This is an iHeart Podcast. Let's be real. Life happens. Kids spill. Pets shed.
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Visit washablefas.com today and save. That's washablefas.com. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. This is Danielle Fischel from Pod Meets World. Parents, quick question.
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You know, one of the most important things when studying scripture is making sure we truly understand what we're reading. That's why we love the New Living Translation. It's great for personal study, teaching, and even reading aloud because the NLT was crafted with both accuracy and readability in mind. Whether you're walking through a tough passage or just reading devotionally, the NLT helps scripture come alive.
So, if you're looking for a Bible translation that's accurate, understandable, and audibly enjoyable, check out the NLT at newlivingtranslation.com. If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get hangry. That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post. I'm Christina Quinn.
I host Try This. Dig in with me on practical advice for life's common challenges. Follow Try This right now wherever you're listening. Seriously, try it. You heard it before many times.
Water is life. But do you know that almost half of the homes on the Navajo Reservation do not have clean running water? With your support, St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School is ready to give water to Navajo families.
So we invite you to help provide this precious gift of life to those in need. Contrary to many average Americans, Navajo families survive on just 10 gallons of water per day. You can help support St. Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to stbonaventuremission.org. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people coming to you from the city where the West begins.
Fort Worth, Texas. On June 11, 2025, songwriter, producer, and Beach Boy Brian Wilson passed away. He was 82. Here to tell the story of Brian Wilson is David Leaf. close friend of Brian and the author of Smile.
the rise, fall, and resurrection. of Brian Wilson. Let's get into the story. The Beach Boys were in a sense an accident. It wasn't like the Beatles where John had his group and Paul joined it and then George joined it and they spent five years trying to get a record deal and, you know, really honing their ability to play great rock and roll music and start to write great music.
The Beach Boys didn't spend five years doing that. It was more like five months. Brian Wilson. was this incredibly gifted kid. Brian loved music and he loved to sing from the time he could basically stand up.
He remembers hearing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue when he was very young. And that became sort of his theme song in life. He's into rock and roll, you know. George Gershwin is into rock and roll. Rhapsody boot, bop, bop, bub, bubble, bop, bop, bop, bop, baby.
That's rock and roll. When you hear Bach, what do you hear? Dude, dude, what do you think that is? California girl. I got the California beat from Bach himself.
What is it in your life that makes a piece like Rhapsody and Blue go into your soul? It's a beautiful piece of music, but it's not a joyous piece of music for the most part. I believe it's because he was an abused child and he needed the beauty of music. He connected with the beauty of music. Feeling was what was most important to him.
He wanted his music to express a certain feeling. And once he found that feeling, he could then write a song that would do that. Anyway, my mom was an organist, my dad was a pianist. And he would write songs and she would play along with him. And it was like a husband-wife team.
It was just, they were really great. He was an inspiration to melody. Like his melodies were real pretty, you know. They really got to me very deeply in my soul. When he's about eight or nine years old, his father teaches him how to play a little boogie woogie at the piano.
Then he realizes that he has a gift. His uncle teaches him how to write music on sheet. And most significantly, he hears two jazz vocal groups, the Hilos and the Four Freshmen. Mm It's uh Oh, I immediately took to the sound of their voices and I started learning their harmonies. And he literally spent maybe a year or more at the piano with a tape recorder by his side.
learning how to dissect their vocal arrangements.
So that he could teach his brothers and then the beach boys how to sing in multi-part harmony. Please and I And there are moments when we'd be singing harmony together that my father would choose. fall down crying with joy. Actually, that's a birth of the three brothers singing together. It sounds Simple.
But it wasn't. capacity, that ability to hear all those parts simultaneously and be able to deal them to the different individuals who could handle that range. He was quite gifted in that way. Five. It was devotional.
It's like building a house almost, isn't it? Yes, you laid a foundation and you build it. Yeah, that's right. You know, he took a little bit of Chuck Berry, a little bit of the four freshmen. Put them together.
