Caroline, No by The Beach Boys

"Caroline, No" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher with lyrics that lament a woman named Caroline and her loss of innocence. It marked Wilson's solo debut when released as a single in March 1966, peaking at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100. Two months later, Wilson's recording reappeared (now spelled "Caroline No") as the final track on the Beach Boys' studio album Pet Sounds. Also produced by Wilson, he compared the song to the music of Glenn Miller and Freddie Scott's 1963 rendition of "Hey Girl". He said that "Caroline, No" wasn't written about anyone specific. On another occasion, he credited the song's inspiration to an unrequited love interest from high school who happened to be named Carol. Asher had also been acquainted with a different girl named Carol; they had recently broken up when the song was written. After the track was recorded, Wilson sped the recording up by one semi-tone to make his voice sound younger. "Caroline, No" was issued with the B-side "Summer Means New Love", an instrumental track taken from the Beach Boys' 1965 album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!). When the song reappeared on Pet Sounds, Wilson added recordings of his two dogs, Banana and Louie, barking over a sample of a passing train, which close the LP. In 2004, "Caroline, No" was ranked number 214 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".