A star-studded cover of The Beach Boys’ ‘God Only Knows’ was premièred on Tuesday (October 7th), in order to kickstart the new BBC Music season.
The cover, which was broadcast across the BBC’s TV, radio and online networks, features the likes of Dave Grohl, Pharrell, One Direction, Lorde, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Chris Martin and Brian Wilson himself, along with an orchestral backing and an array of classical musicians including Alison Balsom, Martin James Bartlett, Danielle de Niese and Nicola Benedetti.
All proceeds from the downloadable single will be donated to BBC Children in Need, with former Beach Boys songwriter Brian Wilson saying of the track: “I just feel so incredibly humbled that the BBC would choose ‘God Only Knows’ to promote their new music initiative. All of the artists did such a beautiful job I can’t thank them enough. I’m just honoured that ‘God Only Knows’ was chosen. ‘God Only Knows’ is a very special song. An extremely spiritual song and one of the best I’ve ever written.”
Against my better judgement, there’s something oddly enjoyable about the video’s grandiloquence. There’s not much to dislike about a mildly confused-looking Brian Wilson playing on a grand piano that has a tiger standing atop it.
You can download the ostentatious cover of ‘God Only Knows’ right here.
