“I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” is a song by The Beach Boys from their album Pet Sounds. It is the eleventh song on the album. The lyrics were written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher about the ruminations on romance and the loss of innocence involved in growing up. Wilson stated in his autobiography that “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” was telling a self-portrait of his troubled psyche and that he was too advanced for his time. It is known as the first song that features a keyboard-controlled variation on the theremin—later named the Electro-Theremin or Tannerin—in a rock record. Shortly after this track was recorded, Brian Wilson used the Tannerin on the “Good Vibrations” track. Brian admitted “I was so scared of Theremins when I was a kid, the thing about the ’40s mystery movies where they had those kind of witchy sounds. I don’t know how I ever arrived at the place where I’d want to get one — but we got it.” Wilson stated “It’s about a guy who was crying out because he thought he was too advanced, and that he’d eventually have to leave people behind. All my friends thought I was crazy to do Pet Sounds.” Dennis Wilson was originally intended to sing “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times”, but when the lead vocal finally was put on tape, it was Brian doing the singing.
[via Hans Ole Jul Larsen]
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