a simply constructed song, very little instrumental accompliment....just her singng voice, with the subtle background singing of the other Ronnettes
The story behind the song...
"Don't Worry Baby" was composed by Brian Wilson at his home in Hawthorne, California. It was conceived as a response to "
Be My Baby", a recent hit by
the Ronettes that had amazed and inspired Wilson. In his 1991 memoir,
Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story, it is stated that Wilson adopted the song title phrase from his then-girlfriend
Marilyn Rovell shortly after hearing "Be My Baby" for the first time. In a 2009 interview, he said that he composed "Don't Worry Baby" over the course of two days. "I started out with the verse idea and then wrote the chorus. It was a very simple and beautiful song. It’s a really heart and soul song, I really did feel that in my heart."
The memoir provides further details of the collaboration: "I called [my] lyricist
Roger Christian and told him I had an idea. He met me one afternoon at my parents' house, where, in one of our last collaborations, we wrote a lush ballad whose title and chorus came directly from Marilyn's comforting words, 'Don't Worry, Baby.' I knew the song was a smash before we finished writing it." On another occasion, Wilson recalled, "I met [Roger] in the parking lot at
KFWB and he presented the lyrics for me. I went home and wrote the song in about an hour-and-a-half."
Wilson considered having the song recorded by the Ronettes and their producer,
Phil Spector, instead of the Beach Boys. In the memoir, it is stated that Wilson changed his mind after discussing the idea with Christian. However, Spector had a general policy against recording songs that he did not write. In 1994,
Ronnie Spector recalled that she and Wilson had discussed "Don't Worry Baby" in 1963 on the only prior occasion they had met: "It was the follow-up to 'Be My Baby,' and [Brian] came running into
Gold Star Studios and said, 'I wrote a great song for you!' But of course [Phil] didn't do the writing on it, so [we didn't record it]." She would eventually cover the song as a solo performer on the
She Talks to Rainbows EP.
