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"Don’t Worry Baby" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Roger Christian, produced by Wilson and first recorded by The Beach Boys. The band's version, a tender ballad with falsetto lead vocal by Brian, was first released on their 1964 album Shut Down Volume 2. It was also released as the B-side of The Beach Boys' first U.S. number-one hit single, "I Get Around", also reaching number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in its own right. The single was released in the United States in May 1964 through Capitol Records. It was released a month later, in June 1964, in the United Kingdom.
Brian Wilson cited the song as his attempt to capture the essence of his all-time favorite record, "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes, who would later cover this song. At one time, Wilson listened to his 45 record of the song he "could never do" up to 100 times a day.
Garbage's 1998 hit, "Push It", contains an interpolation of its chorus.
The song is featured prominently during the climax of the 1999 Drew Barrymore movie, "Never Been Kissed," with a slightly different arrangement, notably a swelling string section.
The song "Don't Worry Baby" is part of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list., and ranked as the 176th greatest song of all time in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Pitchfork Media placed it at number 14 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s".
The stereo mix of the song had been used on "Shut Down Volume 2" when it was released in 1990 and 2001. A single mono mix appeared on the "20 More Good Vibrations" compilation. On the 2008 Singles box set, a mono album version was used instead of the single mix.The original stereo mix of "Don't Worry Baby" had Brian's lead vocal hard-panned in the left channel, the instrumental track in the centre and backing vocals on the right. Thanks to the discovery of the lost multi-track masters in 2009, an alternate stereo mix was created from the analog master with the instrumental track and Brian's lead vocal placed in the middle channel while the backing vocals were shared between the left and right channels. This new stereo mix can be found on the 2009 compilation "Summer Love Songs".
The song has been played live at most Beach Boys concerts since its release. However with Brian Wilson's absence from the group the song has had many lead vocalist for its live versions.
Al Jadrine sang lead on the song during the early 70's with Carl Wilson taking over in the late 70's. Brian Wilson sang the song live in 1981 in his brother Carl's absence. In the mid 80's Carl Wilson and backing musician Jeffrey Foskett shared the lead vocals. While in the early 90's singer Adrian Baker would take over on the lead. In the mid 90's Al Jardine's son Matt sang the lead. Following the departure of Matt Jadine, Adrian Baker once again sang the lead until his deaprture in 2003 in which bassist Randell Kirsch took over the lead.
Brian Wilson performed the song live during his solo concerts in which he took the lead. However in the late 2000's the lead was given to Jeffrey Foskett a member in Brian Wilson's backing band.
For The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary tour Jeffrey Foskett once again took the lead.
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