It's like composing is like architecture, I think, with your music perspective. I think it is, yeah. Even if the lyrics would be about surfing and cars and girls, there was something in the melody and the vocal arrangement. I was quite impressed with what I heard. I thought the arrangements that they were doing were kinda sophisticated, you know.
You know, it was the rock and roll Mozart, man, you know. And so he's a great athlete. He's the quarterback of his high school football team. He's the center fielder of his baseball team. He wanted to be Mickey Manle.
As he Brian said, he couldn't hit the curveball.
So music became His life. When they walked into Capitol Records and got their deal, Brian was 19 years old. It's amazing that in that short period of time, 62, 63, 64, he is churning out. I mean, one year the Beach Bush put out four albums. I mean, it was just an insane output of music.
Within four years, Brian has the most remarkable year that anybody ever had in popular music. He composes, arranges, and produces the Pet Sounds album. He composes, arranges, and produces the Good Vibrations single. And then he composes, arranges, and produces the music of Smile, all in 1966. And there was nothing about him in 1962 that would let you know that was going to happen, except for one thing.
Brian believed that music was the voice of God. He believed that he was Following in the footsteps of people like Bach. And he wanted to share this spiritual beauty that he felt. with the world. Anyway.
He's going on tour with the Beach Boys, although he's not a happy tour member of the group. He wants to stay home and focus on making records. That's his focus.
Now, Gershwin, the four freshmen, the high-lows, were big influences before he started making music. But once he started making records, it was: how do I make a record that's going to get on the radio? And his biggest influences in the 60s. were Phil Spectre And the Beatles. Phil Spector, he was everything.
The biggest. Inspiration in my heart. What do you think is the greatest pop song ever written? I'll probably be my baby by the run edge. Yeah, I was in my car with my girlfriend and we were driving around and, um On to this guy, Wick Martin Dale, a disc hockey.
Here's all right. Here we go with Be My Baby by the Ronettes. And then we start playing, you know. And all of a sudden they got into this part. Be my.
I pull over, I pull over the s to the side of the of the uh Street is a curb. And went, my god! Wait a minute. No way. Actually, in a way, it wasn't really getting your mind blown.
It's like it's getting like your mind revamped. It's like once you've heard that record. You're a fan for it. And when we come back, more of this remarkable story, the life story of Brian Wilson. Here on Our American Stories.
Lee Habib here, and I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to Our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, or wherever you get our podcasts. Any story you missed or want to hear again can be found there daily. Again, Please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast anywhere you get your podcasts. It helps us keep these great American stories coming. Let's be real.
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Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. You know, one of the most important things when studying scripture is making sure we truly understand what we're reading. That's why we love the New Living Translation. It's great for personal study, teaching, and even reading aloud because the NLT was crafted with both accuracy and readability in mind. Whether you're walking through a tough passage or just reading devotionally, the NLT helps scripture come alive.
So if you're looking for a Bible translation that's accurate, understandable, and audibly enjoyable, check out the NLT at newlivingtranslation.com. If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get hangry. That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post. I'm Christina Quinn, I host Try This.
Dig in with me on practical advice for life's common challenges. Follow Try This Right Now, wherever you're listening. Seriously, try it. You heard it before many times. Water is life.
But do you know that almost half of the homes on the Navajo Reservation do not have clean running water? With your support, St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School is ready to give water to Navajo families.
So we invite you to help provide this precious gift of life to those in need. Contrary to many average Americans, Navajo families survive on just 10 gallons of water per day. You can help support St. Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to stbonaventuremission.org. At Homes.com, we do whatever it takes to get you the in-depth info on local schools you won't find anywhere else.
Things like student-teacher ratio, test scores, and school programs. And sometimes that requires attending school recitals.
So Many. Recitals. That's my son. Isn't he terrific? Yeah, a real prodigy.
Homes.com. We've done your homework. And we return to our American stories and the story of Brian Wilson. with his close friend David Leaf. Let's pick up.
