LISTEN TO THE LAST SONG, ON THE ISLAND, & I'M FEELING SAD!! BBC RADIO

[GhostyTMRS]

Sorry, I just can't see Last Song being about the C50 tour break up…unless you believe Brian is apologizing for the whole thing and wants to hold Mike in his arms. I find that very difficult to believe. When you listen to the entire album, the theme that keeps popping up is mortality, and Brian wishing he had more time to be with his loved ones. Maybe I'm reading into it too, and I know that he had lyricists helping him but much of the record seems to be about his love for Melinda...which is as it should be IMO

[guitarfool2002]

Sorry, I just can't see Last Song being about the C50 tour break up…unless you believe Brian is apologizing for the whole thing and wants to hold Mike in his arms. I find that very difficult to believe. When you listen to the entire album, the theme that keeps popping up is mortality, and Brian wishing he had more time to be with his loved ones. Maybe I'm reading into it too, and I know that he had lyricists helping him but much of the record seems to be about his love for Melinda...which is as it should be IMO

“The song recounts his sadness about the Beach Boys' dissolution. "It started out being about lost love," says co-producer Joe Thomas. "But after the tour fell apart it became more about a missed opportunity for Brian and the guys to ride into the sunset together."(rollingstone.com)

[GhostyTMRS]

I'm well aware Joe said that. That may have be the intent, but it doesn't jibe with the lyrics. If it's true, he has a deep and profound love for Mike and Bruce, the like of which we couldn't possibly begin to understand.

[Wylson]

It's so obvious that the whole thing about it being about C50 is just marketing. Brian answered this question directly yesterday so why is there debate?

This song could be good but the production is the cheesiest ever. That reverb drenched piano sound, with power ballad playing...

[ontor pertawst]

What a weird reaction to a solid tune. My only quibble is the Foskett frosting... presumably the Lana Del Rey version would've had Brian lah lahing instead since I doubt a duet with Mr. Foskett had much appeal... they should put that out too! Maybe she'll have a convenient moodswing and complete it or perform it live for a charity to raise money for doomed chanteuses..

[guitarfool2002]

Pretty well described by Joe Thomas...started out as X...developed into Y...started out as lost love/romance, ended up with other layers added after the tour broke up. Not to mention those added layers of losing his brothers over the past 30+ years. Brian was asked about the song, it seems like he answered based on how it was conceived, which was backed up by his collaborator very clearly. That doesn't mean the song as it eventually appeared was the same as when it was started or how it was even imagined early in its creation.

Kind of like Good Vibrations as it morphed into the Fall 1966 #1 single after beginning as a Pet Sounds session with different lyrics and a different overall theme. Same song, built on the same basic concept, but add on the layer of boy-girl romance and it became the #1 hit single. Doesn't mean it was written entirely as a boy-girl-romance song as Tony Asher worked on it with Brian.

Not too hard to suss out, this one.

[guitarfool2002]

It's so obvious that the whole thing about it being about C50 is just marketing. Brian answered this question directly yesterday so why is there debate?

Then take it up with Joe Thomas. I believe what he said the song turned into, and I also believe there is a difference between Brian answering the question based on what the song was as he started writing it and developing it versus expanding it into what it eventually became.

Again, see Good Vibrations for a great example of Brian having a solid idea of what the song was about as it was being worked up that eventually changed and morphed into something different by the time it was given a final mix. Find an interview where he's asked "what was Good Vibrations about?" and compare the answer given to what the lyrics on the released version ended up being about, and they're two different yet similar concepts based around the same theme. One played up those vibrations being sent and received while the other zeroed in on the boy-meets-girl theme more strongly.

Happens every day in songwriting. Things change, nuance, and shift around by the time the final mix is complete.

[GhostyTMRS]

Well, considering just yesterday Brian said it was about a relationship ending, and not about Carl and Dennis, How about considering the possibility of a Z..,meaning it then morphed into what it is now..which is something much more powerful and universal then a tour ending.

