LISTEN TO THE LAST SONG, ON THE ISLAND, & I'M FEELING SAD!! BBC RADIO

[baseball95]

Last Song is fantastic but it's nowhere near as breathtaking as Summer's Gone bottom line for me.

[Debbie Keil-Leavitt]

Make sure to have some fine wine to enjoy such an event!

I'm going for champagne on the first listen.  If I keep drinking fine wine during subsequent listening, I could become the local drunk, so I'll try to show some restraint!

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

Make sure to have some fine wine to enjoy such an event!

Well stocked with red and ready to pour! 

[bonnevillemariner]

I find both these songs pretty meh. 

[rab2591]

[Shady]

The last song is as magnificent as expect, truly blown away.

"On the island" is fantastic, I'll be playing that a lot over summer.

[Mendota Heights]

The last song is as magnificent as expect, truly blown away.

"On the island" is fantastic, I'll be playing that a lot over summer.

With a drink in your hand.

[JohnMill]

Indeed, AGD. It's easily read as a song about a troubled romantic relationship. I do think, though, in this case the multiple readings make it stronger. Who really wants an explicit account of backstage contention?

There is another possible interpretation that the listener could draw as well.  It could easily be a song about the process of grieving, of losing someone.  You always hear people say when someone close to them passes, that "if only I could speak to that person one last time, what would I say to them...what would they say to me".  There is certainly elements of that in "The Last Song".

[mikeddonn]

Did anyone hear the similarity between the end of Last Song and Slow Summer Dancing form Summer in Paradise!  It could easily have morphed not that piano part that plays after Al sings his last line of the One Summer Night par of the song.

Last Song is good, touching, and a great vocal from Brian. I wasn't to keen n the LaLa vocals. 

I'm also not the biggest fan of Summer's Gone.  I like it but as a last Beach Boys song I prefered Pacific Coast Highway. Majestic, unbelievable.  Just wish it had been longer!

[SIP Mike]

This song is the perfect response the Pisces Brothers, it is very obvious Brian took the idea of writing a song that is happy that it happened, but sad that it is over from somewhere in paradise.

[SMiLE Brian]

You are out of your mind SIP Mike, Pisces brothers is crap!

[SIP Mike]

You are out of your mind SIP Mike, Pisces brothers is crap!

You like the goods, but not the source. Typical. I am beset by you 

[SMiLE Brian]

Go be a groupie in club Kokomo or something!

[Debbie Keil-Leavitt]

You are out of your mind SIP Mike, Pisces brothers is crap!

You like the goods, but not the source. Typical. I am beset by you 

It never crossed my mind that your original post was serious, so I have no response...I can't even imagine one.

[Wirestone]

Who would have thought that this astonishing piece of art would have been more controversial here than Runaway Dancer?

Go figure.

For the record, as meaningful as Summer's Gone is, I've always liked it more as a concept than a reality, Brian's exquisite vocals notwithstanding. A tad too Caroline, No pastiche-y for my tastes.

For whatever reason, the melody and execution of The Last Song really speak to me. It is overwrought and big hearted, but it's also reticent and tender. It's mixed so peculiarly that I can only imagine BW was behind it. It falls short of its potential while surpassing it at the same time. It's a miraculous, confounding, touching, gauche, nearly perfect yet also flawed.

In one song, basically, you have the experience of Brian's entire solo career. For that matter, his band's career too. However well you put things, however well you express yourself, it pales in comparison to wordless harmonies.

[ontor pertawst]

I'd really love to see this performed on the tour, it would sound amazing after the two suite tracks... Pacific Coast Highway/Summer's Gone/The Last Song. Then come back for a punchy encore as everyone pretends they have something in their eye.

Al and Ike and a wall of lah lah lahs!

[SMiLE Brian]

I would sh*t my pants if that happened at a BW show!

[Lowbacca]

What a closing track... what a song!

[Peter Reum]

The Last Song is a tender and open goodbye to his first cousin. It is intimate, loving , but clearly says "we are related, nothing will ever change that, bit I can't open myself artistically to you again like 2012."

[Ray Lawlor]

Indeed, AGD. It's easily read as a song about a troubled romantic relationship. I do think, though, in this case the multiple readings make it stronger. Who really wants an explicit account of backstage contention?

There is another possible interpretation that the listener could draw as well.  It could easily be a song about the process of grieving, of losing someone.  You always hear people say when someone close to them passes, that "if only I could speak to that person one last time, what would I say to them...what would they say to me".  There is certainly elements of that in "The Last Song".

Actually the song is about The Beach Boys, especially his late brothers Dennis and Carl

[Mendota Heights]

This song is beautiful. A worthy album closer.

I would put it in the same category as The Faith by Leonard Cohen.

[Lowbacca]

Indeed, AGD. It's easily read as a song about a troubled romantic relationship. I do think, though, in this case the multiple readings make it stronger. Who really wants an explicit account of backstage contention?

There is another possible interpretation that the listener could draw as well.  It could easily be a song about the process of grieving, of losing someone.  You always hear people say when someone close to them passes, that "if only I could speak to that person one last time, what would I say to them...what would they say to me".  There is certainly elements of that in "The Last Song".

Actually the song is about The Beach Boys, especially his late brothers Dennis and Carl

I thought that was rather obvious from the first time listening to it..

[phirnis]

Last Song - sure a nice composition but like others I think the production choices are way over the top. A nice sentiment from Brian, I like the lyrics.

On the Island - nothing spectacular but it's nice enough. Probably closer to Jimmy Buffett than to Busy Doin' Nothin'. It's a pretty short song which I think is good.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Indeed, AGD. It's easily read as a song about a troubled romantic relationship. I do think, though, in this case the multiple readings make it stronger. Who really wants an explicit account of backstage contention?

There is another possible interpretation that the listener could draw as well.  It could easily be a song about the process of grieving, of losing someone.  You always hear people say when someone close to them passes, that "if only I could speak to that person one last time, what would I say to them...what would they say to me".  There is certainly elements of that in "The Last Song".

Actually the song is about The Beach Boys, especially his late brothers Dennis and Carl

Interesting - that makes a lot more sense than it being specifically about the aftermath of the C50 tour... which is what we've been led to believe.

"Brian Wilson says he turned to a series of guest collaborators, many of them young female pop stars, to help jump start his muse after the Beach Boys‘ 2012 reunion tour came to an abrupt halt. In fact, Lana Del Rey ended up singing a song that deals directly with the issue, called ‘Last Song.’" (ultimateclassicrock.com)

"As for Lana? She worked with Brian on a track called “Last Song,” which will serve as the album’s centerpiece. There’s a version with Wilson on lead vocals, and an alternate one with Del Rey as the primary vocalist. Wilson wrote the song about his sadness over the Beach Boys’ breakup." (mtv.com)

"Now, according to those close to him, his Lana Del Rey collaboration will be the song to remember, as it recounts Wilson’s sadness about the Beach Boys‘ dissolution.

“The song recounts his sadness about the Beach Boys' dissolution. "It started out being about lost love," says co-producer Joe Thomas. "But after the tour fell apart it became more about a missed opportunity for Brian and the guys to ride into the sunset together."(rollingstone.com)

[RiC]

Last Song: What a beautiful song. Who else wants an album full of songs in style with the Life-suite and this?

On the Island: Like I predicted, nice little song- nothing special.