Overview
"Johnny Carson" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1977 album The Beach Boys Love You. It was written by Brian Wilson as a tribute to one of his idols, Johnny Carson. The recording features Mike Love on lead vocals, accompanied by an arrangement of synthesizers, organ, and piano.
Inspiration and lyrics
"Johnny Carson" expresses admiration for the host of the late-night television talk show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and extols his ability to be a consistent entertainer. In 1977, Wilson wrote of the origins for the song:
Conversely, in a later interview, Wilson explained that he wrote the song after overhearing another person in the room talk about Carson. "I told them I was gonna write a song about him and they didn't believe me. I had the whole thing done in twenty minutes."
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).