Brian's song obsessions

[Bicyclerider]

It seems that throughout Brian's career, there have been certain songs that he's obsessed over, creatively, playing them or recording them over a long period of time, in many variations, but rarely finishing them to his satisfaction.  These include Good Vibrations, Heroes and Villains, Can't Wait Too Long, Shortenin' Bread, and Proud Mary.

Completed songs by others he's listened to obsessively include Be My Baby, Rhapsody in blue, and Sail Away.

Any common threads between all these songs?  Why did he get so fixated on certain songs/chord progressions, and not others?  Any other songs I'm forgetting?

[JRauch]

Why did he get so fixated on certain songs/chord progressions, and not others?

Well, why are we on a board that is basically dedicated to ONE album? I really don´t know why, but I guess it´s just that certain pieces of art resonate more with certain persons than others. I for example can listen "Solsbury Hill" 24/7 without ever getting tired of it.

Any other songs I'm forgetting?

How about "Sherry She Needs Me", "She Says She Needs Me" and all the other variations/recordings? And then there´s of course his re-recording of "Let Him Run Wild", where he dissed his old (stunning) vocals. Once he was asked in an interview about the biggest mistake in his life. Off all the possible answers (and there's a lot), he mentioned that he wasn´t satisfied with the coda of "California Girls".
I think Brian is just a perfectionist in a very weird way. He rushes certain things, but gets obsessive about others. For example, he worked months on ONE song, but mixed a complete album, that meant a lot to him, in one day.

[JRauch]

P.S. Brian's obsessive behaviour is of course not limited to music. Birthday cakes, steaks, all kind of drugs, hawaii-shirts...

[SG7]

Young girls especially   

[shelter]

I once read that Brian also has something with "Nights In White Satin"... It made him think of his own funeral or something, I believe.

[the captain]

"Ol' Man River."

It isn't like Brian is the only musician to do this. Frank Zappa's entire catalogue--a big one--is littered with Louie Louie and Petrushka, which makes for quite a pair.

[Rocker]

I once read that Brian also has something with "Nights In White Satin"... It made him think of his own funeral or something, I believe.

Oh, you're talking about the song.....

[Big Bri]

Brian's obsession with listening to certain songs could also be perceived that he Enjoys the songs! They "move" him in such a way that,just like a Drug,he is always seeking that "feeling" that a particular song gives him.Just my take being a muscian mySelf.
In fact,I listen to "Our Sweet Love","At My Window","Cool,Cool Water","Day In The Life..Tree","'Til I Die" every single day here at work.Sometimes twice a day!  It's the "feeling" from the song,the harmonies that just send a shiver up my spine.It's how you "resonate" with certain tones and how the song moves you.
Could it really be obsession? Or just enjoyment?
Brian

[punkinhead]

anybody think Brian was obsessed with Nilsson's/Spector's This Could Be the Night?
He recorded a version for the Nilsson tribute album
He played it in concert on his first concert tour i believe in 99?
and he played on the Lonst Hotel tape...

[Bicyclerider]

Reading Peter's book where Brian goes into a closet set up with studio monitors and listen to Be My Baby on a tape loop for several hours in the dark, yeah, I think it was an obsession - which doesn't mean enjoyment wasn't part of the obsession.

[JRauch]

...and listen to Be My Baby on a tape loop for several hours in the dark, yeah, I think it was an obsession

Especially since it was a tape-loop of just the chorus!