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Barenaked Ladies - Brian Wilson (Song of the Week)

by acostill on August 1st, 2007

I’ll be honest; I’m not a big fan of the Barenaked Ladies. But late last week a friend of mine reintroduced to this gem of a song and it’s been in my head since.

“Brian Wilson” was featured on several BNL albums. It first appeared on their first full length album, 1992’s Gordon. The song was later rerecorded as a single in 1997 and also appeared on their 1996 live album Rock Spectacle.

The song itself is a clever one. The references to the legendary Beach Boys member Brian Wilson are wonderful. Because of these references, the song becomes a decent source for rock history. In fact, my friend thought that Brian Wilson had passed away, because he thought thought the lyrics were “lying dead just like Brian Wilson had”, instead of “lying in bed just like Brian Wilson did”. I went on to explain that Wilson had a nervous breakdown and locked himself inside his house for a couple of years. Anyways, Steven Paige (the guitarist/singer from BNL who wrote the song) comparing himself to Brain Wilson when he was in this period of his life is a simple, yet classic idea. I think we’ve all been in this place before, maybe for just a day or for several years.

Besides the lyrics, the music is pretty cool too. It starts off with just Paige, before the band jumps in. It’s a real catchy song, that has some qualities of a Beach Boys track. The song is so catchy, that Brian Wilson actually played it as his opening song during his 2000 tour and was included on the live album Live at the Roxy. It was often song acappella by Wilson, and because of that, BNL now starts the song off the same way before the rest of the band comes in.

There are also 2 videos for the song, but I like the first video more.

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POSTED IN: Song of the Week