The Beach Boys might be best known for their bubbly early melodies celebrating wholesome teenage fun in a bygone era, but their more interesting work subverts this effervescence to beautiful effect. Take “In My Room”, the languid Brian Wilson-penned single from 1963. Wilson wrote:
Now it’s dark and
I’m alone but
I won’t be afraid
In my room
In my room
The waltzy guitar and percussion ushers us into a creative genius’s personal space, implicitly asking us to question our own relationship with privacy and creativity.