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...

Celebrity Jukebox #131: David Lynch

The owls are not what they seem.

The term "genius" is often mis-applied, but in my book it's never been more appropriately used than when used to describe writer and director David Lynch. 

This whole world's wild at heart and weird on top.

Much will be written about Lynch's legacy in the world of film and TV, and there's little point in me adding to that other than to say that he was responsible for one of my all time favourite TV shows (two if you count the sequel, which was a very different proposition... and a lot of people couldn't get behind that, but I did) and some of the most affecting, thought-provoking and visionary (another term that rarely gets used appropriately) movies I've ever seen. 

Why are there people like Frank? Why is there so much trouble in this world?

His death leaves a big hole. Even though he struggled to get funding to make his films over the last few years, I still held out hope we'd see more from him one way or another. And now he's gone. Another hero of my youth lost to the reaper.

People are frightened by what they don't understand.

Here are some tunes in tribute...

Julee Cruise - Falling

Chris Isaak - Wicked Game

David Lynch & Lykke Li - I'm Waiting Here

Car Seat Headrest - David Lynch Versus The Moon

Surfer Blood - Twin Peaks

Surf Curse - Fire Walk With Me

Sharon Van Etten - Tarifa

Bastille - Laura Palmer

Thank you, Mr. Lynch. You made scared, you made me laugh, you made me think, you made me feel. And you made some damn fine coffee.

In Heaven, everything is fine.

November #7 - Car Seat Headrest Win Song Title of the Year

7. Car Seat Headrest - (Joe Gets Kicked Out of School for Using) Drugs With Friends (But Says This Isn't A Problem)

This is Will Toledo...

Will is in a band called Car Seat Headrest, so named because he used to record his songs in the back seat of his car: "for privacy" and also, possibly, to give them an interesting acoustic quality. The band used to be just Will, and between 2010 and 2015, he released 8 albums on Bandcamp before getting a deal with Matador. Since then he's released two more. Now he's got an actual band. I first heard one of his records on 6Music when Katie Puckrick was doing a show on power-pop, a genre I've always enjoyed. Will flits between genres though and he's not just a power-popper.

Drugs With Friends is from Will's latest album, Teens of Denial, which came out just a few months ago. Apparently, when he was younger he always thought drugs would be a key element of being a rock musician, but when he tried them he just felt sick. This track is kinda Dandy Warhols meets Eels. I think it's pretty cool.

Last Friday I took acid and mushrooms I did not transcend, I felt like a walking piece of shit In a stupid looking jacket
I walked around town and thought I was in Sodom
There were filthy people seeking comfort for their bodies
It was so obscene
Filled with loathing and religious fervour
I laid on my friend’s bedroom floor for an hour
And tried not to piss my pants
And then I saw Jesus...