The original lyrics created a stir within the group. Mike Love was opposed to drugs such as LSD and did not wish for the Beach Boys to be associated with its culture. Jardine said that "Brian was very concerned" and asked the rest of the band for their opinions: "To be honest, I don't think we even knew what an ego was ... Finally Brian decided, 'Forget it. I'm changing the lyrics. There's too much controversy.'" In 1999, Wilson explained: "It was an inappropriate lyric. ... I just thought that to say 'Hang on to your ego' was an ego statement in and of itself, which I wasn't going for, so I changed it. I gave it a lot of thought." In the verses, "How can I come on when I know I'm guilty" was modified to "how can I come on and tell them the way that they live could be better", but despite concerns over the song's drug references, the key lyric "they trip through the day and waste all their thoughts at night" went unchanged.