Be True to Your School

So, after the first of my string of Elvis Presley blogs began to appear on TV Land, what was one of the very first responses?

A request for a few words about Brian Wilson.

Could Elvis and Brian, the lead Beach Boy, occupy two more different planets?

Let’s see: Elvis was a singer; a master at taking the words and music of others and spinning them into gold records. Brian can sing, and quite nicely, but his whole thing is composing, arranging, and producing records.

And the longer it takes, and, sometimes, the more grueling the process, the better. Elvis learned a song, sang it, and left the building.

Elvis loved company; he hated being alone. Thus, the women. Thus, the Memphis Mafia. Brian? The recording studio was his home. And, at home, there was that sandbox in the living room. “In My Room,” indeed. Say no more.

Brian and the Beach Boys were college prep-clean, in their matching, striped shirts and khaki slacks. Elvis went from pink plaid sport jackets to black leather to seriously sequined jumpsuits. You never mistook the King for a member of the Kingston Trio.

And yet I get why, reading about Elvis, a music lover might call out for Brian. They were both musical geniuses; they both drew directly from R&B (in Wilson’s case, Chuck Berry), they both can be credited with defining their generations, and they suffered, each in his own way, for their art.

I met Brian in 1980 for a TV special about the making of the Beach Boys album, Keepin’ the Summer Alive. After a long hiatus, the guys were back together, and Brian was in great shape. At least when he was talking for the cameras. I especially liked his answer when I asked him about what made him laugh. He said, “Arguments.”

I’ll let you hear for yourself. But come to think of it, Elvis Presley got into a lot of fights himself. Well, in the movies, anyway.

Here’s Brian.

And speaking of what makes him laugh—what gets you chuckling? Especially on TV Land?

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