As I write this, all kinds of tributes are pouring in as we all learn of the passing of musician Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys. I’ve spent so much time teaching about this man and this time in music history that I feel like I knew him.
In 2019 Vanessa and I had tickets to see him perform the legendary Pet Sounds album in full. I was excited and was aiming to meet him after the show, although I didn’t know if it would be possible or not. About 2 weeks before the gig, he cancelled and sent a message to all ticket holders that he was dealing with mental health issues. Sadly, I never got the chance to see him as he did not reschedule the concert.
Mental health issues were a big part of his life. I used to teach about this along with the music. I framed it up as “How do you think that it was possible that a man who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia could also write Surfin’ U.S.A., Fun, Fun, Fun, and I Get Around?”
We had lively debates about rising above the challenges that life throws at all of us and working for your dreams, staying on the path and all kinds of stuff like that, but the kids were always engaged most when I suggested that Brian Wilson used music as a vehicle to work through his sometimes dark thoughts.
“Remember…..music is the voice of God.”
Wilson said that. I believe that he was a genius (more about that in a moment) and he truly felt that the beauty of music was a gift given to him that he had an obligation to share with the world.
Share he did. ANY Beach Boys tune that you put on is like a pair of comfortable shoes. Even on a first listen, the music feels as though you have already heard it. It’s the sound of summer, fun, the beach, and youth. Brian Wilson could write music like that in his sleep. Like Mozart, Brian was prolific.
As he gained maturity of a composer, songs about girls and cars bored him and he began to veer off the hit making formula that the band had followed. There were voices in his head, a lot of drugs, paranoia, and a failing marriage. It was 1966 and Brian was about to birth his magnum opus; a song called Good Vibrations.
Music analysts have called this song a “pocket symphony.” There are all kinds of hidden elements in the song. If you don’t know the tune, or if you haven’t heard it in a while, take a listen before you read on.
If you want to take a deep music dive into a nerd analysis, click the hidden elements link above. For you organ and piano players (Z, Gerry, that’s a lot of flats)… check out this analysis.
For everyone else, think about this before you listen to the song again. Brian wrote the whole thing by himself. That’s all of the instruments, the vocals, and the arrangement of how the sections of the song would be put together. The band was on tour in Japan, and when they returned, Brian showed them his sketches for Good Vibrations. His ideas were all over the place and it seemed like the music would better serve as 3 or 4 different pieces. Until now, The Beach Boys used the normal pop sounds of drums, bass, guitar, and vocals that were radio friendly.
Good Vibrations used cello, and organ, an instrument called a theremin, (the alien like noises that happen in the chorus), drums, bass, guitar and the thick voice harmonies that The Beach Boys were known for….but he used different speeds, the bass line was like a second melody instead of just chugging along married to the drums as done in usual pop music. We have flute, and an upright bass along with the electric bass. Trust me when I say that this is not normal because most composers would never think 2 basses would be needed. (Insert your favorite bassist is not a musician joke here!)
Brian heard things differently than the rest of us. This song is a direct result of that.
How about a few more things to listen for on your second or third go around? Use headphones. Listen to the wall of vocal harmonies. Hear all of the echo? Check out the hard musical shift at 2:16 when all goes quiet and we hear a shaker and the organ……that’s called a “tape splice.”
Remember, this song was done in 1966, so no computers, no digital, and no studio magic of today. You see, Brian and the studio musicians (he didn’t think all of his bandmates could play this stuff…..and none of them played cello!) recorded the song out of order, section by section in different studios on different days and times. No one except Brian knew what the end product would sound like. Brian literally cut recording tape into sections (splices) and then glued them together in the order that he heard in his head. This was a nightmare for the recording engineers since recording volume levels and microphones were not often the same. IF you listen closely around 2:16, there is a major reverb (echo) to mask the cut. He does it again at 2:58….an echo on the organ, and it rings out to silence….if you listen closely, you can hear the intake of breath before the last chorus starts again at a different speed. Magical.
All of the chorus parts go up in pitch with the vocals and a “digga-da-digga-da” cello part which is awesome, but the last one goes down in pitch…..again, very unusual for a pop song and it’s almost as if Brian tells us that he’s running out of steam or batteries here at the end….but he leaves the listener with one last bang…..a buzz saw like cello riff as the song fades.
Brian Wilson:
“That song took me on a 6 month journey that I didn’t want to go on, but it took me there anyway. I tried to grasp the fact that if you took classical instruments and applied them to rock and roll, the music would be elevated to a new level.”
When Brian was a boy, he went on a walk with his mom one day and he asked her why dogs bark at some people and not others. She told him that animals can pick up vibrations from people. Brian told her that he hoped he would always give off good vibrations.
He sure did. The musical world, and all of us have lost a genius. I have listened to Good Vibrations hundreds of times, and I never grow tired of it. I marvel at how a human mind can hear and communicate like this song does. I hope that you find something new the next time you listen to it.
Stay safe, stay awesome, and give off good vibrations always.
Patrick moeschen 