(Credits: Far Out / Brian Wilson)
Sun 21 December 2025 8:00, UK
Going over the work of Brian Wilson is the rock and roll equivalent of trying to decipher the paintings of Rembrandt or the symphonies of Beethoven.
There’s no real way to conceive that such beauty could come out of one person’s head, but Wilson always knew to play from the heart before worrying about the theory behind anything he constructed. He knew that few people could manage to match what he did, but there were a handful of musicians who he felt were good enough to be his peers.
Because, really, there isn’t anyone on this planet who was more humble in their gifts than Wilson. He was merely happy to have written songs that have made people smile for generations at a time, and while not all of them may have been the smash hits that he had wanted, even the unrealised projects like Smile would eventually turn into some of the greatest pop music that no one had ever heard.
But Wilson never really saw himself in the company of his rock and roll peers. He certainly thought that there were fellow geniuses in the production world like Phil Spector, but by the time he had reached his twilight years, he was looking to move beyond traditional rock and roll. He was on the same level as Rodgers and Hammerstein for most people, but he wasn’t exactly alone at the top of the heap.
After all, he was making Pet Sounds, trying to outmatch what The Beatles had done a few years before. Despite Wilson being a little bit jealous when the Fab Four first crashlanded on American shores, he couldn’t help but be knocked out by the musical complexity that they got into on Rubber Soul. A lot of that may have been thanks to George Martin, but there was no doubt that Paul McCartney was blessed with an immaculate gift for melody.
John Lennon may have had a fantastic knack for writing great songs as well, but Macca could always be counted on to put the perfect arrangement around nearly anything he played. ‘Penny Lane’ might not be to everyone’s taste, depending on one’s tolerance for more saccharine material, but there’s also no conceivable way that anyone could have improved on what McCartney did, either, especially with the massive lift at the end of the song.
Although The Beatles and The Beach Boys’ glory years were long gone by the 2000s, Wilson picked McCartney when asked about any artist that could possibly interpret his material, saying, “Maybe Paul McCartney could do my songs. But I’m not sure. I haven’t asked him. I think he has the talent. But I don’t think he’d be interested in doing McCartney Sings Wilson.” But McCartney refusing might not have to do with him not wanting to play the songs.
The former Beatle was always a fan of Wilson’s music, but chances are even he would have considered such an undertaking a real challenge. He had already been into the world of big band music on albums like Kisses on the Bottom, but given how emotional he still gets listening to a song like ‘God Only Knows’, it’s hard to think of any piece of the song that could possibly need tweaking by any stretch.
But even if McCartney stays in his own artistic lane for the rest of his life, Wilson will always loom like a shadow on much of his work. Both of them were creative geniuses in many respects, and while there’s no telling what they could have done together, their time apart has been the soundtrack by which all great pop songs are measured.
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