The Smiley Smile Message Board

 :lol this is typical Brian,,,,, so funny,,,, "Row row row your boat."



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brian-wilson-row-row-row-your-boat_us_575e93c7e4b0ced23ca87e84

While not inflammatory in any way and a charming story, this is still sort of "click bait" stuff when the article is titled "The Strangest Thing Brian Wilson Has Ever Done." It's a little quirky thing that Brian has been doing on and off since 2000 (ironically, I saw him do this both last year and 16 years ago in 2000 during the first PS tour).

If my memory serves me right he had the two halves of the audience singing it as a canon when he did it at Kenwood House in 2008.

I've seen Brian do the row row row your boat thing a few times, but I must say, in the past it was definitely a funny bit but seemed entirely planned out. in Brooklyn yesterday, between God Only Knows and I Know there's an Answer, it felt totally bizarre and spontaneous. Of course, that doesn't mean it wasn't planned, but it definitely had a different,much weirder, vibe at this show, at least to me! My take on the show in general was that Brian was in very poor voice compared to usual, but very high spirits.

Everytime I have seen Brian do Row your Boat, it cracks me up, but I taught 4 and 5 year olds for a long time.  :lol

Hope Brian is not deterred by this knucklehead and keeps it in the show!  ;)

That's not remotely close to the strangest thing Brian has ever done.

Does anyone know why Brian does Row Your Boat at his concerts? Is it always planned? It seems weird to do it in the middle of his pet sounds rendition portion of the show.

I feel like he does it to either break whatever tension people might be feeling, or to just purposely be funny and quirky.

Learning to sing "in a round" is one of the first things kids learned in school.  If I had to guess, Brian learned to sing "in the round," like Row, Row, Row your boat or Frere Jaques, as was taught universally.  Most of the adults in the audience "get it" and sing right along.  I find it fun.  I guess in a way it was a prototype by which he taught each Beach Boy his part. You had to keep singing your own part and not drift into the next person's part.   

I'm guessing Row your Boat is played because during the time of Pet Sounds Brian had the Honeys sing it just like the way in his concerts.

I've seen Brian do that a many times in the past as well Fun stuff!

Didn't mean to imply that I didn't love it! Just that it was weird :) The two go together quite nicely in Beach Boys land.