Where were they last left off? Mm. He made a bunch of great records. There's no question about that. Phil Specter was a fairly, very talented, crazy.
He had this layered sound thing. Most people use the four-piece rhythm section. He had four guitars or six or seven. There were four pianos, always one upright bass, one fender bass. 15 people playing percussion instruments.
In a very small room. Yeah. Because Brian is deaf in one ear and still recorded in mono. Having all those players together and recording in mono was perfect for Brian. But Brian took that and used it in a delicate way.
So it became beautiful. Phil's thing was anger. Brian was always looking for love. Brian saw. How Phil was doing it, how he was using these A-list musicians.
And he started using those musicians, and they could give him sounds in his head that the Beach Boys weren't capable of playing. He wants to make music that's going to touch us deeply. And when he hears Rubber's Soul in December of 1965, and as he says, he was smoking pot, and he hears it. Oh Whoa. When I first heard it, I flipped.
All the songs seemed to me like a collection of folk songs, you know? He loves the notion that the Beatles have made an album where everything has the same vibe. What that tells us is he was listening to the American version, not the actual UK release, because it's the American version that all sounds the same texturally. I said, I want to make an album like that. I'm going to make an album that's better than this.
I'm going to beat the Beatles. And he sets to work on pet sounds. And to do it, he wanted a lyrical collaborator who he felt could express emotions a level up from what he had done before. And just on instinct, he asks a guy named Tony Asher, and they write songs unlike anything that's ever been released in popular music. I may not always be.
Always love you. But long as there are stars of love you God Only Knows. And yes, I know there was God Bless This Child, but we're talking about an American pop group having a single called God Only Knows. We did have this concern about using the word God in the lyric at that time. It was, you know, a relatively controversial thing.
And I think we would have given it up if we could have come up with absolutely anything else that would have satisfied us. And if you listen to Pet Sounds from start to finish, I believe what you hear is Brian's emotional autobiography. He gets as close to the bone as he can. His feelings Out on this record.
Something very esoteric within, like, a family. A brother has a secret, but allows you to know it in an art form. That's just a basic truth about music: is that music is. It's a an expression of spirit. I never really fully took credit for the songs that I wrote because I knew that a higher force was with me when I was writing.
What? I knew about you. It touches people deeply. It's about what it's like to feel alienated from life and the world and wonder what's going to happen to you. Beyond the fun in the sun, you know, surfer girl kind of songs that came almost naturally to him.
Pet Sounds is such a big deal in England that in the year-end polls, they put Pet Sounds and Revolver as co-number one's albums of the year. When I interviewed Sir Paul McCartney about it, he said no one is educated musically till they've heard Pet Sounds. When I talked to Sir George Martin about it, He said that Sgt Pepper was the Beatles' attempt to accent. on attempt to equal pet sounds. It's just like, wait a second.
We aren't even using like nine chords in major sevens yet. And here, you know, the Beach Boys are using them as if it's like easy. The Beach Boys were using voicings and chords that were way beyond what everybody else was doing. That's how big a deal Pet Sounds and Brian Wilson are in 1966. Brian is the single most advanced artist in popular music who's having hit records.
He follows that with good vibrations. And what he does with good vibrations is he creates a brand new way of recording where he records pieces of music and isn't sure how he's going to put them together, but he records a lot of pieces of music and then he stitches them together. There are alternate versions of good vibrations that are wonderful, but the one that comes out is the result of months of his work. Give the media excitations. Back in my food, good vibration.
But he said, you know, I'm going to put this one aside because I have a different idea for that. Brian got the sense, and this happened in an incremental way, that anything was possible. He says, Our next album is going to be as advanced from Pet Sounds as Pet Sounds was from Summer Days and Summer Nights. This is how confident he is as an artist.
So he embarks on this adventure called Dumb Angel at first and then eventually Smile. The initial notion of Smile is it's going to be an album that tells the story. It's going to be an American album, which is very important because the heat of the British invasion, if you will. And the idea is it's going to be the story of a bicycle rider flying in the sky from Plymouth Rock to Hawaii, looking down on America and telling an American story. That's the first idea.
