Ezrin made several arrangements of the song's
melody and wrote part of the lyrics. Gene Simmons suggested changing the name to "Beth" because it would be easier to sing and to avoid confusion with
Jeff Beck. However, Lydia Criss later claimed credit for proposing the change for the same reason, and because the original Becky had a twin sister named Beth. Guitarist
Ace Frehley attributed the modification to Ezrin, allegedly to make the name less androgynous. As explained by Criss: "I wrote the melody and creating the phrasing for the song that's on the original demo "Beck" with Stan Penridge. Out of Stan's little black book what remained on the reworked version of "Beth" is Stan's original verse and chorus, and my core melody remains on the reworked composition. The core melody was expanded with Bob's orchestration symphony and musical genius. Bob and I sat at the piano at the Record Plant studio working out the song. Bob Ezrin changed the tempo and made it slower, and I worked on changing some of the second verse and the phrasing with the slower tempo". In his autobiography, Simmons recounted that "I have never seen [Criss] compose a single song. Peter might have contributed a line or two of the lyrics, but after listening to Penridge's original demo, it's clear who made the original song". In a 2014 interview for
Rolling Stone, Paul Stanley agreed with Simmons's assessment that Penridge was the main writer, and he commented that Criss had nothing to do with the composition of "Beth", adding that "if you write one hit, you should be able to write two". Criss, in his defense, asserted that Stanley was jealous because "he is the main vocalist of a group in which he did not write the greatest success. That's his problem. They hate the fact that I was the songwriter of a hit and won the People's Choice". In a 2026 interview, Peter Criss described the songwriting process of "Beth" in a more detailed way, revealing that he composed the core melody of the song and addressing the changes that Ezrin made. For the song's recording, Ezrin brought the
New York Philharmonic orchestra and musician
Dick Wagner into the A&R studio as a substitute for Frehley, making Beth a dramatic departure from the band's typical hard rock sound. According to Criss and Simmons, Frehley did not participate in the recording because he was engaged in
playing cards with friends. Once the orchestra arrived at the studio, Ezrin suggested that all 25 members wear fake
tuxedos and that Criss appear in the studio in his trademark makeup so he could take some pictures. For his part, Ezrin put on a
top hat and played the grand
piano. Finally, Criss recorded the vocals at the
Record Plant studio. Structurally, "Beth" lacks a
solo; instead, the mid-octave section repeats the
intro along with the chorus in an orchestral interlude. The sound of the
violin and
viola, led by the
cello, change the
key from
C major to
A minor and then the
trumpets,
tubas,
trombones and
French horns enter, accentuating the
hook. During recording, Criss was by himself in the studio, making "Beth" the only Kiss song to contain no instrumentals from any member of the band. ==Release==