Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
David Leif.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Good morning, sir, Welcome to the show and thank you
for being on today.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Good morning. How are you you guys doing today?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
We're okay. Mister Leif is the award winning writer, director, producer.
He's written extensively about the Beach Boys, and you were
a close friend with Brian Wilson, who we learned the
passing of yesterday. How are you doing, sir.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
It's been a very tough twenty four hours. To be
honest with you, It's not that we didn't know that
Brian wasn't well. It's just that when someone who you've
known for nearly a half century passes, someone who was
central to your life, central to the world, is suddenly gone.
(00:40):
It's just it's very, very strange. We all know what
it's like to lose someone we love well, but the
world loves Brian Wilson.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
The story about how you guys met is so incredible
the basketball court at the YMCA.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
You want to tell that, well, it's it's absolutely strange.
You know, a few months before that. It was actually
three days after I arrived in Los Angeles, thirty six
hours to be exact. I was I was walking on
the streets in Santa Monica, and walking towards me was
Dennis Wilson, Brian's Brian's brother, and I went up to
(01:22):
him and I said, Hi, Dennis, my name is David Leif.
I just moved to California to write a book about
your brother, which is great. And he just laughed and laughed.
He thought it was a good luck, he said, and
he went into it. He went into the building that
I later found out his brother's studio. So it was
a very strange thing to have happened on literally the
(01:46):
first weekday I was in LA. About six or months later,
I was at the y MCA in West Los Angeles,
where I was living. I was just shooting baskets with
a friend of mine from and onto the court walked
two guys and say do you want to play two
on two? One of them was a man named Stan Love,
(02:09):
Mike Love of the Beach Boy's brother who had just
retired from the NBA. And with him was Brian Wilson.
And we have to remember that at that point, Brian
Wilson was legendary for never being out. He was known
for being in bed. That was a legend anyway, And
so it was just staggering to me that here I
(02:32):
was playing two on two with him, and the whole
time we were playing, I was thinking, my friends are
never going to believe this. How am I? How am
my friends in New York gonna believe that this happened?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
The purpose of you going to California was specifically to
write about Brian Wilson.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
It was the main goal. Was had I had read
about Brian in seventy one, heard about Smile, heard the
song Surfs Up, heard the songs Till I Die on
the Surf's Up album, and my roommate and I went
down became obsessed with Brian, and I was. I was
(03:12):
in my youthful outrage mode. I was studying journalism, had
read about Edward R. Murrow and how he could tell
his story and in the process of telling it change
the result of the story, if you will. And that
was all in the back of my head. And I said,
you know, I'm going to move to California and write
a book about Brian Wilson, become his friend and help
(03:34):
him finish Smile.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
And you did. It's David Leeve, close personal friend of
Brian Wilson, Wilson's official biographer and filmmaker. He's a Peabody
Award whinner. We're really thankful to have you here on
Picks one oh six. When you try to explain the
genius of Brian Wilson to somebody who who to a
young person who maybe doesn't know the Beach Boys, how
do you how do you deliver that message?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, I actually do it. You see a lot in
a class that I teach called good and bad vibrations.
And so every spring there's there's a room full of
young people for whom the Beach Boys are something that
maybe when they were five year old, riding in the
(04:20):
backseat of their car, their parents were playing on the radio,
you know, on a cassette if you can remember such
a thing as CD, and and so they kind of
know the music, they know the hits, but they don't
know anything about, you know, who this guy is. And
so in the course of ten weeks they find out
(04:42):
that Brian Wilson was absolutely the most brilliant guy of
his era. They learned that he not only composed the songs,
arranged the backing tracks, arranged the multi part harmony vocals,
uh produced the records, and sang the high part in
(05:03):
the in the in the Beach Boys of Songs, and
and nobody else did that, nobody else had ever done that.
And so that's kind of amazing to them when they
find out how influence he was on the Beatles. That really,
because I also teach a course on the Beatles, and
(05:23):
and and the students know who the Beatles are, right,
they know how big a deal they are. And and
when I tell them that Brian Wilson had heard Rubber
Soul and decided that he was going to make the
greatest album of all time, and and the result was
Pet Sounds, and that George Martin, Sir George Martin, the
(05:45):
late great Beatles producer, had told me once that Sergeant
Pepper was the Beatles attempt to equal Pet Sounds.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
It's amazing. David Lee's greatest books, Smile, The Rise and
Fall and Resurrection of Brian Wilson, just came out in
April of this year, just real quickly. Sure, I know
Brian was in a different kind of state, but when
was the last time you were able to see him?