Then Brian starts to get really spiritual, and he says, I want this album to be a teenage symphony to God. Uh Mm-hmm. And he had a lyrical partner who could write words that equaled the kind of inscrutability, if you will, of the music. I wrote with Van Dyke Parks more than anyone else. He's my favorite collaborator.
Van Dyke was working on Birds Records. And Van Dyke was a great esoteric, and still is. But he and Van Dyke Parks go to work. They are bursting with creativity because there are no rules as to the kind of songs Brian is going to write with Van Dyke. There is indeed a sandbox in Brian Wilson's living room into which his grand piano is placed.
And he and Van Dyke Parks sit at the piano and write songs. Everything had to be perfect. It could be perfection in an eight-bar piece or just an instrumental sound. Don Randy tells a wonderful story of literally hours and hours just trying to get this one transitional note. And he got so tired that he put a pillow on the bass pedal of the organ that he was playing on the session and lay down on the note.
Finally, they woke him up a half hour later and say, okay, Brian got what he wanted. I mean, there was nothing short of an obsessive perfectionism in what he was doing that was beyond the understanding of everybody. It amazed the musicians who they thought, well, that note doesn't sound right. They did not understand that he could hear the complete record in his head and that when he combined what they were playing with the vocals, it would make perfect sense. Brian was hearing these incredibly complex arrangements in his head.
And what Brian did that is inimitable is he had the ability to take two or three or four instruments together and combine them into another sound that was absolutely unique. I mean, he was doing stuff that just wasn't. Anywhere else. They were going out of their minds. Like, what the heck is that?
And Danny Hutton tells a great story. He says people were convinced that Brian had some magic box that only he had access to, that he could put his sounds through to get these recordings done, which was, of course, absurd. The magic box was in his head. And so there's no way to explain it. Even Brian today couldn't explain it.
Are there drugs?
Well, I had crazy ideas. I was smoking hashish, and we were laying on the floor singing. From laying on the floor, we put the microphones down on our heads. doing crazy things and we got into a very strange bag. We came across a tape, a song called Fire.
I had the musicians wearing fire helmets. I had a guy bringing a bucket with burning wood. The project collapsed. And when we come back, we'll continue with the story of his teenage Symphony to God, His grand art project. Here on Our American Stories.
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With a modular design and changeable slip covers, you can customize your sofa to fit any space and style. Whether you need a single chair, love seat, or a luxuriously large sectional, Anibay has you covered. Visit washablesofas.com to upgrade your home. Right now, you can shop up to 60% off store-wide with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Shop now at washablesofas.com.
Add a little. to your life. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. You know, one of the most important things when studying scripture is making sure we truly understand what we're reading. That's why we love the New Living Translation.
It's great for personal study, teaching, and even reading aloud because the NLT was crafted with both accuracy and readability in mind. Whether you're walking through a tough passage or just reading devotionally, the NLT helps scripture come alive.
So, if you're looking for a Bible translation that's accurate, understandable, and audibly enjoyable, check out the NLT at newlivingtranslation.com. If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get hangry. That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post. I'm Christina Quinn.
I host Try This. Dig in with me on practical advice for life's common challenges. Follow Try This right now wherever you're listening. Seriously, try it. Toa Ina.
We all know that water is life. An average American household consumes over 300 gallons daily. 40% of Navajo families residing on a reservation the size of West Virginia struggle to survive on less than 10 gallons of water per day. Yearly St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School delivers over 1.5 million gallons of clean water to these families.
You can help support St. Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to stbonaventuremission.org. Homes.com is the only place where you can find specialized neighborhood guides with the in-depth insider info home shoppers want. Very in-depth info. Want to know if there's homes for sale in the area?
We've got it. How long has a home been on the market? We'll know it. Average lot size? Uh-huh.
Proximity to local parks? Of course. Insight into your neighbor's divorce? We're working on it. Homes.com.
