Lovely piece about "In My Room" in WSJ

[juggler]

Veteran newspaper columnist (and BB fan) Bob Greene has a nice piece in today's Wall Street Journal
https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-my-room-on-the-riverfront-music-beach-boys-lyrics-new-york-1c4841da

It's behind a paywall but it's about running across a 70-something African-American street musician doing a lovely rendition of "In My Room" near Pier 45 in Manhattan. Partial excerpt...


I was walking along the Hudson River in lower Manhattan when I decided to turn onto Pier 45, a promenade that allows pedestrians to get close to the water. Scores of people were on the pier, savoring a summer Sunday afternoon.

At the far end I heard someone singing lyrics that I have known for 60 years: “There’s a world where I can go, and tell my secrets to . . . ”

It was “In My Room,” the 1963 Beach Boys song in which Brian Wilson’s pure, youthful voice told a haunting story of finding solace behind a closed door.

“In this world I lock out all my worries and my fears . . .”

It wasn’t Mr. Wilson’s voice I was hearing on Pier 45, though. Someone else was singing a live version of the song.

An African-American man, around 70, sat alone at an electric keyboard. He didn’t face in, toward the people walking on the pier, as he sang, but out, toward the river itself.

Mr. Wilson, 81, has been ailing lately. He isn’t touring or performing in public. Those who love his music miss him.

And here was this man on the pier, singing to the water. Singing the words on which Brian’s voice had conferred a kind of immortality. I continued my walk and left the pier, but quickly decided to circle back and talk with the man....
...

[NOLA BB Fan]

“ Please tell him thank you,” Mr Al-Mateen said. “Please tell him thank you for everything.”

Yes, thank you, dear Brian.