as growing up. Music historian Charles Granata said that the songs "exhibit a unified lyrical theme: the wonder of adolescent love and the expression of tender, pleading affection", subject matter that was "far more" substantial than when the group "declare[d] their love for a girl, car, or the surf." Virtually every song expresses anticipation or apprehensiveness about the future, and the album is consistent with the Beach Boys' past records by remaining largely concerned with teenage experiences. Journalist Alice Bolin wrote, "This makes some sense – Wilson was barely out of high school when the Beach Boys formed – but on Today!, the childlike lyrics take a turn for the unsettling", particularly when scrutinized against Wilson's 22-year-old perspective, as Bolin felt, "Wilson's attraction to teenage girls and his prolonged interest in teenage life smacks of a kind of arrested development." In the book Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop, Bob Stanley remarked of the lyrics, "Brian was aiming for Johnny Mercer but coming up proto-indie." Today! contained more songs with a verse-chorus structure than any prior Beach Boys album. Jazz chord types and relations appear in many songs, including "When I Grow Up", "Kiss Me, Baby", and "Please Let Me Wonder". O'Regan uses the aforementioned songs as examples of "a maturing view of life and relationships that were underpinned by and reflected in the expandable and flexible verse-chorus form." He wrote that Today! offered the "clearest example" of the group's pre-1967 "lyrical experimentation" due to the "longer and more flexible structures". Side two marks the introduction of major seventh and major ninth chords, which, O'Regan states, "soften the lively sound of the A side". Journalist Scott Interrante noted that "it would be a mistake to assume that the ballads are more sophisticated. ... Wilson proves that he can be just as harmonically and structurally inventive with catchy dance songs as he can with emotional ballads." Likewise, "Even in the upbeat songs like 'Do You Wanna Dance?' and 'Dance, Dance, Dance', there is a sense of focus on the future, and a distinct, unsettling feeling that they’re trying to dance off." He further characterized A-side songs such as "Good to My Baby" and "Don't Hurt My Little Sister" with having a "deceptive simplicity" in their music and lyrics. Recording The Beach Boys Today! was largely recorded between January 7 and 19, 1965 at Western Studio in Hollywood. Other studios