We've done your homework. And we return to Our American Stories and the story of Brian Wilson with David Leaf. When we last left off, Brian embarked on his most experimental journey yet. The Smile album. which created a new genre.
Art Rock. but the project would collapse dramatically. Let's return to the story. Did he overuse drugs during the smile sessions? Al Jardine tells a story of getting in the car with Brian at the William Morris Agency and Brian driving in circles 20 times while they were having a conversation.
Brian's documentarian at the time, Michael Vosse, says he thinks drugs is the biggest red herring in the Smile story. My sense is that Brian's drug use increased. in direct proportion to the resistance he was getting. from the record company, his father, and within the group. to the music That he had written with Van Dyke Parks and recorded the backing tracks.
And when it came time to do the vocals, Brian did not get 100%. support.
Well, I like Van Dyke parts. He's a nice person. But I asked him once, he said, Van Dyke, what does that lyric mean? It ruins dull. I was in a position of defending my lyrics.
It went from Ding Woody Pearl, Hang Tim. I mean, I didn't know that language, to like columnated ruins domino. Mike Love said to me one day, he said, explain this. He says, I don't know, I haven't a clue. I said, exactly.
The vocals the Beach Boys recorded for the smile sessions are the most beautiful and glorious vocals anyone could ever have done. But it was not done with joy. It was done with what the heck is this? And so Brian, who is extremely sensitive, begins to feel that this project isn't going well. He told me, he says, I figured I needed a year to finish it and no one would give me a year.
Meaning the record company, the Beach Boys are putting out four albums a year, three albums in a year. All of a sudden, the next album is going to be. A year later, the record company didn't deal with that. They dealt with sales quotas and they had made it clear to him that they were going to do whatever they needed to do to make their sales quotas.
So Brian is an artist in an industry that doesn't yet recognize that pop groups are artists. America was changing the sequence of every single Beatles album up until Sgt. Pepper. And Brian finds himself making what come to be called art rock. And is art rock going to sell?
Brian doesn't know, but having sold so many millions of records, Brian had earned the right to do this experiment. And the people who were in his inner circle were going along with this experiment, with the exception of people who were in his business circle, if you will. The record company, his father, and the group itself. He's being torn to pieces. Does that trigger self-medicating drug use?
Today we would probably say that at the time Brian was probably using drugs as an escape from what he was encountering.
So, Brian decides to shelf smile. Nobody else decided to shelf smile. He felt he needed to shelve it to save the Beach Boys. Which is a fascinating thing. He wasn't capable of saying, you're either gonna do this and give me all the time I need.
Or I'm done with the group. He wasn't capable of that kind of, you know, he didn't have that kind of personal strength, which I think goes back to the beatings he received as a child, emotional, physical, and verbal. He would go, get in there and kick button, get in there, write number one song, show me how good you are. You know, like that. I'd say, all right, dad, all right.
And I'd go, and I would do it. No, no, listen, syncopate a little. What are the words? Sing it, sing it. Since you put me down, I've been out doing in my head.
Show him how to do it just once, Dad. Let me sing it. Sing it, sing it. Since you put me down. No.
Since you put me down, booty doopa dee da.
Now, that doesn't mean he's going to stop making incredible music because shortly after he does that, because he's looking for cooperation, he's looking for 100% support, he starts recording with this new group he names Redwood, who have a different style than the Beach Boys, but he has ideas of what to do with them. And he takes them into the studio and he records two songs: one called Darlin and one called Time. Time to get alone. But what happens is this: the Beach Boys. up at the studio.
And as Chuck Negron described in his biography, because these three guys, after this episode ends, they leave Brian's Brother Records and they go on to become Three Dog Night, the most successful pop vocal group of the next six years.
So Brian's instinct was right. This was going to be the sound that was going to make hit records.
However, the Beach Boys corner him in the studio, as Chuck describes, like he's a little child. He's dodging them and trying to get away. And essentially what they do is they say, If you're going to work, you're going to work with us where you're going to work with nobody. He kind of does both. He does some work with the Beach Boys.
