with that song like I do with 'You Still Believe In Me', or 'Caroline, No.' It was just one of those songs in there, one little song." Composition "Here Today" is primarily in the key of A major, with other portions suggesting F minor. Wilson said: Here Today' was a work of art in my opinion. It was an assertive track with utilization of basses played up higher. The trombones gave it that masculine touch." He stated that his intention for the piece was "to conceive the idea of a bass guitar playing an octave higher than regular and showcase it as the principal instrument in the track." Dillon suggests that Wilson may have been influenced by Bill Wyman's bass-playing on "19th Nervous Breakdown", a then-current hit for the Rolling Stones. The formal structure in this song is uncommon for "most pop music", Granata argues, "or any music for that matter." The first two verses, which are almost identical, have unusual bar structures, each being divided into three sections of eight, seven and three bars (20 in total). These uncommon numberings continue in the choruses, as Granata explains, "While it is rare for a chorus to contain an odd number of measures, all three choruses on 'Here Today' are seven bars. Most choruses are eight bars long. Occasionally a chorus will be lengthened to imply suspense or extension of time. The purposeful shortening of the choruses here emphasizes the 'here today, gone tomorrow' idea reflected in the lyric." The arrangement includes a horn ensemble consisting of two saxophones and two trombones. Granata surmised that the saxophone voicings were influenced by Four Seasons songs such as "Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'bout Me)". He continues in his analysis, "Throughout, the bass line accentuates the melody. The bass and horns also move in contrary motion to the vocals: in the chorus, the rhythm section and the horns play a descending line of quarter notes while the vocals ascend with 'Ah-ah.'" Dillon concurred that the contrasting motions, which often conflict with Love's vocals, "creates a slightly uneasy feeling, not unlike how one would feel in a volatile romance." Bruce Johnston praised Wilson's discretion in arranging the backing vocals: "He correctly used the vocals as another pad. If he had made the mistake of overwriting the background parts, you would never pay attention to the leads, and we would have gotten in the way."