Elaborating classic pop and doo-wop into divinely beautiful and inimitable hitmaking, these are some of the late musician’s most unmistakable masterpieces
Brian Wilson, visionary creative spirit for the Beach Boys, dies aged 82
Although co-written with Gary Usher, this reflective hymn to isolation was pure Brian autobiography, conceived as the pressures of pop success loomed. “I had a room I thought of as my kingdom,” Wilson said, “somewhere you could lock out the world.” The domain in question was the Wilson family’s music room where Brian slept “right beside the piano”. Part-inspired by the Charms’ 1956 doo-wop hit Ivory Tower, which the Wilson brothers sang themselves to sleep with, In My Room sonically recreates Brian’s feelings of sanctuary by blending his brothers’ sweet-sad harmonies with finger cymbals, harp glissandi and Santo & Johnny-style Sleep Walk guitar. Soothing yet eerie, the song spoke to the nation of 60s teenagers whose only refuge was their bedroom, and whose worries and fears all waited for them outside that door.
Only Brian Wilson could hear the Ronettes’ Be My Baby and think it lacked a sense of dread. Originally written for Ronnie Spector and co as a sequel to their 1963 pop hit, Don’t Worry Baby was finally recorded by the Beach Boys and released as flip-side to the exhilarating Saturday night cruisin’ anthem I Get Around. Both are car songs but Don’t Worry Baby taps into the shame and insecurity behind the A-side’s masculine braggadocio. A love song told in the third person, with the girlfriend’s titular words of reassurance sung in the high vulnerable falsetto of their fearful recipient, Don’t Worry Baby is also one of Brian’s finest productions, the longing and reassurance of the lyrics echoed in both the group’s lush vocal arrangements and the warm click of Al Jardine’s Fender Precision bass.