Eventually, that work drops off, and it goes from full-time to part-time to no time. He begins this terribly difficult and sad journey for the next few decades, in which a psychologist is engaged to essentially force Brian to work with the group. Then he's hospitalized. When he's let out of the hospital, he ballooned up to well over 320 pounds. They rehire this psychologist to save his life.
And I believe this man did save his life, but he also was most interested in exploiting Brian. They became business partners. He decided he was going to be Brian's lyricist. And so there's this terrible circumstance that Brian describes as being nine years in prison.
So there's a couple things that happen. It all centers on SMILE. Because tapes of the original smile sessions start to leak out. There's bootlegs, and people are making their own versions of SMILE, DIY SMILE. And Independent hip young artists are listening to this music and going, What the heck is this?
This is not the Beach Boys. This is not I Get Around and Help Miranda. This is something that's really out there and they love it. And most prominent among the indie groups that love this music. is a group called the Wonderments.
By name Darian Sahanaja. It seems like it's almost inevitable and fated to be the way it all plays out. Because When he's in high school, he becomes a Beach Boys fan, and he too becomes obsessed with Smile. And then he meets a guy named Nick Walusco who's obsessed with Smile. And they form a band with another guy obsessed with Smile, and they start ganging around LA.
And in 1994, they play a concert. It's a tribute concert to Brian, but Brian shows up and plays a few songs. But when Brian's backstage, he hears. the Wondermans on stage performing. He's like, who the heck are these guys?
The Wondermans become his backing band. And suddenly, Brian is surrounded by the unconditional love of a new generation of musicians.
Some people. They're very territorial about what phase of Brian Wilson is the best in. There are all that. I think I share with them the love of Brian Wilson, the complete artist, like from surfing to our car club. I mean, all that stuff is relevant.
I mean, Pet Sounds is great, yeah, unto itself, but to me, they're even great. That music, that's what makes it great. Or I'm bugged at my old man, you know. in the parking lot. And you've been listening to David Leaf tell the story of Brian Wilson.
And particularly The Smile session, one of the most famous sessions, if not the most famous session. Wilson's life and career. The record labels of the day just couldn't wrap their heads around folks who sold lots of records also being artists. This wasn't just a commodity selling records, it was an artistic pursuit. When we come back, The rest of the story of the smile sessions and Brian Wilson's story here on Our American Stories.
There's nothing like sinking into luxury. At washablesofas.com, you'll find the Anibay sofa, which combines ultimate comfort and design at an affordable price. And get this, it's the only sofa that's fully machine washable from top to bottom, starting at only $699. The stain-resistant performance fabric slip covers and cloud-like frame duvet can go straight into your wash. Perfect for anyone with kids, pets, or anyone who loves an easy-to-clean, spotless sofa.
With a modular design and changeable slip covers, you can customize your sofa to fit any space and style. Whether you need a single chair, love seat, or a luxuriously large sectional, Anibay has you covered. Visit washablesofas.com to upgrade your home. Right now, you can shop up to 60% off store-wide with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Shop now at washablesofas.com.
Add a little. to your life. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. You know, one of the most important things when studying scripture is making sure we truly understand what we're reading. That's why we love the New Living Translation.
It's great for personal study, teaching, and even reading aloud because the NLT was crafted with both accuracy and readability in mind. Whether you're walking through a tough passage or just reading devotionally, the NLT helps scripture come alive.
So, if you're looking for a Bible translation that's accurate, understandable, and audibly enjoyable, check out the NLT at newlivingtranslation.com. If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get hangry. That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post. I'm Christina Quinn.
I host Try This. Dig in with me on practical advice for life's common challenges. Follow Try This right now wherever you're listening. Seriously, try it. You heard it before many times.
Water is life. But do you know that almost half of the homes on the Navajo Reservation do not have clean running water? With your support, St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School is ready to give water to Navajo families.
