I Know There's an Answer (3:08)

“I Know There’s an Answer” is a song by the American pop band The Beach Boys, taken from their 1966 album Pet Sounds. It is the ninth track on the album. The song was composed and produced by Brian Wilson with the lyrics by Terry Sachen and Mike Love. The lead vocal was sung by Mike Love and Al Jardine with Brian Wilson singing lead on the choruses. The song features interesting use of a bass harmonica and a banjo.

The song was originally named “Hang On to Your Ego,” but when the lyric of the chorus was changed after concerns that the LSD-related connotations of the phrase “Hang On to Your Ego” would be too controversial, the title of the song was also renamed. The subject of the revised song is the self-centeredness of people and how the singer tells them “…the way that they live could be better.” The refrain of the song states “I know there’s an answer/I know now but I have to find it by myself.” Terry Sachen, who was the Beach Boys’ road manager at the time, is given credit for co-writing the lyrics.