Busy Doin' Nothin'

[Jason Penick]

courtesy of Judd *and Bubbly Waves

 

[RangeRoverA1]

Actually, I have nice thing to say about the song - I like the lyrics. Giving directions to house in Bel Air was really creative for the time, jolly good. but most of all, I care about the flexibility, the way words sound it's very catchy & fit the rhythm. There was a thread talking about how Brian is the worst lyricist or some such. I beg to differ.

Ha! 1st time I take lyrics over the melody.<< is this what you call 20/20 hindsight?

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

My favorite song on that album. Maybe my favorite post Pet Sounds 60s beach boy song. I agree its a fascinating look at Brian's "scrambled" thought process at the time, as well as his sincerity about it. It's not trying to be a "pocket symphony" like a lot of the songs of the previous two years, but it is.

I think Friends and Wild Honey are somewhat flawed albums, but the highlights from each are great. I think if you combined them somehow, and had the Boys finished Cant Wait Too Long, you'd have a really perfect follow up to Pet Sounds, but done in the more laid back "back to basics" style that was popular in '68. If anyone follows me on this  

[The Shift]

… I agree its a fascinating look at Brian's "scrambled" thought process at the time …

Hmm… I don't count it a scrambled thinking, just how a rich laid-back innocent young guy might behave if he had time on his hands and nothin on his plate… like "I'd Love Just Once to See You".

It's why I keep buying Lotto tickets

[Aomdiddlywalla]

The way Brian holds the note in the bv's ...awesome
Marilyn is great on it too.

[Yorick]

Steve Hoffman has this to say about the song:

"Geez, that song drives me nuts. Typical writer's block nonsense, IMO..

I talked to Brian Wilson over lunch at Jerry's Deli once about that song (he brought it up). He said it was "typical writer's block" nonsense as well!

We talked about Jack Kerouac and about how he couldn't write any more when he stopped doing neat stuff and became famous. Brian could relate.

Don't tell Brian you think this song is one of his greatest achievements, I think he would be appalled.

I like the music and stuff though. It's very catchy.

Sometimes, as Sigie Freud said, a Banana is just a Banana...

Brian needed a song for the album and he was having a very hard time trying to write anything. So, he wrote about what he did that day: Got up, peed, ate some Cocoa Puffs, etc.

It worked but the "higher meaning" is just a Banana.

Funny, it's one of the few songs from that album besides the title track that I play on a regular basis.

I personally think the lyrics work better as a straight poem. Very "beat". Imagine if Lawrence Ferlinghetti was reciting.."

 

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

Steve Hoffman has this to say about the song:

"Geez, that song drives me nuts. Typical writer's block nonsense, IMO..

I talked to Brian Wilson over lunch at Jerry's Deli once about that song (he brought it up). He said it was "typical writer's block" nonsense as well!

We talked about Jack Kerouac and about how he couldn't write any more when he stopped doing neat stuff and became famous. Brian could relate.

Don't tell Brian you think this song is one of his greatest achievements, I think he would be appalled.

I like the music and stuff though. It's very catchy.

Sometimes, as Sigie Freud said, a Banana is just a Banana...

Brian needed a song for the album and he was having a very hard time trying to write anything. So, he wrote about what he did that day: Got up, peed, ate some Cocoa Puffs, etc.

It worked but the "higher meaning" is just a Banana.

Funny, it's one of the few songs from that album besides the title track that I play on a regular basis.

I personally think the lyrics work better as a straight poem. Very "beat". Imagine if Lawrence Ferlinghetti was reciting.."

 

But that's what's so cool about it! It's not trying to make some grand sweeping statement on life or just another song about some girl. Its unique and honest. Perhaps an understated expression of loneliness and apathy. It may not be his most ambitious song, but it definitely works in its own way. Certainly better than something like Revolution 9 that's trying WAY too hard to be edgy and deep.

It's kinda like Love You. Not trying to be this amazing piece of art or super commercial blockbuster. Just Brian making the music he wanted to. 

[The Shift]

Steve Hoffman has this to say about the song:

"Geez, that song drives me nuts. Typical writer's block nonsense, IMO..

I talked to Brian Wilson over lunch at Jerry's Deli once about that song (he brought it up). He said it was "typical writer's block" nonsense as well!

We talked about Jack Kerouac and about how he couldn't write any more when he stopped doing neat stuff and became famous. Brian could relate.

Don't tell Brian you think this song is one of his greatest achievements, I think he would be appalled.

I like the music and stuff though. It's very catchy.

Sometimes, as Sigie Freud said, a Banana is just a Banana...

Brian needed a song for the album and he was having a very hard time trying to write anything. So, he wrote about what he did that day: Got up, peed, ate some Cocoa Puffs, etc.

It worked but the "higher meaning" is just a Banana.

Funny, it's one of the few songs from that album besides the title track that I play on a regular basis.

I personally think the lyrics work better as a straight poem. Very "beat". Imagine if Lawrence Ferlinghetti was reciting.."

 

But that's what's so cool about it! It's not trying to make some grand sweeping statement on life or just another song about some girl. Its unique and honest. Perhaps an understated expression of loneliness and apathy. It may not be his most ambitious song, but it definitely works in its own way. Certainly better than something like Revolution 9 that's trying WAY too hard to be edgy and deep.