So we invite you to help provide this precious gift of life to those in need. Contrary to many average Americans, Navajo families survive on just 10 gallons of water per day. You can help support St. Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to stbonaventuremission.org. Homes.com is the only place where you can find specialized neighborhood guides with the in-depth insider info home shoppers want.
Very in-depth info. Want to know if there's homes for sale in the area? We've got it. How long has a home been on the market? We'll know it.
Average lot size? Uh-huh. Proximity to local parks? Of course. Insight into your neighbor's divorce?
We're working on it. Homes.com. We've done your homework. And we return to our American stories and the story of the rise, fall, and redemption of Brian Wilson. Let's continue with the story.
There are a bunch of steps that lead to smile actually happening in 2004.
Okay. At the end of 2000, we're at Scott Bennett's house, one of the band members who was having a Christmas party, and Brian's sitting on the piano bench with his back to the piano with my late wife, Eva.
So this amazing thing happens. He says to Eva, what do you want for Christmas? And she says for you to play heroes and villains. And he goes, okay, and he turns around and plays heroes and villains.
Now, as everybody in Brian's band will tell you. You couldn't talk to Brian about smile music. He would say, it reminds me of a bad time in my life. I don't want to talk about it. It's inappropriate music.
And all of a sudden, they are, as the British would say, gobsmacked as Brian is playing heroes and villains right in front of them. Anyway, he now sees that the world's not going to come to an end if he performs it, if he plays it. If it's out in the world, he no longer has to fear it.
Well what's next? Glenn Max, who runs the Royal Festival Hall, says, Well, the only way to follow pet sounds is with Smile. And he's talking with guys in the band, he's talking with Brian's wife. Brian's wife Melinda. Says to Brian, you know, the fans on the, there was a page, a fan page, where fans were running: hey, Brian, what are you gonna do?
Smile? And Melinda says, You know, Brian, the fans are really wanting to hear Smile. And Brian thinks about it and. And he agrees and announces in May of 2003 that he is going to go to England and perform Brian Wilson Presents Smile. And we are all just stunned by this.
And for the next few months Brian wants nothing to do with Smile. He doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't want to think about it. He is just terrified of it. How do I do this?
And fortunately, there's a guy in his band, the aforementioned Darien Sahanaja. is tasked With the notion of how do we play this music live in sequence in a way that makes sense. I remember when the announcement came down that we were gonna do Smile, I didn't wanna do it. It was like, are you kidding me? We're gonna completely, you know, shatter the mystique.
Yeah, the mystique of it all, you know, like a holy grail of sorts. Don't touch it. By the end of 2003, they've done that. January 2004, rehearsals start. Rehearsals Are so traumatizing to Brian that on the second day of rehearsal, In the middle of rehearsal, he stands up and he says, I gotta go.
He goes downstairs, gets in his car, and drives himself to the emergency room at St. John's Hospital. in the Santa Monica. That's how scared he is of what's happening. But given the choice of whether to continue or to say, you know what, I'm not going to do it, he says, No, I have to do this.
And this is really the hero's journey we're talking about. This is a guy who, for 37 years, has not done this music live. Or finished it in the studio, or in every interview he's ever done when he's asked about it, wanted to talk about it. He's now going to present it to the world. And with the unconditional love of his Friends, the band, everybody around him, they finally put it together.
And sure enough, on February 20th, 2004, he confidently walks up the steps of the Royal Festival Hall. He bows right, he bows left, he sits down at his keyboard. and they play Brian Wilson present Smile. How I love my water. Heroes in a bird and standard water.
Heroes in a villain's tin titty water. Heroes in a villain's lip, did it water. Heroes in a villain's tennis water did it water. Up until the moment he walked up the steps, everybody wondered if he was actually going to do it. We didn't know what was going to happen.
So everybody was was scared. I was about two inches away from not going to that stage. I I was really, you know, I I I I went on stage, but I really didn't want to. I really didn't. I was afraid I was gonna get nervous and blow it, you know?
Up, excuse me, and mess up. And I was almost ready to vomit. I throw up. I was so scared. I made it.
