Johnny Carson (song)

"Johnny Carson" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1977 album The Beach Boys Love You. It was written by Brian Wilson as a tribute to one of his idols, Johnny Carson. The recording features Mike Love on lead vocals, accompanied by an arrangement of synthesizers, organ, and piano.[1]

"Johnny Carson"
Song by the Beach Boys
from the album The Beach Boys Love You
ReleasedApril 11, 1977
Recorded1976
StudioBrother Studios, Santa Monica, California
Length2:47
LabelBrother/Reprise
Songwriter(s)Brian Wilson
Producer(s)Brian Wilson
Licensed audio
"Johnny Carson" on YouTube

Inspiration

"Johnny Carson" expresses admiration for the host of the late-night television talk show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,[2] and extols his ability to be a consistent entertainer.[3] In 1977, Wilson wrote of the origins for the song:

One morning I was on my way to the studio and I'd been thinking about how I'd seen Johnny on TV the night before and I said to myself, "Goddamn it! There's gotta be some song about Johnny Carson!" I mean, he's been an idol of so many people for so many years and why not a song about Johnny Carson?! So I said, "Fer Chrissakes!" When I got to the studio I sat down and goddamn cranked out a song about him. I'm definitely a fan.[4]

Conversely, in a later interview, Wilson explained that he wrote the song after overhearing another person in the room talk about Carson. "I told them I was gonna write a song about him and they didn't believe me. I had the whole thing done in twenty minutes."[5]

Wilson's 1991 memoir, Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story, credits the impetus for the song to his psychologist, Eugene Landy. It states that Landy suggested and helped Wilson write a song about Carson in order for Wilson to overcome his fear of appearing on The Tonight Show.[6]

Reception

Biographer Peter Ames Carlin referred to the track as the album's "pivot point", one that "separates the normal from the freakishly bizarre."[2]

Asked about the song in a 1979 interview, Carson answered, "Sure I heard it. Someone sent it over to the office. I don't think it was a big seller. I think they just did it for the fun of it. It was not a work of art."[1]

See also

References
  1. Dillon, Mark (2012). Fifty Sides of the Beach Boys: The Songs That Tell Their Story. ECW Press. pp. 232–233. ISBN 978-1-77090-198-8.
  2. Carlin, Peter Ames (2006). Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. Rodale. pp. 213–214. ISBN 978-1-59486-320-2.
  3. Wilson, Brian; Greenman, Ben (2016). I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir. Da Capo Press. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-306-82307-7.
  4. Wilson, Brian (May 1977). "I'm a Pooper, Not a Buzzer". Crawdaddy!. p. 63.
  5. Hughes, Rob (November 22, 2012). "Brian Wilson – Album By Album". Uncut.
  6. Wilson, Brian; Gold, Todd (1991). Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story. New York: HarperCollins. pp. 247, 259. ISBN 978-0-06018-313-4.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.