It's kinda like Love You. Not trying to be this amazing piece of art or super commercial blockbuster. Just Brian making the music he wanted to. 

Absolutely agree. It's Brian's own voice, with no real outside assistance. Its beauty is in its simplicity, its innocence, the unwitting understatement. If this is the "idiot savant" that Lorren Daro discussed in his thread recently, then give me more. It might not be "high art" but in its own way it transcends that to be all the more precious. An exquisity!

[beatnickle]

Plenty of artists are dismissive of some of their best work. They CANNOT be objective. It has nothing to do at times
with the quality of the piece. Kurt Cobain hated Smells like teen Spirit. Tchaikovsky was dismissive of The Nutcracker Suite.
Degas was hardly ever satisfied with anything and I won't even start with how critical Lennon was with some of his best work so I don't care that Brian Wilson felt so ho hum about Busy Doin' Nothing.  The majority rules that it's a very fine song. 

[Yorick]

I think Busy Doin' Nothin' is a classic. The music is very intelligent and moving and a rare Bossa Nova excursion for Brian and the lyrics are a work of innocent genius. There's no songs like it, it's one of a kind.

[Gerry]

To me BDN is really classic Brian Wilson thinking; he takes something that might be mundane and boring or inconsequential to most people and turns it into something beautiful and interesting. Part of his genius is looking at the world in a very unique way and exclusive way. I Went to Sleep and At My Window also come to mind pretty quickly .

[Andrew G. Doe]

Um... I think "AMW" is largely Alan's work, based (loosely) on "Raspberries, Strawberries".

[Debbie Keil-Leavitt]

I don't have a deep appreciation for it in a strictly musical sense.  It's good, but I don't see it as a masterpiece.

With that said, though, the best thing about the song has always been to me that he gives you directions to his house.  That alone makes it a "Brianism".  It's one of those things you can list that makes Brian such a special person.  The conversation goes like this:

"Yeah, Brian was amazing.  He did so many crazy things... nobody else was quite like this guy.  Here, lemme give you a few examples:

1. He wrote a song called "A Day in the Life of a Tree", about being a Tree.
2. He called everybody out to the airport in the middle of the night one time, to take pictures of them for a photo shoot.  All the pictures show a bunch of sleepy people standing at the airport looking slightly annoyed.
3. He once answered a question about whether or not he still had sex, by saying "Twice a day; every day"

...

..


486. He wrote a song once called "Busy Doin' Nothing" where the hook is him explaining all the turns you have to make to get to his house"

Sort of - if you followed those directions to his house, you'd never get there. Trust me...no bumpy road - it was Bel-Air.  Even if he meant the BH home, it didn't fit that description other than a few left turns (both places), depending on where you were coming from.  He didn't need thousands of people at his house.  He's not an idiot.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Someone once told me there's a bit in the middle missing.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Like, part of the song? That would be the second song on the album like that (see: Meant for You).

BDN is one of my favorite songs. If Brian is indeed dismissive of it because it was 'tossed off' , it just backs up my opinion that his allegedly 'tossed off' songs are the indicators of his true genius even more than Pet Sounds and Smile were. They were brilliant, and had lots of hard work put into it. Brian gets up, smokes a joint or five, and writes a song in between commercial breaks while watching Bewitched, and writes a better song than most of his contemporaries. To me, the latter is more impressive. It's one of the reasons why I'm glad Brian is writing more lyrics than at any point save 1976-1977. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

Like, part of the song? That would be the second song on the album like that (see: Meant for You).

BDN is one of my favorite songs. If Brian is indeed dismissive of it because it was 'tossed off' , it just backs up my opinion that his allegedly 'tossed off' songs are the indicators of his true genius even more than Pet Sounds and Smile were. They were brilliant, and had lots of hard work put into it. Brian gets up, smokes a joint or five, and writes a song in between commercial breaks while watching Bewitched, and writes a better song than most of his contemporaries. To me, the latter is more impressive. It's one of the reasons why I'm glad Brian is writing more lyrics than at any point save 1976-1977. 

No, my bad - part of the directions.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Ahhh...

A song like this could never be made today, post Google Earth

[elnombre]

Just for a bit of idle trivia, the Scottish surrealist poet Ivor Cutler once printed directions to his home on one of his old album jackets. I believe a few people went around and he made them tea, IIRC.

[Lee Marshall]

Not really a bad song on Friends save one.  Too jarring and out of place.  No need to mention which one.  It's obvious.

I always loved Busy Doin' Nothin'  ... from the first listen right up 'til now.  Great album.  At THAT time...after Pet Sounds...it was my runaway favourite.  I wore out 2 vinyl copies and one on cd.  How?  Easy.  I was busy...doin' nothin'...and doin' 'it' really, REALLY well.  

[metal flake paint]

Not really a bad song on Friends save one.  Too jarring and out of place.  No need to mention which one.  It's obvious.

That's Brian's way of saying "Gotcha!"

"It's good, it's good, it's good, it's good, it's good..."