“You gotta listen to the music to understand what the music is.” — Brian Wilson
“Jesus, that ear. He should donate it to the Smithsonian.” — Bob Dylan
In considering the future of Jokermen, we’ve been searching for an artist who measures up to Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, and John Cale: a foundational figure in the medium of the rock song, someone who has charted an unprecedented, decades-long career. At the same time, we’ve been hoping for a new spirit to guide us; less blood and guts, more love and mercy.
Our next subject needs to be utterly different, full of beauty and innocence and light—good vibrations, in other words. The answer, it turns out, is right here with us in California.
The third series of Jokermen is Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, beginning April 8th.
This time we’re starting from the very beginning: Surfin’ Safari, 1962. It might seem fitting for a Jokermen series to begin post-Pet Sounds, but we see a reverse-Jokermen Mindset phenomenon with the Beach Boys, who began their career as America’s preeminent singles act. The early LPs are overlooked, underappreciated, and chock-full of weird, whimsicalbangers that deserve as much love as “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” or “Heroes and Villains.” We aim to provide it.
We will, of course, be going as deep as always: the shaggy late-60s stuff, the endless delights of the 70s, and all the insipid (or is it…?) 80s material, right up through That’s Why God Made The Radio. We’re also including every solo record from Brian and the core four Boys, from Love & Mercy to Pacific Ocean Blue to Looking Back With Love (lol). We’re even hitting all the goods from members of the extended Beach Boys family: Van Dyke Parks, Murry Wilson, (American) Spring, and a little fella what went by the name of Charlie Manson. You know what we say around here: it’s all good music.
While Brian Wilson’s work matches Bob’s, John’s, and Lou’s in terms of impact, it’s radically different in practice. Brian never wanted to become the great American poet or crossbreed high literature and rock songs. You won’t find a “Changing of the Guards” or a “Junior Dad” in the Beach Boys discography.
The beauty of Brian’s work lies in its simplicity, its honesty. This is music for the man on the street—lyrically, at least. Brian does with sound what others do with language.
The lyrics to “Don’t Worry Baby” aren’t difficult to parse—aren’t even particularly impressive when read off the page—but they don’t need to be. The magic and the meaning is in the music itself, the way Dennis and Carl and Mike and Al bob and weave beneath the surface as Brian soars above the wall of sound: “But she looks in my eyes, and makes me realize.”
Those first forty-one seconds of “Don’t Worry Baby” are as sublime as any verse from “Desolation Row,” as impossible as any performance of “Sister Ray.” It’s its own thing, simple as.
These conversations will be their own thing too: less focus on lyrical minutiae (tho there will still be plenty of that shit), more focus on the emotional genius of the sound itself. Listening to the music to understand what the music is. Heady talk, in other words, and hopefully not too heavy, because we will be spending some time unpacking the story behind the songs.
The Beach Boys are the American myth incarnate: good-looking, hard-working, preternaturally talented young men who made beautiful art, a ton of money, and terrible decisions. It’s all one song: spectacular early success, the death of Smile, the wilderness years, Dr. Eugene Landy, Brian’s ultimate triumph, and everything in between.
The records are what they are because of the people who made them and the lives they led. We’re facing that reality head on; the only way out is through.
Finally, a bit of housekeeping: beginning with the new series, we’ll be raising the price of the monthly Patreon subscription by one (1) American dollar, from $5 to $6. The $5/month rate will remain in effect for everyone currently subscribed, so as long as you stay pledged, nothing will change. The $5 price is still live for the next several weeks too, so if you’re planning to dive in for the Beach Boys goods (not to mention our next miniseries, coming this summer), subscribe now to lock in the lower rate.
As for upcoming programming, we’re on a one-episode-per-week schedule until the new series drops. We’ll be returning to some canonical Jokermen favs during this time, beginning tomorrow with The Fall.
So: Jokermen Series III. Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. April 8th.
Surf’s up (mmm-mmm, mmm-mmm, mmm-mmm, aboard a tidal wave…)
~ I & E