325: Brian Wilson, ‘God Only Knows’ (“At My Piano”)

Jeff’s new novel, The Greatest Band that Never Was, is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

‘God Only Knows’–Brian Wilson, “At My Piano”

‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’–Brian Wilson, “At My Piano”

‘Don’t Worry Baby’–Brian Wilson, “At My Piano”

‘Warmth of the Sun’–Brian Wilson, “At My Piano”

‘Don’t Worry Baby’–Brian Wilson A Cappella Tribute

‘Warmth of the Sun’–Brian Wilson A Cappella Tribute

There are two kinds of people—those who say “Brian Wilson? Oh, The Beach Boys. ‘Surfing USA’. Yeah, they’re okay.”
And those who get Brian Wilson, “Pet Sounds” and Side Two of “Beach Boys Today!”, who understand that he is The musical genius of our times.

Brian’s been a part of my life since almost forever.

At 16 I had a weekend job which entailed driving around Cincinnati for many hours. I can still conjure the smell of Burger King fries and shakes in the car, and the giddy sound of ‘I Get Around’, ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’ and ‘Help Me, Rhonda’ on WSAI. That is why God made the radio.

SoTW 031: The Beach Boys, ‘Little Saint Nick’

I can still summon up the ache in my acned soul from listening endlessly to ‘Kiss Me, Baby’, ‘Don’t Worry, Baby’ and ‘Please Let Me Wonder’ alone at night, on my little portable stereo.

SoTW 004: The Beach Boys, ‘Kiss Me Baby’

In college, I fell under the thrall of “Pet Sounds”, the most beautiful music of our times.

SoTW 230: The Beach Boys, ‘Here Today’ (“Pet Sounds” Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 14)

In my 20s, I taught myself to play ‘Don’t Worry, Baby’ on the guitar—slow, introspective, minimalist, trying not to intrude on that beautiful music.

In my 30s I made myself a compilation cassette called “Angst on the Beach”, with all of Brian’s tortured teen tragedies.

In my 40s I acquired “The Beach Boys Unsurpassed Masters”, about 20 CDs-worth of studio recordings. I listened to the creation of tracks from “Today!” and “Pet Sounds” take by take, layer by layer, backing track only, vocals only, everything. For hours and hours and hours.

In my 50s, I immersed myself in a a cappella, Brian obscurities and his early inspiration from The Four Freshmen. I appreciated the reconstructed “Smile”, but found it dated.

SoTW 158: Paul Simon, ‘Surfer Girl’

SoTW 269: Brian Wilson, ‘Sandy’/’Sherri She Needs Me’/’She Says That She Needs Me’

SoTW 118: Brian Wilson, ‘Surf’s Up’ (“SMiLE”)

My first ringtone was the intro to ‘California Girls’.

In my 60s I realized a life-long dream by commissioning a cappella recordings by the best vocal arrangers in the world, four of Brian’s pre-Pet Sounds masterpieces—the way I thought they should have sounded.

323: Brian Wilson A Cappella Project, ‘Warmth of The Sun’

 I kind of enjoyed the mixed blessing of The Beach Boys’ reunion album “That’s Why God Made the Radio”, but still listen frequently to Brian’s 2015 “No Pier Pressure”, a light but charming collection of bouncy collaborations.

But then in 2021 came the revelation—Brian’s “At My Piano”, 48 minutes of stripped-down revisits to some of his finest music, just him at the keyboard, mostly using just two hands, occasionally adding a third or fourth when the complexity of the arrangement demanded.

Listening to “At My Piano” is for me a spiritual experience. It’s like watching Michelangelo sketch out the Sistine Chapel in charcoal, or listening to Bach playing a harpsichord demo of the B Minor Mass. Of the myriad of melodic and harmonic lines, Brian plays just the essentials. ‘This is the core of my music’, as it were.

It’s just what I was trying to achieve in my Brian Wilson A Cappella Tribute—the essence of the unfathomable beauty of his music.

So now Brian’s body has gone the way of all flesh. I’ve long wondered what I would cut I would choose to have in my mind on the day of his passing.

The original ‘Warmth of the Sun’, perhaps his single most divinely inspired melody? Or my a cappella version of ‘Kiss Me, Baby’, the song that has touched the deepest places in my heart every time I’ve heard it over the past 60 years.

Or maybe ‘One For the Boys’, a beautiful wordless a cappella cut from Brian’s first solo album, 1988, for the richness of the music and for its obscurity.

Or maybe ‘The Last Song’ from “No Pier Pressure”, a self-penned requiem: ‘Don’t be sad/There was a time and place for what we had/If there was just another chance for me to sing to you/There’s never enough time for the ones that you love’.

But I guess we’ll go with the obvious choice, ‘God Only Knows’, which Paul McCartney called “the greatest song ever written”. But not the classic original, because I can’t do anything straightforward. We’re going for the version from “At My Piano”.

The core. Absolute, pure, ineffable beauty. Because God only knows how one mortal man can create music that touches the divine.

Tags: At My PianoBrian WilsonGod Only Knows