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March 07, 2005
Getting Out Of Bed (Just Like Brian Wilson Didn't)
I was over at Pete's blog this morning — bleary-eyed, sleep deprived, and reading his one-sentence summaries of Beach Boys albums. Thinking about The Beach Boys first thing in the morning is never a good idea. The mind inexorably wanders to the subject of Brian Wilson, which inexorably leads to his decision to stay in bed and get fat for most of the 70s.
Post-coffee and -shower, this would strike anyone as, quite rightly, the product of crippling depression. However, if Brian Wilson enters your head early enough in the day, while memories of toasty sheets and soft pillows still dance tantalizingly at the forefront of your mind, the man starts to resemble a genius visionary for reasons completely unrelated to his music. Lie in bed all day. Eat hamburgers and smoke dope.
If there's a flaw to this life strategy, I'm unable to see it at 7 AM.
According to Pete's Beach Boys album summaries, Brian's predisposition for lying around in bed seeped into a lot of his lyrics, including "I Went To Sleep", "I'd Love Just Once To See You" and the misleading "Wake The World" — a song that at first glance seems to run contrary to Brian's aims, yet nonetheless contains an alarming amount of sleep imagery. Not being a Beach Boys historian, I'm probably missing quite a few important sleep-inspired songs here. However, I'd be remiss not to mention the rather obvious Barenaked Ladies song "Lying in Bed (Just Like Brian Wilson Did)", which promotes Brian's philosophy with far more succintness than he was ever able to muster himself. Ironic, since Wilson was actually writing songs while lying in bed (just like Brian Wilson did). Maybe he couldn't think of a good rhyme for 'pillow'.
Less well known than Wilson's sleep addiction, but just as telling, was fellow 60s songwriter John Lennon's. I didn't even remember Lennon until I was in my cold shower waiting for the water to heat up, contemplating the sage foresight of Wilson's torporous philosophies moreso than ever. The sleepy Beatle also lept for the solace of the sheets, burrowing out of his linen womb only for lungfuls of fresh air and to pen such nap-based classics as "I'm Only Sleeping" and "Watching the Wheels".
I'd argue that the number of the ex-Beatle's songs dedicated to lethargy might actually outnumber those of Mr. Wilson's, who was either uninspired to compose while bedridden or, you know, asleep at the time. Lennon even had a bed-in, for God's sake: the man slept in for peace. Odd that history chose to forever associate Wilson with hibernation while ignoring Lennon, whose entire 1970s song catalog circles around how great sleeping is in some way; and who was so dedicated to the idea that he accepted sponsorship while in bed to forward awareness of worthy causes. If ever there was an artist to "go pro" with the idea of catching forty winks, it's Mr. Lennon.
All of this got me to realizing: for all the associations of our most gifted musicians and heroin in the public consciousness, the far more obvious connection of musical genius and predilection for springy mattresses goes uncommented upon. Perhaps twenty years from now, after Radiohead's Thom Yorke becomes famous for carting around a pillow and nightcap on tour, or Beck halts production on his latest album following the purchase of a Sealy Posturepedic, will the ugly truth become clear.
Methadone's the drug of choice for weaning rock stars off heroin. Maybe someone should come up with the equivelent for lying in bed all day. Perhaps a lumpy sleeping bag and air mattress? It should be comfy, of course — but not TOO comfy. If they look like they're enjoying themselves too much, a registered nurse can race in and unfluff their pillows or something.
Just a thought.
Posted by Jay Pinkerton at 08:17 AM