[guitarfool2002]

I'm well aware Joe said that. That may have be the intent, but it doesn't jibe with the lyrics. If it's true, he has a deep and profound love for Mike and Bruce, the like of which we couldn't possibly begin to understand.

What you had written made it seem like you either missed or ignored what Joe had said, and since he was actually involved in the process of making this song, I'd say he'd know quite a bit about how it began and how it developed. It's not about Mike and Bruce, that I agree with 100%. But what about the idea of looking back on one's life, then being on a stage or in a studio and thinking of your brother beside you holding a guitar and your other brother behind the drums, and realizing what the "last song" was years ago without giving it any thought in the moment, then looking at the present and future at what might be your own "last song"? Pretty heavy stuff, obviously, and I can picture a songwriter sitting down to write a song about lost love and romance and all that, and in the process getting all kinds of ideas about similar notions of people you loved or even things you loved (or loved to do) and internalizing those thoughts to the point where they come out in your song which was originally about romantic love but encapsulated much more beyond that concept.

[guitarfool2002]

Well, considering just yesterday Brian said it was about a relationship ending, and not about Carl and Dennis, How about considering the possibility of a Z..,meaning it then morphed into what it is now..which is something much more powerful and universal then a tour ending.

And those getting hung up on it being solely about a tour ending...that's not what Joe Thomas said. There was a suggestion it was about Mike, I just don't see that at all. About C50? The events of that tour ending brought forth what I'd imagine were some strong feelings of memories of the past and losing loved ones and the sheer joy of three brothers being in their bedroom as kids singing together, and all the years in between that are now history. One can write about emotions triggered by an event like that without having to peg it directly to the event itself. It's not saying it was about C50 or missing people on stage in 2012, but it could very well have been the trigger or the catalyst to think about the other loved ones (and loves) lost through the years and what is to come in the future.

[seltaeb1012002]

Sidenote, I think I remember reading here that "Last Song" was registered back in the 80's? Perhaps I'm confusing the song in question.

[Andrew G. Doe]

There's "The Lost Song" dating from August 1985...

[seltaeb1012002]

There's "The Lost Song" dating from August 1985...

Ah, my bad. 

[guitarfool2002]

Another poignant example to consider is "Lay Down Burden". Obviously everyone, I'd think, who knows the song considers it about Carl, or as a tribute to Carl. But it was not written as such, and as (again) Joe revealed, the song was actually written as something for Carl to sing and which Carl would have sung as the Imagination process was underway. So the song which is regarded as a tribute to Carl and which the lyrics can be interpreted or at least perceived as such was actually one Carl was to have been singing himself. The eventual outcome of the song's development wouldn't jive with the actual history of the song or even what the original subject was, but that doesn't mean it was solidly and firmly one thing or the other - it morphed and developed over time and inspired by events that happened while the song itself was being developed.

Sounds like what could have been the case with "Last Song". They worked with a main-idea type of concept/subject matter and various things happened to shift and change that concept to include other events, people, etc. Not uncommon, not a stretch to consider. Much like a song originally written with Carl's lead vocal in mind turned into a song about Carl after his passing.

[GhostyTMRS]

Well, considering just yesterday Brian said it was about a relationship ending, and not about Carl and Dennis, How about considering the possibility of a Z..,meaning it then morphed into what it is now..which is something much more powerful and universal then a tour ending.

And those getting hung up on it being solely about a tour ending...that's not what Joe Thomas said. There was a suggestion it was about Mike, I just don't see that at all. About C50? The events of that tour ending brought forth what I'd imagine were some strong feelings of memories of the past and losing loved ones and the sheer joy of three brothers being in their bedroom as kids singing together, and all the years in between that are now history. One can write about emotions triggered by an event like that without having to peg it directly to the event itself. It's not saying it was about C50 or missing people on stage in 2012, but it could very well have been the trigger or the catalyst to think about the other loved ones (and loves) lost through the years and what is to come in the future.