The town's so on the back of the city I've been taken for Lost and dumped and unknown for a long, long time. Fell in love years ago with an innocent girl from the Spanish and Indian home, our baby Ross. Brian, however, Even though he was fearful, He knew how great the music was. and he had the courage to face the audience and face the world. And when he started performing it, when we first got, after he hit our first note, I relaxed.
And then I got a 10-minute standing ovation, which made it all workload. It it was instantaneous almost. You can see his nervousness. But when it's finished It's as if the demons have flown out of his body. How did Playing Smile Live chase the demons away.
It helped to chase them away because it was such a powerful piece of music that I think I had auditory hallucinations for like years and years. And it's gone down to a minimum now. The auditory hallucinations were very proud of it, and I think it really got to him, psyched him out. And as he says, this was the most cathartic experience of my life. What more can one ask for?
This represents an accomplishment of mine that I hadn't ever done in my life before. We actually did this!
Now, is there anything negative associated with Smile anymore? Only the memory of the bad drugs we took when we were making it. That's the only bad memory. I think it's the ultimate redemption story in history, if you will. There's a great quote from the pop music writer Randy Lewis.
I realized that Mozart was born, wrote all of his music, and died in less time than it took for Brian to finish Smile.
So we have a piece of music that has been on the shelf, if you will, for decades. And all that time, Brian just can't deal with it.
Now, what makes it redemptive? This man, who was scared of everything because of the fear instilled in him by his father, overcame all of his fears of what the music might do, whether the audiences would like it, whether it was appropriate or inappropriate music to release into the world. He overcame all of these fears, whether, you know, he was 62 years old. Could he do this at 62?
Something he couldn't finish at 24.
So we're talking about this incredible expanse of time, as his dear friend David Anderley said, the longest gestation period in history.
So he's able to overcome all of this fear and courageously. Walk up the steps and present this music to the world. The world embraces it. They love it. It's the biggest selling album, not just of his solo career, but the biggest selling album of his life since Pet Sounds.
It gets him his first Grammy Award. And more importantly than any of this, this is the story of triumph of the human spirit. Because what happens is what we all dreamed of was: gee, if Brian ever finished Smile, it would free him to embrace his musical ambitions again. And sure enough, a few years later after Smile, he wrote a new rock opera called That Lucky Old Son. And to an audience who had never heard a note of it, he premiered it in London to standing ovations.
Now, what kind of courage does it take to do that?
Well, it takes the kind of courage that a hero can only have when they've gone on this journey. He even finished, now, how much nerve does this take? He finished two unfinished Gershwin songs. That the Gershwin estate gave him.
So SMILE redeems him in every way. When he returns to LA from the first SMILE tour, he calls me. He says, David, you have to come over tomorrow. We have to do an interview.
Now, I don't think there was ever a point in Brian Wilson's life where he said, I want to do an interview. What do you want to talk about? He says, David, you're not going to believe this. This SMILE tour got better and better and better every single night. And for the first time in my career, I want to go back on the road right away.
And I can't believe what I'm hearing. I said, Brian, this is wonderful. What got better? He says, the playing got better. The audiences got better.
Everything about SMILE got better. I said, when you go back on tour, are you going to change it? He says, no, I'm not going to change a note. It's perfect as it is. He says, in fact, we're going to go into the studio and record it.
And I said, Brian, on a scale of one to 10, how would you compare? Pet sounds to smile. He says, well, on a scale of one to ten, I would give pet sounds a four and smile a ten.
Now I'm in disbelief. One of the greatest albums of all times, he's saying smile is more than twice as good as that. I said, well, what's better? And he looks at me like I'm asking the stupidest question imaginable. He says, everything, David.
The music's better, the songs are better, the playing's better, the singing's better, everything about it is better. This is a different guy. His performing smile to audience that embraced it, that audiences that loved it, changed him. And he entered what was the happiest period of his adult life. The redemption story of Brian Wilson here on Our American Stories.
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