"Johnny Carson" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1977 album The Beach Boys Love You. It was written by Brian Wilson as a tribute to one of his idols, Johnny Carson. The recording features Mike Love on lead vocals, accompanied by an arrangement of synthesizers, organ, and piano.[1]
| "Johnny Carson" | |
|---|---|
| Song by the Beach Boys | |
| from the album The Beach Boys Love You | |
| Released | April 11, 1977 |
| Recorded | 1976 |
| Studio | Brother Studios, Santa Monica, California |
| Length | 2:47 |
| Label | Brother/Reprise |
| Songwriter(s) | Brian Wilson |
| Producer(s) | Brian Wilson |
| Licensed audio | |
| "Johnny Carson" on YouTube | |
"Johnny Carson" expresses admiration for the host of the late-night television talk show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,[2] and extols his ability to be a consistent entertainer.[3] In 1977, Wilson wrote of the origins for the song:
One morning I was on my way to the studio and I'd been thinking about how I'd seen Johnny on TV the night before and I said to myself, "Goddamn it! There's gotta be some song about Johnny Carson!" I mean, he's been an idol of so many people for so many years and why not a song about Johnny Carson?! So I said, "Fer Chrissakes!" When I got to the studio I sat down and goddamn cranked out a song about him. I'm definitely a fan.[4]
Conversely, in a later interview, Wilson explained that he wrote the song after overhearing another person in the room talk about Carson. "I told them I was gonna write a song about him and they didn't believe me. I had the whole thing done in twenty minutes."[5]
Wilson's 1991 memoir, Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story, credits the impetus for the song to his psychologist, Eugene Landy. It states that Landy suggested and helped Wilson write a song about Carson in order for Wilson to overcome his fear of appearing on The Tonight Show.[6]
Biographer Peter Ames Carlin referred to the track as the album's "pivot point", one that "separates the normal from the freakishly bizarre."[2]
Asked about the song in a 1979 interview, Carson answered, "Sure I heard it. Someone sent it over to the office. I don't think it was a big seller. I think they just did it for the fun of it. It was not a work of art."[1]
