Celebrity Jukebox #139: Brian Wilson (Part 3)

We conclude our tribute to the late Brian Wilson today with a few lyrical tributes...

Let's start with some Jon By Jovi... because we don't hear his name enough around these parts...

You always lose the girl (Ooh)
In a Brian Wilson world

Bon Jovi - Last Cigarette

The Beta Band are up next, with a spot of critical evaluation...

I listened to the Beach Boys just a minute ago

"Wild Honey", it's not their best album but it's still pretty good

They've got some funny little love songs on there

But its not mainly a Brian Wilson production

So it's probably not as good as something like "Pet Sounds"

The Beta Band - Round The Bend

Elton's Postcards From Richard Nixon is a song about his first experiences of the USA, but Brian makes a fine contrast to Tricky Dicky...

And all around us suntanned teens, beauty like we’d never seen

Our heroes led us by the hand

Through Brian Wilson’s promised land

Where Disney’s God and he commands

Both mice and men to stay

Elton John - Postcards From Richard Nixon

And that's not the only time Elton has dropped Brian's name...

Now I know what Brian Wilson meant

Every time I step outside

I see what heaven sent

There may be seven wonders

Created for this world

But one is all we need

Since God invented girls

Elton John - Since God Invented Girls

Brian Wilson is a good name to throw into a list song, and in this track from The Church, he's in legendary company...

Brian Wilson and William Tell

We welcome you

Harry Belafonte and Alexander Bell

We welcome you

Archangel Gabriel and Richard Hell

We welcome

And Tom Miller

The Church - Welcome 

Brian finds his way into another list here, but among far less obvious company. Clear evidence though that his influence crosses all genres...

Paul Johnson

DJ Funk

DJ Sneak

DJ Rush

Waxmaster

Hyperactive

Jammin Gerald

Brian Wilson

George Clinton

Lil Louis

Ashley Beedle

Neil Landstruum

Kenny Dope

DJ Hell

Louis Vega

K-Alexi

Daft Punk - Teachers

More evidence of that from The Beastie Boys...

Made a noise invented a sound

When Brian Wilson used it 

A hit was found

Beastie Boys - Square Wave in Unison

Quite a few songwriters choose Brian as a metaphor for the fine line between genius and madness. Take this one from Brendon Urie...

She said, "You're just like Mike Love
But you wanna be Brian Wilson, Brian Wilson"
Said, "You're just like Mike Love
But you'll never be Dennis Wilson"
And I said
(Hey! Hey!) If crazy equals genius
(Hey! Hey!) If crazy equals genius
Then I'm a fucking arsonist (Hey!)
I'm a rocket scientist (Hey! Hey!)

Panic At The Disco! - Crazy = Genius

Or this from Will Toledo...

I used to think there was an answer
In the music of my youth
But I just read Brian Wilson's biography
And now I know the truth
Because his father never loved him
And the band just wanted the money
And Dennis was an alcoholic
Who drowned looking for treasure
And everyone who was around him
Just gave him drugs and took his money
He was dependent on social acceptance
Just like every other human

Car Seat Headrest - Kimochi Warui (When? When? When? When? When? When? When?)

Here's one of Ben's favourite songwriters, Jeff Rosenstock...

I've never been in love but I saw Brian Wilson once

I was drunk and screamed too loud over the falsetto in "You Still Believe in Me."

And I thought about the way his catastrophes made everything okay

Bomb The Music Industry! - You Still Believe in Me?

And one of my favourite songwriter, Stephin Merritt...

Brian Wilson, 1960 and Vine

Summer kisses

In a Pendleton shirt, songs and gentle words

Granted wishes

The Magnetic Fields - You and Me and the Moon

Richard and Karen, on the other hand, saw Brian as the living personification of summer...

Bare foot, coconut and super mild

Jamaica, take a look at your own child

Forget not

Brian Wilson songs are never left behind

Don't you worry, baby, you're a friend of mine

For so long

The Carpenters - Boat To Sail

Not to mention the sea...

Seahorses

Sharks circling

Brian Wilson, inspiration

Smart dolphins

Waves crashing

Jill Sobule - Palm Springs

And love... Brian always represents love, in all its forms...

She made lasagna

And I sang her a song by Brian Wilson

Cause I knew her favourite band was The Beach Boys

Bowling For Soup - Rhonda Lasagna

As well as happy times though, Brian can also remind us of sad times...

This was the summer of your dad at the UN

And the voice of Brian Wilson

And the rain

Maybe she'll come back to you now

She could turn around on Friday

Maybe she'll realize it then

Shouldn't your friends know better now?

Maybe they say these unkind things

Never dreaming they hurt you

And she may turn around

And see a clearer day

The Innocence Mission - She May Turn Around

Love and lost love...

God only knows

What Brian Wilson meant

Pick out your clothes

With some real intent

You don't seem to care

That I've been waiting here

Pulling out my hair

For you to come

My dear

Snow Patrol - Batten Down the Hatch

The sun and the rain, light and darkness...

It's coming down in sheets of rain

Water's running in the drain

I lie with candles by my bed

Brian Wilson in my head

Dennis Wilson, Sharon Tate

Dark Pacific Palisades, yeah

Wait for the summer

It'll come round again

Ash - Pacific Palisades

And to close, a track which would have fit very well into Snapshots #400... Brian Wilson singing Brian Wilson, a cover of the Barenaked Ladies song...

My Top Ten Robot Songs

10. Arling & Cameron - Dirty Robot

Covered by The Lemonheads featuring Kate Moss, which might have worked... had it come without the "featuring Kate Moss" bit.

9. The Aliens - Robot Man

The artists formerly known as The Beta Band with their anthem to robot dancing.

8. Go Kart Mozart - I Talk With Robot Voice

Lawrence (of Felt & Denim fame) returned earlier this year with a new album from his third band, including this wonderful hymn to alienation which has him bemoaning his uselessness at humanoid relationships before guiltily confessing: "Yet I admit I'm still susceptible to vaginas." When was the last time Gary Barlow wrote a lyric like that?

7. Guided By Voices - Tropical Robots

It's only 52 seconds long, but it's still quite lovely.

6. Kraftwerk - The Robots

The track which inspired this...

5. Daft Punk - Robot Rock,

...which in turn inspired this...

4. Flight Of The Conchords - Robots

Finally, robotic beings rule the world! The humans are dead...

Binary solo - 000000100001110000111000111111100001010!

3. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

Those evil-natured robots
they're programmed to destroy us
she's gotta be strong to fight them
so she's taking lots of vitamins

2. Robyn - Fembot

Once you gone tech you ain't never going back

Robyn's got robots on the brain. See also Robotboy and The Girl And The Robot (featuring Röyksopp).

1. Radiohead - Paranoid Android

I remember when this was released, the record company promoted it as Radiohead's answer to Bohemian Rhapsody. I still think that comparison holds true. Like Bo Rap, there's far more going on here than one song can usually hold... and yet, it works.

Back in my Championship Hearts playing days, I went by the moniker 'Marvin': the original Paranoid Android. Life - don't talk to me about life...



Those were the songs that get me robot-dancing... which one gives you a binary solo?