Rainbows (Dennis Wilson song)

"Rainbows" is a song written by Dennis Wilson together with his brother Carl Wilson and longtime friend Stephen Kalinich. It was released as the eleventh track on Wilson's 1977 debut solo album Pacific Ocean Blue. The track, as with the rest of the album, was credited as being produced by Wilson and his close friend Gregg Jakobson.

Wilson is quoted saying about the song "'Rainbows' is about being happy and being alive." Fellow song collaborator Kalinich noted "I wrote the lyric first and then Dennis was inspired. Sometimes with others he wrote the music first - most times in fact. I came up with the lines when we were on Sunset in Palisades (in the back yard of his house, one of the old Will Rogers estates). After the initial inspiration he changed the melody somewhat and I had to modify some of the words. Carl also helped on the music..."^[1]

The song was one of the earliest songs written for the album, having first been recorded as early as 5 March, 1974 at Brother Studios under the early working title "String Bass Song" but with a different arrangement. This version appeared on the The Beach Boys 2026 compilation We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years. New versions were attempted through 1975 and was possibly considered for The Beach Boys' 1976 album 15 Big Ones. Wilson recorded vocals overdubs for the song in the earliest sessions for the Pacific Ocean Blues album with additional overdubs on 7 July, 1976.^[2]