God Only Knows How the BBC Managed To Get All These Stars Together

The BBC has produced an all-star version of the Beach Boys classic “God Only Knows” featuring Coldplay, Lorde, Pharrell, One Direction, Elton John, Brian May, Stevie Wonder, and of course Brian Wilson. The song is part of the official launch of BBC Music, “an ambitious wave of new programmes, innovative partnerships and ground-breaking music initiatives that amount to the BBC’s strongest commitment to music in 30 years.” The song will also be released as a charity single for Children in Need.

Wilson is very happy with the cover of his song. “All of the artists did such a beautiful job I can’t thank them enough,” he said. “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.” This is not the first time the BBC has rolled out a collection of stars to cover of a classic song. In 1997 Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” got the megastar treatment, and as the Guardian reports, the BBC “will be hoping ‘God Only Knows’ can replicate the success of its predecessor. ‘Perfect Day’ was originally just a televised advert for the BBC, but became so popular it was released as a single, reaching No 1 in the UK, and selling more than 1.5m copies since its release. Single sales alone raised more than £2m for Children in Need. It was so successful, in fact, that the BBC tried to do it again in 2000, when Lou Reed led a second performance of Perfect Day with a new cast across all BBC networks simultaneously as part of the BBC Music Live event.”