Cabin Essence Blog

When I first heard this song at the premiere of That Lucky Old Sun, this was the point that I realised that the work was going to be one of substance, and one that could be spoken in same breath as SMiLE and Pet Sounds.

 Of course, this song invokes Brian’s first song, both in title and in the nostalgia of the theme. It’s one of those songs that hits a powerful nerve in the themes of first love and memories of the past. As with Brian’s best work, it is his ability as tunesmith that makes the song stand out.

This is the only song on That Lucky Old Sun that was written by Brian Wilson without any collaborators. One of the centrepieces of the album, it is a “pocket symphony” of sorts, with a number of different sections. The lyric seems to hearken back to a sense of ideal love and relationships -maybe something that has always been close to Brian during his life. I remember hearing for the first time at the premiere of the work in London and this was an “instant” song that impacted on first listen and made you want to listen over and over again.

There is alternate version on the Best Buy version of the album where Brian duets the song with Carole King.

The first of four narrative sections on the album reunites the two SMiLE protagonists. In this section, there is some nice imagery of the city of Los Angeles at night as a “sparkled city” and one with many stories to tell.

The first original song on That Lucky Old Sun, this hearkens back to songs like Do It Again with a mostly up-tempo feel but punctuated with a slow section. Changes-of-pace is a hallmark of Brian Wilson’s brilliance and this song shows Brian has lost none of his old tricks. The song paints a compelling landscape of the energy of Los Angeles and features the immortal “Maumamayama Glory Hallelujah” catchphrase.

It’s now over two years since Brian’s latest work was premiered, and one year since it was released on CD. So how about a track-by-track review of Brian’s latest triumph -the one that proves he still has it!

The title track is a well-known pop standard, of course, popularised by Frankie Laine and also done by luminaries such as Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra. The album is a homage to Southern California and the extract of the song used to start the album hearkens to the luck that California may be seen to have, with all its natural and human resources, not least of the Beach Boys. Of course, beneath that luck is a darker side, and these are themes that come through on this record.