I can kind of get behind that, but when you listen to the entire album there's a theme of mortality running through a lot of the songs. Not necessarily Brian observing the mortality in others, but rather meditating on his own. This is a father with very young children and when he sings about not getting enough time with the ones he loves..that's the way I'm hearing it. Several other songs also deal with growing old. The more I listen to it, and I'm going on the fourth time today, that's what I'm feeling from this record.

[guitarfool2002]

Well, considering just yesterday Brian said it was about a relationship ending, and not about Carl and Dennis, How about considering the possibility of a Z..,meaning it then morphed into what it is now..which is something much more powerful and universal then a tour ending.

And those getting hung up on it being solely about a tour ending...that's not what Joe Thomas said. There was a suggestion it was about Mike, I just don't see that at all. About C50? The events of that tour ending brought forth what I'd imagine were some strong feelings of memories of the past and losing loved ones and the sheer joy of three brothers being in their bedroom as kids singing together, and all the years in between that are now history. One can write about emotions triggered by an event like that without having to peg it directly to the event itself. It's not saying it was about C50 or missing people on stage in 2012, but it could very well have been the trigger or the catalyst to think about the other loved ones (and loves) lost through the years and what is to come in the future.

I can kind of get behind that, but when you listen to the entire album there's a theme of mortality running through a lot of the songs. Not necessarily Brian observing the mortality in others, but rather meditating on his own. This is a father with very young children and when he sings about not getting enough time with the ones he loves..that's the way I'm hearing it. Several other songs also deal with growing old. The more I listen to it, and I'm going on the fourth time today, that's what I'm feeling from this record.

And I'd also add the layer of his own family experiences with both of his brothers passing away much too young, in one case the sheer shock of losing someone that suddenly and tragically without having a chance to say even a final goodbye or say anything you'd want to say if you knew time was that short with that person...it's the life-changing and life-shattering kind of event that haunts and shadows you forever. And I'd say those feelings would perhaps reveal themselves very strongly when writing a song about love and loss to the point where what it started as would snowball and grow into much more as the emotions started coming out in the process. One's own mortality is that much more of an issue when someone has had to deal with it previously in such an immediate way with losing family members so suddenly.

[GhostyTMRS]

I see that you guitar fool commented/agreed with what i suggested. For some reason I thought you weren't picking up on what I was saying, but it's 432 in the morning by me and I'm still listening to this thing on a Wilson-high and half-asleep so my reading retention is not what it could be. Carry-on

[guitarfool2002]

I see that you guitar fool commented/agreed with what i suggested. For some reason I thought you weren't picking up on what I was saying, but it's 432 in the morning by me and I'm still listening to this thing on a Wilson-high and half-asleep so my reading retention is not what it could be. Carry-on

Many layers to this.

[Debbie Keil-Leavitt]

Pretty well described by Joe Thomas...started out as X...developed into Y...started out as lost love/romance, ended up with other layers added after the tour broke up. Not to mention those added layers of losing his brothers over the past 30+ years. Brian was asked about the song, it seems like he answered based on how it was conceived, which was backed up by his collaborator very clearly. That doesn't mean the song as it eventually appeared was the same as when it was started or how it was even imagined early in its creation.

Kind of like Good Vibrations as it morphed into the Fall 1966 #1 single after beginning as a Pet Sounds session with different lyrics and a different overall theme. Same song, built on the same basic concept, but add on the layer of boy-girl romance and it became the #1 hit single. Doesn't mean it was written entirely as a boy-girl-romance song as Tony Asher worked on it with Brian.

Not too hard to suss out, this one.

As GF points out, isn't that the creative process?  It morphs at different times.  I said it badly earlier, but any and all of the answers to what the song was about are correct, and when it comes to art - whether music or other forms - it includes the audience and what a person gets from it.  It's no wonder we get short, abbreviated answers from Brian when he's asked what a song is about.  They're all about a lot of things.  I'm sure it's different to him over time and it's certainly different to each listener.  Nobody is lying here, or wrong.

