Australia,

[UmarImranKhalil]

Yeah, during one of their earlier tours, in that respect I'll have to side with Murry and his morally strict code of behavior he attempted to enforce on the Boys.

Reading some of this information is really fascinating, and you can spot subtle concatenations between the prominent artists of the time - the part where Marilyn claims Loren Schwartz recommended Brian various types of literature from Hermann Hesse to Antoine de Saint-Exupery and Khalil Gibran's poetry (that line in Lennon's Julia).

Brian is totally whacked out, though, emotionally weak. Asher claimed he was the most "irresponsible" person he'd ever met. Reading some of this stuff, you wonder how a mental midget who suffered from a severe case of an inferiority complex could have written so many great songs during the 60's.

Akno, re. Brian. It's puzzling. Writing so many great songs and being one of the premiere legitimate musical geniuses of the entire century, no less.

Obviously, his esteem was trodden down in his upbringing somehow. That much is clear. Murry was correct to be a disciplinarian in some aspects, but he was clearly a dysfunctional mess himself and imposed that on his sons. It manifested in each in different ways.

I credit Mike's encouragement a lot for Brian's productivity and bold successes. Mike was the one who, from early on, told Brian he could write songs as great as anything they were listening to on the radio as kids. He was the one who really believed they could make it and, this is funny when you think of all the criticisms of Mike as unsupportive over the 'Pet Sounds' and 'Smile' deals, he was the one who believed in Brian's talent from the start. The significance of that early pep-talking and support as far as building Brian up is incalculable, I think.



The bold, absolutely. Then there was Brian hiring Derek Taylor. Van Dyke Parks was a mine of intellectual reference for Brian, also. The whole Maharishi trip, The Beach Boys had a presence in all that. You'll know the story of how 'Back In The USSR' came to be, Mike's part in that.




Thought re. 'I've Got A Friend' and Dennis' work in general;

Some of Dennis' love songs -- and this is true of some other great love songs, too -- almost double as praise-songs. The friend in 'I've Got A Friend' is ambiguous, the "feel the wind upon my face, hello, my friend", emotional response to, and sanctuary in, the Allāh-created elements. Actually, that might be what I've always been beguiled by in that song. Maybe I had that thought before, and I just forgot it. Probably.
But there's a definite duality in some of that material, even if it was more sub-conscious than conscious. And Dennis was definitely a seeker, recurringly fascinated and enchanted by the idea of God; and this is true to me, although he messed around a lot and was a famously lusty guy, the passion invested in a lot of his music transcends the physical realm.

"All things that live one day must die, you know -- even love and the things we hold close...", that section of 'Thoughts Of You' is one of the Top 5 most intense things I've ever heard in music. Period. It's way beyond a love song, or a simple 'missing you' sentiment, way beyond.

[VERILY]