The Beach Boys - Feel Flows (1971)

At their highest peak in the mid-‘60s, this band threatened The Beatles in both terms of commercial and critical success. Soon after their release of one of rock’s greatest albums, Pet Sounds (1966), the group’s frontman, Brian Wilson, began to lose control of the group—and himself. Years of substance abuse had either contributed or coincidentally aligned to his deteriorating mental health. As a result, the band’s rumored masterpiece-in-the-works, Smile, would be shelved for forty-four years. Luckily for us, the songs of the Smile sessions were reconstructed and released in 2011, the band has another album coming out this coming Tuesday (June 5th) (That’s Why God Made the Radio), and Brian Wilson is fondly remembered as a songwriter in the same echelon as Lennon/McCartney—where he deserves to be.

This song comes from the band’s seventeenth studio album, Surf’s Up. It was primarily a solo composition written and sung by Carl Wilson (with partial writing credit given to Jack Rieley). Given the immensely large catalog of incredible songs put out by this group, there are a handful of wonderful tracks that I feel haven’t received the full attention they deserve. I believe this to be one of those songs.

To hear, in my opinion, another overlooked song by The Beach Boys, check out our previous post here featuring the a capella demo of “Forever,” sang by Dennis Wilson.



The Beach Boys - Feel Flows (1971)

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Lyrics:

Unfolding enveloping missiles of soul
Recall senses sadly
Mirage-like soft blue-like lanterns below
To light the way, gladly
Whether whistling heaven's clouds disappear
Where the wind withers memory
Whether whiteness whisks soft shadows away

Feel goes
(White hot glistening shadowy flow)
Feel flows
(Black hot glistening shadowy glow)

Unbending, never-ending tablets of time
Record all the yearning
Unfearing, all-appearing message divine
Eases the burning
Whether willing witness waits at my mind
Whether hope dampens memory
Whether wondrous will stands tall at my side

Feel flows
(White hot glistening shadowy flow)
Feel goes
(Black hot glistening shadowy glows)

(Yeah, yeah)

Encasing all embracing wreath of repose
Engulfs all the senses
Imposing, unclosing thoughts that compose
Retire the fences
Whether wholly heartened life fades away
Whether harps heal the memory
Whether wholly heartened life fades away
Whether wondrous will stands tall at my side
Whether whiteness whisks soft shadows away

Feel goes
(White hot glistening shadowy flow)
Feel flows
(Black hot glistening shadowy glow)

Feel goes
(White hot glistening shadowy flow)
Feelings to grow
(Black hot glistening shadowy flow)

White hot glistening shadowy glow
White hot glistening shadowy glow
White hot glistening shadowy glow