“I’m a leaf on a windy day
Pretty soon I’ll be blown away
How long will the wind blow?
How long will the wind blow?
Until I die
Until I die
These things I’ll be until I die
These things I’ll be until I die.”
Above Lyrics from the song ‘Till I Die’ by Brian Wilson
A Brief Tribute from life-long fan Doug Draper at Niagara At Large
Posted June 11th, 2025
Music legend Brian Wilson, on tour in more recent years
News like this should not come out on a warm sunny day
It was just announced this June 11th that Brian Wilson, whose music from the 1960s with The Beach Boys became a soundtrack for warm, sunny days, has died at age 82.
What can I say. When it comes to pop music figures from the past 50 or 60 years, Brian Wilson was about as big as they come.
The composer of many hit songs like ‘Surfin U.S.A.’, ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’, ‘I Get Around’, ‘Help Me Rhonda’, ‘The Warmth Of The Sun’, ‘California Girls’, ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ and ‘Good Vibrations’, he and fellow Beach Boys Al Jardine, cousin Mike Love and brothers Carl and Dennis Wilson, were among the few American groups that could still hold their own on the music charts in the weeks and months following The Beatles and British Invasion crashing their shores in 1964.
In 1966, he blew music critics and his peers in the world of writing and performing popular music away with an album of songs he composed for The Beach Boys called ‘Pet Sounds’. It is still listed by Rolling Stone Magazine and other chroniclers of the music scene as one of the best albums of all time.
Brian Wilson, mugging with a goat for photos taken prior to the 1966 release of Pet Sounds, still listed as one of the best albums of all times, with all the music written by him.
And it is one that Paul McCartney has revealed that when he first heard it, he went running off to fellow Beatles songwriter John Lennon and said, in so many words; “You’ve got to listen to this!” McCartney said it would inspire The Beatles to go into the studio and start workon ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, a masterpiece in its own right.
I am just happy that I finally got to see and hear Brian Wilson in performance at Artpark in Lewiston, New York shortly before the COVID pandemic wreaked havoc on the world we knew, and he was terrific.
Here is one of Brian Wilson’s songs from Pet Sounds that is a true work of art and a very unusual compositon at a time when so many other popular groups aside from the likes of The Beatles weren’t straying very far from songs built on major E, F, G, D, A and G chords.
To hear it, click on the screen below and crank it up –
In the liner notes for one of his more recent albums, Brian Wilson said he still thought about his late brothers Carl and Dennis every day. Well, if there is a Rock and Roll Heaven, he is finally back with them again.
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Rest In Peace Brian
The following is from Brian Wilson’s official website – 
We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away.
We are at a loss for words right now.
Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving
We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world.
Love & Mercy
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