My Weekend With Brian Wilson

Photo by Vitalii Khodzinskyi on Unsplash

Who knew I was in love with the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson? Not me.

The delightful teeny-bopping days of Beach Boys’ music just slithered right off my cliff in the late ‘60’s. My age-related affinity for sun and surf tunes cratered, totally cratered, making way for the heartfelt rock protest anthems of the Vietnam war.

Oh, wait, I do recall listening to the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations”, ‘round about ‘67. Luscious sounding music, but geez, it was the Beach Boys, for heaven sakes! Sun and surf versus all the lives being decimated in Vietnam? No contest.

Brian Wilson’s mental health struggles occasionally erupted in the news. His decline morphed into a public soap opera, often used as click-bait for popular magazines. He lost his way for a period. It wasn’t pretty.

Wilson died last week. The accolades came rolling in. Brian Wilson? Of surf ‘n sun fame? Respected and emulated by Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and a holy host of other musical talents? You’ve got to be kidding! Really?!

“Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition and mastery of recording techniques, Brian Wilson is widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative and significant songwriters of the 20th century.”

Yep. That Brian Wilson.

This is your news junkie talking. Excuse me, but where the hell have I been?

Great question. In shock, I decided to spend my weekend rediscovering Brian Wilson’s music. Yep, just me, my ear buds, iPhone, and Amazon Unlimited music. ‘Twas a cheap, but ultimately, fulfilling date.

I scored. Dropping into Wilson’s musical smorgasbord left me with a sense of wonder. Really. I had no idea. None. The very lushness of his arrangements, poignant lyrics, particularly in “Love and Mercy.”

OK, OK, I was now sold on Brian Wilson as the real deal….but stuck, still stuck, as to how and why I’d, forcibly, locked him out of my musical world for so long. Years and years and years. The answer arrived via one of his newly discovered (to me, anyway) songs: “That’s Why God Made The Radio.” Just a tiny, tiny snippet of a lyric, “when I lift up my antenna.” Lifting up my own antennae allows me greater focus on the world around me. Like many of us regular ‘ol humans, I have a great capacity to tune out, yep, just tune right out, anyone or anything I’ve judged negatively. I excel in that particular arena.

In the era between my teens and my (oh, so grownup) twenties, I closed the door on Brian Wilson. Moved on. The Vietnam war brought turbulent times. Across the board, cultural change occurred, including to our music. Bye, Brian, I’m off to a protest now, leaving you to all your surfing songs.

And I did. Left all of Brian Wilson’s bewitching and growing musical oeuvre behind in my exploration of growing up. Retrospectively, a super, major, ouch.

Today, I’m celebrating the luscious, new-to-me, Brian Wilson music just added to my playlists. I’m also celebrating unearthing my life-long inclination to slam doors shut, based on my judgments, not realizing how much light I may be losing from the closed-off side. Hard to break these old habits, but “Hey, Brian,” wherever you are, I’m trying.

Thanks.