28 years ago I received a phone call from a good friend of mine who told me that Brian Wilson had drowned. I, of course, was shocked. Brian had been abusing himself lately and a call saying that he had died by misadventure would not have surprised me. Besides, Brian wasn't really a big fan of the ocean, which was ironic due to the many songs he wrote about the water.
In the pre-internet era, all you had were newspapers, newsradio, network news, and the infant CNN. I had to wait about 15 minutes to find out that my friend had gotten the Beach Boy wrong, but the other details were horrifyingly accurate.
Dennis was a great guy who had an incredible generosity of spirit, a guy who would literally give you the shirt off of his back. Dennis problem was he had no limits to his enthusiasms, whether it was music, women, cars, drugs or alcohol. He died in the water, a place that he loved to be. I got to meet him one time, and when I displayed a knowledge of some of the deeper corners of Dennis songwriting catalog, he cut me out of the group I was in and talked to me for a good ten minutes one on one. He really made you feel like he cared about you. His brother Carl had the same knack.
Dennis was the second best songwriter in the Beach Boys and for a while, as the sun rose on his talent, and set on Brian's it looked like the Beach Boys were going to ride his talent to a second great wave of popularity, based on mature, adult balladry and blue-eyed soulful rock n roll instead of cresting on the oldie Endless Summer Wave.
But, it wasn't to be. Dennis epitomized the spirit of Neil Young's "Rust Never Sleeps" burning out instead of fading away. And the world of music was poorer for his loss. The Beach Boys may reunited but without Dennis and baby brother Carl, it won't be the same.
Farewell my Friend!
Please enjoy 7 Dennis Wilson highlights!
No comments:
Post a Comment