“God Only Knows” is the eighth track Pet Sounds (1966):

… produced by Brian Wilson with lyrics by Tony Asher and lead vocal by Carl Wilson.

…. how many love songs start off with the line, ‘I may not always love you’? …

Carl Wilson … described how lucky he felt being given the opportunity to sing “God Only Knows”: “I was honored to be able to sing that one. It is so beautifully written, it sings itself. …

Click PLAY or listen it on YouTube.

Paul McCartney once called it his favorite song of all time. …

Bono said in October 2006 during Brian Wilson’s induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame that “the string arrangement on ‘God Only Knows’ is fact and proof of angels“. …

Pet Sounds might be divinely inspired. One of the great recordings of all time. With “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, “Rubber Soul”, … all the early Springstein. …

CARL DEAN WILSON
Dec. 21, 1946 – Feb. 6, 1998
dead of lung cancer,

I got back into the classic band after reading The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds (33 1/3) by music critic Jim Fusilli. He loves the album, needless to say.