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So in a few weeks ago, and what was that like? Well,
you know, it's every visit is different. Because I don't
live too far from from from where he was, and
basically he liked to listen to music. I mean we
would talk and say hello, and but he loved to
listen to music. So we had kind of worked it
(06:35):
out that he would pick a song and then I
would pick a song.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yes, I love that.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
What is he picking for music? I'm curious?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Well, you know it was. It was always different. He
loved he loved hearing the fairy tale called Mount Vernon
and Fairway that he had had composed and produced for
the Beach Boys Holland album. And he also loved he
loved to sing. He loved to do what he called
casual singing, and for some reason he liked my voice
(07:07):
and so he would want me to sing mister tambourine
Man for him.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
What a memory? What a memory?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Elton John said he was his biggest influence on his
songwriting ever, and that struck me as pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
It was. I wrote and produced an all star tribute
to Brian Wilson at Radio City Music Hall back in
two thousand and one, and Elton was the first guest
to sign on. And usually in these tribute programs, everyone's
waiting to see who else is going to be before
they say yes, and Elten was like, I will be there,
(07:44):
and he and Brian did a duet of wouldn't it
be nice? From pet Sounds, and then Elton sang God
only knows? And you know, one of the funniest moments
of all of that was in the rehearsal hall. Darian
Sahanaja was the leader of Brian's band, saw Brian looking uncomfortable,
(08:06):
and he walked over and said, are you okay? And
and he said, well, not really, Elton, John's going to
sing my song and and then then Darien walked over
to where Elton was at the piano and he said,
are are Is everything all right? And he goes, well,
the master is over there, gonna watch me sink this
(08:33):
a wonderful, wonderful musical love affair between the two of them.
Elton was enormously influenced, as he explained as a piano player,
what Brian did and I can't even explain it because
I'm not a musician, but had to do with the
with the root note in the chord, that Brian did
something that hadn't really been done since.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Bach close personal friend Brian Wilson, official biographer and filmmaker David,
Thank you for the time and our condolences.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Sir, take care, sir, Thank you, God bless Quinny Cantara
picks one O six
David Leif.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Good morning, sir, Welcome to the show and thank you
for being on today.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Good morning. How are you you guys doing today?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
We're okay. Mister Leif is the award winning writer, director, producer.
He's written extensively about the Beach Boys, and you were
a close friend with Brian Wilson, who we learned the
passing of yesterday. How are you doing, sir.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
It's been a very tough twenty four hours. To be
honest with you, It's not that we didn't know that
Brian wasn't well. It's just that when someone who you've
known for nearly a half century passes, someone who was
central to your life, central to the world, is suddenly gone.
(00:40):
It's just it's very, very strange. We all know what
it's like to lose someone we love well, but the
world loves Brian Wilson.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
The story about how you guys met is so incredible
the basketball court at the YMCA.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
You want to tell that, well, it's it's absolutely strange.
You know, a few months before that. It was actually
three days after I arrived in Los Angeles, thirty six
hours to be exact. I was I was walking on
the streets in Santa Monica, and walking towards me was
Dennis Wilson, Brian's Brian's brother, and I went up to
(01:22):
him and I said, Hi, Dennis, my name is David Leif.
I just moved to California to write a book about
your brother, which is great. And he just laughed and laughed.
He thought it was a good luck, he said, and
he went into it. He went into the building that
I later found out his brother's studio. So it was
a very strange thing to have happened on literally the
(01:46):
first weekday I was in LA. About six or months later,
I was at the y MCA in West Los Angeles,
where I was living. I was just shooting baskets with
a friend of mine from and onto the court walked
two guys and say do you want to play two
on two? One of them was a man named Stan Love,
(02:09):
Mike Love of the Beach Boy's brother who had just
retired from the NBA. And with him was Brian Wilson.
