Brian Wilson’s favourite Bob Dylan song: “Poetic is the word”
There’s an incandescent joy in listening to the early moments of Brian Wilson’s career. He embodied everything that made music truly tick in the 1960s golden age of pop. Of course, the group was not made up of Brian Wilson alone. However, for much of what makes The Beach Boys one of the defining sounds of the decade, you have Wilson’s songwriting to thank.
Across the whole range of The Beach Boys’ songs that make them so much more than just a surf band or simply the creators of ‘California Girls’, Wilson’s presence as a true musical visionary is undoubted. His commanding presence in the studio would see the band create some of the decade’s most cherished work—1966’s Pet Sounds is consistently lauded as one of the finest albums ever made, and for good reason.
It’s no secret that Brian Wilson knows what makes a classic track. As an expert in crafting pure pop perfection, he has consistently delivered timeless music, regardless of personal struggles or challenges in the studio. When Wilson gets to work, the result is nothing short of magical. So, when Rolling Stone asked him to compile a list of his favorite tunes in 2015, it was destined to be a playlist of pure brilliance.
A list of the songs that “made” Wilson what he is today is the kind of playlist that deserves revisiting again and again. Within the list of tracks, he noted several classic songs from his contemporaries. He noted The Rolling Stones for their essential song ‘Satisfaction’ as well as noting rare tune ‘My Obsession’ as another favourite.
Wilson also gave nods to the influential, pioneering figure of Chuck Berry and his classic track ‘Johnny B. Goode’ as well as giving an accolade to the Four Freshmen song, ‘You Stepped Out of a Dream’. “This is where I learned to arrange harmonies and also where I learned to sing falsetto,” he said. “Their four-part harmony was totally original.” His penultimate pick was none other than the song that swept the globe, ‘Rock Around the Clock’ by Bill Haley and His Comets.
Wilson remarks, “I remember the first time a friend of mine played this for me on the phone. I just wanted to hear it over and over.” It was a sentiment felt across the nation, with countless rock and roll icons citing it as the main reason they were pushed into being in a band.
One other such idol, but one of Wilson’s contemporaries, has also been selected by the singer. He chooses Bob Dylan’s ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ as his final favourite song, sharing the same wide-eyed adoration for Dylan as we all do, “Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me/I’m not sleepy, and there ain’t no place I’m going to…’ I love those lyrics, really love them. ‘Poetic’ is the word.”
It’s a classic track. Though it would take The Byrds in the 1960s and Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds in the ‘90s, to bring the track the acclaim it deserves. The song, assessed separately from Dylan’s mystique stands up to anything else released in the decade. It still stands tall as one of the most memorable tracks from Dylan’s extensive discography and that, in itself, is an achievement.
Wrongly pinned down as a “drug” song by many, the track is more accurately seen as a moment of reflection of writing itself. Built out of moving imagery and non-contextual vignettes, the track does carry similar nuances to the actual feeling of being a little spaced out, but that’s the exact same effect as the best poetry has too. The tune refuses to settle down or allow you to view the true meaning accurately. It plays with Dylan’s greatest asset of ambiguity and universal truth colliding to make a staunch track and reminder of why he should be considered one of the greatest songwriters of all time. It’s easy to see why it’s Mr Wilson’s favourite.
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