I remember once telling Brian about a couple of roommates I had lived with briefly, Karen and Mona.  For whatever reason, Brian kept repeating the name, "Mona, Mona, you don't REALLY have a friend named Mona!"  He never met Mona, but not too many months later I heard the song, "Mona."  What was it about?  From my experience, Brian liked the sound of the name.  Who knows what it was really about? But it was a fun little rocker in any case.  

Surfer Girl has been about so many women over time, if you listen to Brian.  Well of course, it's his expression of something in him and his life changes.  Now it's undoubtedly about Melinda, even though he didn't know her when he wrote it.  That's what works about art.  It's flexible enough to change its meaning and purpose with each of us over time, including the artist.

[debonbon]

Nice little song, like the string arrangements. I'd never think it was about the BB if I'd not read about it. Seems more a love/life song in general.

[Ray Lawlor]

Indeed, AGD. It's easily read as a song about a troubled romantic relationship. I do think, though, in this case the multiple readings make it stronger. Who really wants an explicit account of backstage contention?

There is another possible interpretation that the listener could draw as well.  It could easily be a song about the process of grieving, of losing someone.  You always hear people say when someone close to them passes, that "if only I could speak to that person one last time, what would I say to them...what would they say to me".  There is certainly elements of that in "The Last Song".

Actually the song is about The Beach Boys, especially his late brothers Dennis and Carl

Interesting - that makes a lot more sense than it being specifically about the aftermath of the C50 tour... which is what we've been led to believe.

"Brian Wilson says he turned to a series of guest collaborators, many of them young female pop stars, to help jump start his muse after the Beach Boys‘ 2012 reunion tour came to an abrupt halt. In fact, Lana Del Rey ended up singing a song that deals directly with the issue, called ‘Last Song.’" (ultimateclassicrock.com)

"As for Lana? She worked with Brian on a track called “Last Song,” which will serve as the album’s centerpiece. There’s a version with Wilson on lead vocals, and an alternate one with Del Rey as the primary vocalist. Wilson wrote the song about his sadness over the Beach Boys’ breakup." (mtv.com)

"Now, according to those close to him, his Lana Del Rey collaboration will be the song to remember, as it recounts Wilson’s sadness about the Beach Boys‘ dissolution.

“The song recounts his sadness about the Beach Boys' dissolution. "It started out being about lost love," says co-producer Joe Thomas. "But after the tour fell apart it became more about a missed opportunity for Brian and the guys to ride into the sunset together."(rollingstone.com)

To be more explicit than my short post above ; it is about the Beach Boys, the pain of the loss of singing with his brothers and the loss of his group after C50. Joe Thomas articulated it far better than I did. In future I will try and expand more .

Uh-oh...  Brian disagrees with you!  From Today's Twitter Q&A: 

>>Was the Last Song written with Carl and Dennis in mind?
no, it was just about the end of a relationship. <<

Well it won't be the first time.  That's the explaination he gave me when I heard it for the first time on his car.

[Cam Mott]

Do we know who wrote what for the song? Did Joe or Brian write the lyrics? Or did they both write the lyrics? You could have two or more co-creators with their own inspirations. I suppose.

[Jaco]

On the Island,
that song reminds me a little about Brian's collaboration with Jackie DeShannon: 'Boat To Sail'  from 1975, he arranged and sang backing vocals. (& DeShannon wrote the song)

http://www.last.fm/music/Jackie+DeShannon/_/Boat+To+Sail

http://www.yourepeat.com/g/jackie+deshannon+boat+to+sail

[seltaeb1012002]

^^ Well spotted. Always loved that record.

[job]

I'm not completely blown away by On The Island like I am by the other tracks...it feels like a novelty to me.  But as far as novelties go, it's decent.