Quote
MizzAmandaJonez
IN MY ROOM-marks one of the earliest signs of Brian Wilson’s emerging mental health struggles. Its themes of isolation, safety, and emotional retreat reflect the beginning of his inward turn, years before he or anyone fully understood the depth of what was unfolding.
Silly as it may be, cause I've followed Brian forever and known about his struggles, some songs have definitely hit differently in this last week since his passing. I Just Wasn't Made For These Times has always been an obvious one that Brian is just different, but Pet Sounds has a ton of them:
You Still Believe In Me: "I know perfectly well I'm not where I should be.
I've been very aware you've been patient with me"
That's Not Me: "My folks when I wrote them told 'em what I was up to
Said that's not me. I went through all kinds of changes, took a look at myself
And said that's not me."
I Know There's An Answer has some interesting lines. She Knows Me Too Well from Today with the lines: "Sometimes I have a weird way of showing my love And I always expect her to know what I'm thinking of. I treat her so mean, I don't deserve what I have And I think that she'll forget just by making her laugh."
In The Back Of My Mind: "I tried to run far way from thoughts I should try to keep away but they just keep coming back to me. I tried to rationalize but some day I might realize that things are just gonna be the way they'll be."
Obviously you could analyze things to death, and wrong, the way one does with a Syd Barrett or whoever, but hard not to see very clear signs of struggling, amid such happy and positive pop music. Brian has always just been a different guy. His brain thinks differently, and either his escape was writing this happy surf music or masking the more intense lyrics with brilliant pop melodies. He's hardly the only one to do that, though he must have been a pretty early one that was writing and producing and singing his own songs about it? Its sad he never really got the proper care when he was younger, but it was such a different time. Its amazing he got "better" when he did, and we got to have him for so long. Could have easily gone the wrong way, and even though he was kinda robotic and comatose and childlike for a lot of the remainder of his life, there were moments where he could express things. After everything that happened, it seemed he got to the best possible place his mind would allow. He always had that genius and sound for melody. Great late example of how he added his very specific touch to a late era Neil Diamond song. The Brian Wilson version is totally different, and not just him adding vocals. He clearly had a hand in the whole production:
Neil Diamond w/o Brian: [
www.youtube.com]
Neil with Brian: [
www.youtube.com]