Originally Posted By gadzuux Off of politics for a moment, this from today's news ... with a disney twist! >> Beach Boy Brian Wilson to finish Gershwin songs Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times Thursday, October 8, 2009 [Excerpts] In a surprise union of two quintessentially American composers from different eras - one the 1960s mastermind of "Good Vibrations," the other the Jazz Age creator of "Rhapsody in Blue" - former Beach Boy Brian Wilson has been authorized by the estate of George Gershwin to complete unfinished songs Gershwin left behind when he died in 1937. He plans to finish and record at least two such pieces on an album of Gershwin music he hopes to release next year. The Gershwin-Wilson project may strike some people as an odd coupling: One was a New York musician famous for sophisticated 1920s and '30s pop songs including "'S Wonderful" and "Someone to Watch Over Me" as well as such expansive, classically minded compositions as "Rhapsody," and the other is the driving force behind southern California beach culture hits such as "Surfin' USA," "I Get Around" and "California Girls." But their career paths and evolution of their artistry have common threads, noted people involved with the project, and that gives the proposed collaboration logic. Todd Gershwin, George's great nephew and a trustee of the George Gershwin family trusts, said: "George for his time was a visionary. He certainly crossed genres and musical lines, tried things that hadn't been done before, and Brian Wilson has done exactly the same thing." Wilson, 67, said he is "thrilled to death. "I'm proud to be able to do it," he said in an interview. "Hopefully I'll be able to do them justice." Todd Gershwin said a collection of several dozen song fragments, ranging from "a few bars to some almost-finished songs and everything in between" had been sitting virtually untouched for more than seven decades. He and other trustees began reaching out in the last year or two to find contemporary artists who might be interested in completing those musical bits and pieces. Wilson, who says "Rhapsody in Blue" is his earliest musical memory, said the pieces he's working with are very likely to remain as instrumentals, and that they easily could wind up as three-minute pop songs. But he's also holding open the possibility of expanding them to more substantive pieces. The Gershwin project grew out of a proposal to Wilson from Walt Disney Records for a two-album contract. <<
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 You have to blame the liberals for this one.... Oh wait you said off the politics my bad... Just reflexes...
Originally Posted By gadzuux I don't know what to think about this. I'm of two minds. On the one hand, it seems presumptuous - at best - to meddle with the work of one of our most esteemed composers. You wouldn't do it if he were alive, so why is it okay when they've been dead for over seventy years? It's not much different than when somebody decided to write a sequel to 'Gone with the Wind'. And then turn it into a tv miniseries. What crust! They're taking our cultural high points and making a circus out of it, with the hope of cashing in on the public's good will toward the original brand. On the other hand, this stuff has been sitting in a drawer somewhere, and would otherwise never see the light of day. I've got no bone to pick with Brian Wilson - I like him, think he's an interesting artist, have bought some of his music. Like most of us here, I've been listening to both of them for all of my life. And I'm not convinced that this is a natural combination. Brian Wilson - and for that matter the Beach Boys - has a very distinctive sound. Nobody else sounds like it, even when they tried back in the sixties. It's nasally, and it's got some roots in 'barbarshop' harmonies, but a little more haunting. And it's heavily associated with southern california beach culture. Nothing in that has any remote connection to Gershwin. Gershwin was a New York urban bon vivant of the Roaring 20s, sophisticated and polished. His music is still as revered today as it was at the time. Both have a way with a melodic tune, but they go about it in completely different ways. Brian Wilson's music seems designed to feature his strange haunting harmonics, and chord progressions that veer and swerve unexpectedly. And unfortunately, his lyrics aren't his strong point. Listen to the words to 'Don't Worry Baby' closely and it's suprising how banal they are. But we don't care about the lyrics to beach boys songs - it's more about the songs themselves. Nothing at all like Gershwin songs. His music seems more about intricate melodies that seem almost mathlike in their complexity. His lyrics include clever wordplays and deeply felt emotions. Whatever comes out of this will be 'interesting', but still a odd sort of bastard child. Neither fish nor fowl. A weird mash-up of two things that normally should never go together. Chocolate covered shrimp.
Originally Posted By alexbook >>I don't know what to think about this. I'm of two minds. On the one hand, it seems presumptuous - at best - to meddle with the work of one of our most esteemed composers. You wouldn't do it if he were alive, so why is it okay when they've been dead for over seventy years? << I think a lot depends on how it's handled. If the end result is presented as Wilson's work, "inspired by" or "based on" Gershwin's unfinished works, then I'm all for it. If it's presented as somehow being a "lost" Gershwin work "finished by" Wilson, then I'd be less happy. There's a lot of this sort of thing in publishing, and it bugs the heck out of me when a new book purports to be "by" a dead author, when it's actually written by someone else entirely. (Coming up this month: Eoin Colfer has written a new "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" novel. Ugh.)
Originally Posted By gadzuux For the record - Well its been building up inside of me For oh I dont know how long I dont know why But I keep thinking Somethings bound to go wrong But she looks in my eyes And makes me realize And she says dont worry baby Dont worry baby Dont worry baby Everything will turn out alright Dont worry baby Dont worry baby Dont worry baby I guess I shouldve kept my mouth shut When I started to brag about my car But I cant back down now I pushed the other guys too far She makes me come alive And makes me wanna drive When she says dont worry baby Dont worry baby Dont worry baby Everything will turn out alright She told me baby, when you race today Just take along my love with you And if you know how much I loved you Baby nothing could go wrong with you Oh what she does to me When she makes love to me And she says dont worry baby Dont worry baby Dont worry baby Everything will turn out alright
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Don't Worry Baby is one of the best songs of all time. Same for God Only Knows. California Girls is one of the best pop songs of all time. Good Vibrations is simply in a league by itself. Absolutely nobody ever wrote and sung harmony better than Brian Wilson. Or ever will, for that matter.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Neither Wilson nor George Gershwin was much of a lyricist, and recognized that - that's why George used Ira, and Wilson used various people. So it's really the musical mashup that will be interesting, and I think it could be very interesting indeed. And that's what I see this as.
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 Listening to early Oingo Boingo, who would've guessed what Danny Elfman has shown himself to be capable of?
Originally Posted By TomSawyer I have two great travel memories involving their music. I remember leaving my grandmother's house near Belmont Pier in Long Beach one morning in 1996, heading back to Missouri where I lived at the time but knowing that I was going back to wrap up my life there to get ready to move back home to Seattle. I headed down Highway 1 toward San Diego, popped Endless Summer on the CD player and just fell in love with California like I do every time I visit. Listening to that music while passing the surfers at Huntington and San Onofre on a sunny fall morning was just perfect. Another time, I was taking the train from Connecticut to California. Just outside of New York City, I put on Rhapsody in Blue and listened as we rolled through the old brick industrial areas and across bridges that were old when Gershwin was alive. But entering New York with Gershwin in your head is essential, I think. You hear "Rhapsody" in the traffic and the honking. Gershwin is New York. It'll be interesting to see how the two mix.
Originally Posted By DAR I was never a huge fan of the Beach Boys but I can recognize that God only knows, Sloop John B(which is actually an old calypso song) and I just wasn't made for these times are fantastic songs.
