Brian Wilson 1942-2025

My love lived in Liverpool
Mercy found in Mersey sounds
A former flame, now uncool
What the fuck? Pet Sounds?

I had my fling, the surfing thing
Where emptiness abounds
Then Rubber Soul redemption
Answered with…really? Pet Sounds?

It was like a former lover
Pretending they’re not blue
Oh that album cover
They’re at a fucking zoo!

I did not rush to buy it
It was plain they were done
It’s over, don’t deny it
Enough  Fun Fun Fun

It was a good party, Surfin Safari
And Barbara Ann was really good
But c’mon grow up!  I’m sorry
Where’s your Norwegian Wood?

But I caved eventually
And when the needle dropped
I feel in love insensibly
And I’ve never stopped

Brian Wilson raised the bar
Transcendent would not suffice
The Beats start with  Drive my Car
Brian counters:  Wouldn’t it be Nice

And on it flows, God Only Knows
No one had ever seen this
Where could he go after Caroline, No
The loneliness of genius

Pepper would not rank Sargeant
If not for Brian’s arrangements
Rock rhythms ethereal ardent
inspired balanced derangements
Born of  fathers’ estrangements

(no mistake in that apostrophe
In addition to biologic
A therapist on an odyssey
To be every bit as toxic)

He grew up in the fifties where “cool” was “nifty”
And it’s hard to appreciate how
profound the sound  of I Get Around
Led to the Tao of “Wow!”

Under the hoods and beneath the waves
Was the undeniable desire to dance
Brian got at what really saves:
Sex in the guise of romance

Waves of radio brought within reach
The Leaves of Grass of Whitman
In a field of corn I’m on the beach
Does not get better than this man!

And that made room for In My Room
And I learned all I needed  to know
Summer will soon leave too soon
Oh Caroline, no