And we have to remember that at that point, Brian
Wilson was legendary for never being out. He was known
for being in bed. That was a legend anyway, And
so it was just staggering to me that here I
(02:32):
was playing two on two with him, and the whole
time we were playing, I was thinking, my friends are
never going to believe this. How am I? How am
my friends in New York gonna believe that this happened?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
The purpose of you going to California was specifically to
write about Brian Wilson.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
It was the main goal. Was had I had read
about Brian in seventy one, heard about Smile, heard the
song Surfs Up, heard the songs Till I Die on
the Surf's Up album, and my roommate and I went
down became obsessed with Brian, and I was. I was
(03:12):
in my youthful outrage mode. I was studying journalism, had
read about Edward R. Murrow and how he could tell
his story and in the process of telling it change
the result of the story, if you will. And that
was all in the back of my head. And I said,
you know, I'm going to move to California and write
a book about Brian Wilson, become his friend and help
(03:34):
him finish Smile.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
And you did. It's David Leeve, close personal friend of
Brian Wilson, Wilson's official biographer and filmmaker. He's a Peabody
Award whinner. We're really thankful to have you here on
Picks one oh six. When you try to explain the
genius of Brian Wilson to somebody who who to a
young person who maybe doesn't know the Beach Boys, how
do you how do you deliver that message?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, I actually do it. You see a lot in
a class that I teach called good and bad vibrations.
And so every spring there's there's a room full of
young people for whom the Beach Boys are something that
maybe when they were five year old, riding in the
(04:20):
backseat of their car, their parents were playing on the radio,
you know, on a cassette if you can remember such
a thing as CD, and and so they kind of
know the music, they know the hits, but they don't
know anything about, you know, who this guy is. And
so in the course of ten weeks they find out
(04:42):
that Brian Wilson was absolutely the most brilliant guy of
his era. They learned that he not only composed the songs,
arranged the backing tracks, arranged the multi part harmony vocals,
uh produced the records, and sang the high part in
(05:03):
the in the in the Beach Boys of Songs, and
and nobody else did that, nobody else had ever done that.
And so that's kind of amazing to them when they
find out how influence he was on the Beatles. That really,
because I also teach a course on the Beatles, and
(05:23):
and and the students know who the Beatles are, right,
they know how big a deal they are. And and
when I tell them that Brian Wilson had heard Rubber
Soul and decided that he was going to make the
greatest album of all time, and and the result was
Pet Sounds, and that George Martin, Sir George Martin, the
(05:45):
late great Beatles producer, had told me once that Sergeant
Pepper was the Beatles attempt to equal Pet Sounds.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
It's amazing. David Lee's greatest books, Smile, The Rise and
Fall and Resurrection of Brian Wilson, just came out in
April of this year, just real quickly. Sure, I know
Brian was in a different kind of state, but when
was the last time you were able to see him?
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So in a few weeks ago, and what was that like? Well,
you know, it's every visit is different. Because I don't
live too far from from from where he was, and
basically he liked to listen to music. I mean we
would talk and say hello, and but he loved to
listen to music. So we had kind of worked it
(06:35):
out that he would pick a song and then I
would pick a song.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yes, I love that.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
What is he picking for music? I'm curious?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Well, you know it was. It was always different. He
loved he loved hearing the fairy tale called Mount Vernon
and Fairway that he had had composed and produced for
the Beach Boys Holland album. And he also loved he
loved to sing. He loved to do what he called
casual singing, and for some reason he liked my voice
(07:07):
and so he would want me to sing mister tambourine
Man for him.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
What a memory? What a memory?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Elton John said he was his biggest influence on his
songwriting ever, and that struck me as pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
It was. I wrote and produced an all star tribute
to Brian Wilson at Radio City Music Hall back in
two thousand and one, and Elton was the first guest
to sign on. And usually in these tribute programs, everyone's
waiting to see who else is going to be before
they say yes, and Elten was like, I will be there,
(07:44):
and he and Brian did a duet of wouldn't it
be nice? From pet Sounds, and then Elton sang God
only knows? And you know, one of the funniest moments
of all of that was in the rehearsal hall. Darian
Sahanaja was the leader of Brian's band, saw Brian looking uncomfortable,
(08:06):
and he walked over and said, are you okay? And
and he said, well, not really, Elton, John's going to
sing my song and and then then Darien walked over
to where Elton was at the piano and he said,
are are Is everything all right? And he goes, well,
the master is over there, gonna watch me sink this
(08:33):
a wonderful, wonderful musical love affair between the two of them.
Elton was enormously influenced, as he explained as a piano player,
what Brian did and I can't even explain it because
I'm not a musician, but had to do with the
with the root note in the chord, that Brian did
something that hadn't really been done since.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Bach close personal friend Brian Wilson, official biographer and filmmaker David,
Thank you for the time and our condolences.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Sir, take care, sir, Thank you, God bless Quinny Cantara
picks one O six
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