Brian Wilson

Album: Gordon (1992)
Charted: 73 68
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  • Drove downtown in the rain
    Nine-thirty on a Tuesday night
    Just to check out the late-night record shop
    Call it impulsive, call it compulsive
    Call it insane
    But when I'm surrounded I just can't stop

    It's a matter of instinct
    It's a matter of conditioning and a matter of fact
    You can call me Pavlov's Dog
    Ring a bell and I'll salivate
    How'd you like that?
    Dr. Landy tell me you're not just a pedagogue

    'Cause right now I'm lying in bed
    Just like Brian Wilson did
    Well I am lying in bed
    Just like Brian Wilson did

    So I'm lying here
    Just staring at the ceiling tiles
    And I'm thinking about, oh what to think about
    Just listening and relistening
    To Smiley Smile
    And I'm wondering if this is some kind of creative drought

    Because I'm lying in bed
    Just like Brian Wilson did
    Well I am Lying in bed
    Just like Brian Wilson did, whoa

    And if you want to find me
    I'll be out in the sandbox
    Just wondering where the hell all the love has gone
    I'm playing my guitar and building
    Castles in the sun, oh oh oh
    And singing "Fun, Fun, Fun"

    Lying in bed
    Just like Brian Wilson did
    Well I am lying in bed
    Just like Brian Wilson did, whoa

    I had a dream
    That I was three hundred pounds
    And though I was very heavy
    I floated 'til I couldn't see the ground
    I floated 'til I couldn't see the ground
    Somebody, I couldn't see the ground
    Somebody, I couldn't see the ground
    Somebody help me

    Because I'm lying in bed
    Just like Brian Wilson did
    Well I am lying in bed
    Just like Brian Wilson did, yeah

    Drove downtown in the rain
    Nine-thirty on a Tuesday night
    Just to check out the late-night record shop
    Call it impulsive, call it compulsive
    You can call it insane, oh oh
    But when I'm surrounded
    I just can't stop Writer/s: Steven Page
    Publisher: Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 17

  • Kj-mac from Oshawa, OnLate night record shop, Page is referring to the iconic Sam the Record Man music store that was located on Yonge Street in Toronto.
  • Marty from Cleveland, OhThis song and "Be My Yoko Ono" are great examples of the playful humor and creativity of Steven Page. I'm really sorry that he's no longer in the band.
  • Indigo from Sacramento, CaSamantha, the pedagogue reference is basically hoping that the psychiatrist is not just in it for the research and can actually help him.
  • Samantha from Livonia, MiDoes anybody know what he means when he says 'Dr. Landy tell me you're not just a pedagogue'? The word seems to mean a dull teacher but in the context I thought maybe it had something to do with the idea of conditioning almost...
  • Bob from Portage, MiIt's hard to believe that no one has mentioned the opening line about the "late-night record store" is a reference to Toronto's Sam the Record Man, the Yonge Street institution now closed.
  • Cailie from Flin Flon, MbWe Canadians knew the love of the barenaked ladies long before our buddies down south!!!! They used to cram into the booth at speakers corner (think photo booth where for one dollar you can tell the nation what's on your mind) and sing songs.....sort of like a music video....that costs a loonie!!!
  • Joe from Springfield, IlThe lyric "wondering where the hell all the love has gone" has a double meaning in that it may also refer to band member Mike Love.
  • Carl from Miami, FlDave is correct, Brian Wilson did NOT put sand in his bedroom. He had a sandbox 30 inches high placed in his music area in the middle of which he set his piano. His objective was to feel the sand at his feet while he composed and played music. One complication: his dogs, Louie and Banana, used the sand box to make their own special contributions. This was a troubling mine field for Brian's friends, like Van Dyke Parks. Indcidently, he cleared out his large liing room and filled the floor with tumbling mats for exercise and fun, and he also erected a tent in his house where the band members had regularly scheduled meetings. In his early 20s Brian developed schizophrenia, paranoid type, which is part of the reason for his unusual taste and eccentric, often child-like, judgment.

    To my knowledge, Brian never composed a song called "castles in the sun".
  • Annabeth from Kutztown, PaThis is about how he's relating to Brian Wilson. Apparently the lead singer is having a gigantic mental block, and can't really think. He's just doing things to occupy himself (driving to a record shop, counting tiles, etc.), and thinking about Brian Wilson.
  • Matt from Moose Jaw, CanadaThey were actually going to make this song about Wayne Gretzky instead
  • Jon from Grand Forks, NdAny chance Castles in the Sun is a reference to Castles Made of Sand by Hendrix? Plausible if you're talking psychological aspects.
  • Maddie from Yakima, WaThe shrink's name is Dr. Landy.
    Brian did have a sandbox under his piano for a while.
  • Matthew from New York, NyOk, here is a list of Brian Wilson references in this song:

    1)Dr. Landing: Wilson's controversial shrink
    2)Smiley Smile: A Beach Boys Album considered to be Wilson's most psychodelic.
    3) "I had a dream that I was 300 pounds": Wilson's weight balooned while he locked himself indoors for three years and was "lying in bed".
    4) Wilson did in fact own an indoor sandbox, inside of which sat a piano. It was there he wrote his songs.
    5) "Fun Fun Fun" is a Beach Boys song.
    6) I THINK Castles in the Sun is a Beach Boys song...I could be wrong.
  • Brian from Edmonton, CanadaThis song was actually released as a single in the BNL's home country of Canada in 1993, and was a huge hit. It features a different video than what was used for it's release in the US several years later.
  • Marvin from East Brady, Paactually, i understood he had a piano in a sandbox where he composed his material...he was a pretty strange guy(schizophrenia + sixties = acid casualty)
  • Dave from Edmonton, CanadaI don't know about the bedroom filled with sand thing (although it sounds like a load of crap to me), but the lyric is actually "...building castles in the sun." It rhymes with the next lyric, "...and singing 'Fun, Fun, Fun.'"
  • Jodi from Springfield, IlThe lyric, "playing my guitar and building castles..." refers to a rumor about Brian Wilson. It was rumoured that Wilson, during his seclusion, had his bedroom filled with sand for extra motivation.
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