Walkin' The Line

Album: Brian Wilson (1988)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Not the famous Johnny Cash tune, this is an original Brian Wilson composition. The Beach Boys founder wrote the song with The Dream Academy's Nick Laird-Clowes of "Life In A Northern Town" fame.
  • Brian Wilson explained the background to the song: "The lyrics are all about me, how I'm always walking over thin ice, could fall through at any minute. I tread lightly on everything I do, walk the line so to speak. Not all the time, but it is one of my sub-theme songs of my whole life.

    When I wrote that, I was at the piano, and I was remembering an old bass line that I had written, a left hand. And I said to myself, 'I want to record a song that has bass sounds like a '60s record but has an '80s feeling to it, an '80s vibration.' So I took that old bass line that I had never finished and incorporated it into a new kind of sound.

    It was all in remembering the feeling, the spirit I had when I wrote the bass line a long time ago. I always felt good about that left hand, a good vibration about it."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Rock Revenge Songs

Rock Revenge SongsMusic Quiz

John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?

Jimmy Jam

Jimmy JamSongwriter Interviews

The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.

Don Brewer of Grand Funk

Don Brewer of Grand FunkSongwriter Interviews

The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.

Kerry Livgren of Kansas

Kerry Livgren of KansasSongwriter Interviews

In this talk from the '80s, the Kansas frontman talks turning to God and writing "Dust In The Wind."

Part of Their World: The Stories and Songs of 13 Disney Princesses

Part of Their World: The Stories and Songs of 13 Disney PrincessesSong Writing

From "Some Day My Prince Will Come" to "Let It Go" - how Disney princess songs (and the women who sing them) have evolved.

Trucking Songs That Were #1 Hits

Trucking Songs That Were #1 HitsSong Writing

The stories behind the biggest hit songs about trucking.