According to biographer Jim Fusilli, the harmonic structure of the composition is deceptive beginning in the key of E major. The choruses see the key modulate to B major. After the second chorus, it modulates again to C major. Fusilli notes that the arrangement does not indulge on string and horn orchestrations, unlike the rest of the "Pet Sounds" album, and as a result is an "avant-garde piece of pop music" which displays a "subversive performance" in the face of its sparse instrumentation and avoidance of major seventh chords. As written in the "Student's Guide to Music Tech",