assuming a 20-year-old bw in 2014 would have similar musical tastes if not necessarily background, i imagine him along the lines of the daniel johnston-jason lytle-dent may types already mentioned. he'd probably have already amassed a lot of home recordings, like a lot of introverted, musically-minded millennial kids, and with his brothers he could easily found a successful indie band. but i have trouble imagining him with more than moderately-successful-indie-band popularity; he'd be too involved in creating his own small universe to care.
the smiley version of "wind chimes" is definitely the most disturbing, but "wonderful" somehow seems to come from somewhere even darker. the incongruity of the interlude is part of it, but the background voices (children?) in the verses, carl's whispering vocals, and even the faint out-of-tune melodica-like thing really creep me out.
there's also something indescribably "off" about "i went to sleep." i guess that's part of why i like bw's 1967-1969 songwriting so much - even the most seemingly straightforward stuff he wrote from that period is subtly dark.
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