettily, and develops into a complicated ponderous beat number taken at a reasonably fast tempo.

"[62] Writing in his 2012 book Fifty Sides of the Beach Boys, biographer Mark Dillon describes "Wouldn't It Be Nice" as perhaps the band's "most gloriously innocent song" and one of Wilson's "most adventurous" arrangements.

"[23] Writing for American Songwriter magazine, Jason Scott noted the song's "whimsy" and "blissful" feeling, highlighting the "harp-like texture" of the guitar intro.

[64] In Far Out magazine, Aimee Ferrier named "Wouldn't It Be Nice" as a "pop masterpiece" and "puppy-love anthem", listing its nostalgic lyrical themes and layers of instruments as elements of the song worthy of note.

Contributor Joe Tangari wrote in its entry: "'Wouldn't It Be Nice' has everything you love about the Beach Boys in spades [...] It's the ultimate starry-eyed teenage symphony to God, and it perfectly captures the earnest devotion we only seem capable of in a small window of years.

"[66] In 2008, Popdose staff members ranked it the 22nd-best single of the previous 50 years, writing that "no other song [...] so perfectly captures the idea of innocent love.

"[67] National Review ranked it number five on a 2006 list of the greatest politically conservative rock songs, where it was described as "pro-abstinence and pro-marriage".

Author Michael Chabon named it as a "founding document" of the genre, citing its "sadness and yearning [...] smuggled into the melody, the harmonies, the lyrics, and even the title, which marks the broken place, the gap between the wish and the world.

[41] A 1977 live rendition by Alex Chilton – in which he jokingly introduces it as "a song by Charlie Manson" – was included on the posthumous release Ocean Club '77 (2015).

[citation needed] In 1990, the political cartoon strip Doonesbury ran a controversial story arc involving the character Andy Lippincott and his terminal battle with AIDS.

According to cultural theorist Kirk Curnett in 2012, the panel "remains one of the most iconic in Doonesbury's forty-three year history, often credit[ed] with helping humanize AIDS victims when both gay and straight sufferers were severely stigmatized.

[79] The Beach Boys adopted the song into their live performances, typically with Al Jardine handling the lead vocal originally sung by Wilson.

[35] The Beach Boys Session musicians (also known as "the Wrecking Crew") Technical staff Details adapted from Keith Badman's The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band, on Stage and in the Studio[5] January 22, 1966 - Instrumental track recorded by the Wrecking Crew produced by Brian Wilson, with Brian Wilson's lead vocal overdubbed at the end of the session.

February 16, 1966 - Rough mono mix of Wouldn't It Be Nice completed by Wilson, notably featuring an alternate first verse with the opening lines transposed from the final version.