The Smiley Smile Message Board

I'll leave it to ya'll to highlight the best parts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/aug/15/brian-wilson-musician

What got you started?

My dad teaching me how to play boogie woogie on the piano when I was 12. I taught myself the rest.

What was your big breakthrough?

When we [the Beach Boys] recorded Surfin' USA. It came out on a Los Angeles label and was a hit straight away.

Does an artist need to suffer to create?

He certainly has to go through a lot of mental changes. It may not be suffering exactly, but it can lead to difficult times.

What's the greatest threat to music?

That it will go out of business. You can't sell many records on a website – like, 5,000, maybe; certainly not as many as you can in a store. But I think the business will keep going somehow.

Do you read your reviews?

No, but my wife does, and she tells me what's in them. If it's a bad review, she says, "What the heck's going on here?" And if it's a good review, she says, "Good boy, good boy."

What advice would you give a young musician?

Don't write half a song. Plough on through and write a whole one.

Is fame important to you?

Yes it is; I'm very proud of it. I earned my famous name.

What one song would work as the soundtrack to your life?

Rhapsody in Blue [by George Gershwin]. My mother played it for me as I was being born.

Which artists do you most admire?

Lately, it's been Paul McCartney, because they play Let It Be a lot on the radio. I know him a little, but I still totally idolise him. And I still love Phil Spector's music.

What are you most proud of?

My music.

Is there an art form you don't relate to?

Movies. There's just never been any I liked; I find them cold, somehow.

Complete this sentence: At heart I'm just a frustrated …

Musician. I haven't written a song in three years; about four years ago, I wrote 18 songs in one month.

Is there anything you regret?

Waiting 35 years to put out the Smile album.

Which work of art would you most like to own?

The Mona Lisa. She's very pretty.

Wait....didn't he just say in the last month or so that he can't listen to "Let It Be"?? After all, Brian IS the most reliable and consistent person in the world in terms of telling you stuff.

Is there an art form you don't relate to?

Movies. There's just never been any I liked; I find them cold, somehow.

WHAT ABOUT NORBIT, BRIAN?

I thought that Brian's problem with movies was that he could relate to them all too well (i.e., he thought that John Frankenheimer's 'Seconds' was a roman à clef about his life).

I imagine Brian was watching Norbit one night , suddenly had a moment of clarity and said "what the f*** am I watching"

Dammit! You beat me to it!

:lol

LMAO :lol

that made my night

Not to get too picky here, but.......



What got you started?

My Dad teaching me how to play boogie woogie on the piano when I was 12. I taught myself the rest.

I thought Audree taught him to play boogie woogie on the piano. Same lady who taught Dave Marks the boogie woogie.


What was your big breakthrough?

When we [the Beach Boys] recorded Surfin' USA. It came out on a Los Angeles label and was a hit straight away.

The song by the BEac Boys that came out on the Los Angeles label(s) (Candix, X) was "Surfin'" and was a local hit.  "Surfin' U.S.A." was released on a national label, Capitol, and became a national hit. Yeah, technically the Capitol headquarters was Hollywood, but which song did he really mean?  Plus, it doesn't seem like Brian would say "straight away". Interviewer putting words in Brian's mouth or putting his own confusing interpretations into this?

I would pay 5 dollars to see Brian read that line "What the heck's going on here??????!!!???"

lol

Exactly. That space is reserved for the F-bomb with Brian. At the very least, he'll say "Hell". "Heck" ain't in his vocabulary. That's what I'm saying - this interview musta been edited.

Brian seems to enjoy using the word "motherfukker".

Of course BW is wrong right and left here ... I don't know, I've gotten to the point where I find it charming.

And then there's stuff like "Rhapsody in Blue [by George Gershwin]. My mother played it for me as I was being born." Is he being funny or just grossly oversimplifying the story he's told a lot before. Or both? Whatever the case, it's ludicrous on its face. And charming.

I've heard him say "heck." Anybody remember when he was interviewed on Fox News? I think it was in 2001. Live at the Roxy Theater was just re-issued on an actual label (as opposed to "Bri-Mel"), and it did have a slightly different track line-up. The interviewer said something like, "So, there are two previously unreleased songs on this. What are they?" And Brian seemed genuinely puzzled...I think he might have been confused because when the album was first released, it included "The First Time" and "This Isn't Love," neither of which was previously released as performed by him; but the real-label reissue of the album also included two new live tracks that were left off the original pressing, so that might have thrown him off. He said something like, "Oh....what the heck are they?!" And he said he wasn't sure...

Definitely edited. No American would say "straight away." We say "right away."

I have noticed that British journalists seem to have different standards from Americans in that they will change the wording on what are supposed to be verbatim quotes from their subjects.  In the US, we expect that a published interview will be as close to what was actually said as possible.  But the Brits seem to feel comfortable altering the words.  This frequently shows up when, just as here, they put British-isms in the mouths of Americans.  One I have seen before is where they have an American interviewee say "I rang off" instead of "I hung up."  No American says "rang off" unless they've spent years living in Britain.

I've noticed that too before. Americans in British interviews supposedly using "brilliant" to mean good (instead of insanely genius, as Americans would use it to mean) and "reckon," which is sort of quaint in the U.S. and not widely used. I always assume the original quote was changed...unless the interview subject is Madonna or Gwyneth Paltrow!

I wrote some articles for a U.K. magazine periodically, and after they'd been edited, it became apparent to me that I must have use the word "whilst" a few times. Who knew?