Brian Wilson reportedly regarded ‘I’m Waiting for the Day’ as the one Pet Sounds track on which he felt he did not belong vocally. Although he considered the song suitable and positive, he was dissatisfied with the sound of his own voice, illustrating that even an album widely regarded as a landmark contained work he viewed critically.

The song appeared as the fifth track on the Beach Boys’ 1966 album Pet Sounds and was written chiefly by Wilson with Mike Love. Wilson and Love were the only Beach Boys heard on the recording, while its elaborate backing used 17 studio musicians and instruments including strings, flutes, percussion and tack piano; Wilson’s brother Carl nevertheless praised its dramatic shifts in scale.