"Brian Wilson" is a song by Canadian rock band Barenaked Ladies from their 1992 album Gordon. The song was written by Steven Page as a tribute to the Beach Boys' co-founder Brian Wilson. It was released as a single and peaked at number 18 on the Canadian Singles Chart. In 1998, the song peaked at number 68 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Wilson himself covered the song on his live album Live at the Roxy Theatre (2000). In 2000, the song was voted as the 24th best New Rock song released between 1990 and 2000 by CFNY-FM listeners.
Contents
Background and lyricism
The song was written by singer/guitarist Steven Page in his parents' basement around his twentieth birthday, in 1990. The first lines of the song chronicle one of Page's many late-night journeys to Sam the Record Man on Yonge Street. The song generally tells the story of a man whose life parallels that of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, particularly during his time spent with psychologist Eugene Landy after Wilson was diagnosed with mental illness, and, more broadly, with lyrics about suffering from comorbid mental illness and obesity.