Starr further described it as "a very serious song, with an underlying somber tone for much of its duration that is leavened by wordplay ... and the near-miraculous turn toward hope as it ends. Its dark atmosphere is perhaps its greatest deviation, among many, from the features typical of the Beach Boys’ work". Journalist Paul Williams interpreted the song as partly a commentary on the band's musical legacy, writing that the moment in which Wilson sings the line "surf's up" is "a pivot on which everything that's come before in the song wheels and turns, and maybe ... everything the Beach Boys and Brian have sung and played and done up to this moment."