The Beach Boys - California Dreamin'. So long Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson, chanteur et compositeur des Beach Boys, est mort.
De « Surfin’ USA » à « Good Vibrations », il a amené la pop à des sommets de sophistication grâce à son art du studio, avant de sombrer précocement dans la drogue et la dépression. Il est mort mercredi 11 juin, à l’âge de 82 ans.

Brian Wilson, one of pop music's great visionaries, dies aged 82
From 'Surfin' USA' to 'God only knows,' the Beach Boys singer and song writer took pop music to new heights of sophistication through his mastery of the recording studio, before falling into drugs and depression. He died on Wednesday at 82.

Sur les photos des Beach Boys, il est ce grand type joufflu au sourire de travers, l’air aussi coincé que les quatre autres et comme désolé d’avoir fait une grosse bêtise. Brian Wilson, mort à l’âge de 82 ans, comme l’a annoncé sa famille, mercredi 11 juin, était sans doute un champion de l’autodénigrement et du sentiment de culpabilité, mais il avait quelques talents supplémentaires. Compositeur principal, pianiste, bassiste, arrangeur, chanteur à la voix haute et douloureuse : au sein du groupe californien, il a rempli toutes ces fonctions. Plus important peut-être, il reste, avec Phil Spector, le grand concepteur du studio comme instrument à part entière. Pendant cinq ans, cet intuitif surdoué, sourd d’une oreille, aura prodigué par dizaines des chansons splendides.

In photos of the Beach Boys, he was the tall, chubby guy with the crooked smile, looking just as stiff as the other four and as if he was sorry for having done something terribly wrong. Brian Wilson, who died at the age of 82, as his family announced on Wednesday, June 11, was undoubtedly a master of self-deprecation and guilt, but he also had a few other talents. Within the California band, he took on the roles of principal composer, pianist, bassist, arranger and singer with a high, aching voice. More importantly, perhaps he remains alongside Phil Spector as one of the great visionaries who saw the studio as an instrument in its own right. For five years, this gifted and intuitive musician – deaf of one ear, will will have provided dozens of splendid songs.

The Beach Boys est un groupe de pop-rock américain, originaire de Hawthorne, en Californie. Formé en 1961 par trois frères, leur cousin et un ami, il connait une très grande popularité dans les années 1960 et 1970. C'est l'un des rares groupes américains à avoir pu rivaliser musicalement avec les groupes britanniques de la même époque, tels que les Beatles et les Rolling Stones. Associé à l'origine à la surf music, le groupe s'est surtout distingué par ses chansons aux harmonies vocales complexes et très mélodiques.

Très en vogue aux États-Unis au début des années 1960, les Beach Boys vont amorcer leur déclin à la fin de cette décennie, en raison notamment de la santé mentale précaire de Brian Wilson, le bassiste chanteur et principal compositeur de la plupart des succès du groupe.

Les paroles de "California Dreamin'" évoquent le désir d'évasion vers la Californie lors d'un hiver gris, avec des images de balades, de prière en église, et de rêve d'un climat chaud pour se sentir en sécurité et au chaud.

The song was written, performed and became a huge hit by The Mamas and the Papas; all the annotations are here.

[Chorus]
All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray
I've been for a walk on a winter's day
I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A
California dreaming on such a winter's day

[Verse]
Stopped in to a church I passed along the way
Well I got down on my knees and I pretend to pray
You know the preacher likes the cold
He knows I'm gonna stay
California dreaming on such a winter's day

[Chorus]
All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray
I've been for a walk on a winter's day
I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A
California dreaming on such a winter's day

[Outro]
California dreaming on such a winter's day
[repeat until fade]

The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson recounted the genesis of the title “Good Vibrations” in his 1995 biopic, I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times, and at other times. When he was a child, his mother told him that dogs could pick up “vibrations” from people, so that the dog would bark at “bad vibrations”. Wilson turned this into the general idea of vibrations (and Mike Love putting “good” in front of vibrations), and developed the idea of people being able to do the same with emotions.

This song is revolutionary in a couple of ways. Firstly, the song is a for the time unusual form:
A B A' B C D B E
There is a lot of new material (C, D and E), where most previous songs only had A’s and B’s and sometimes a bridge. Furthermore, these new parts are not in obvious ways musically connected to previous parts.
Second, there is a ton of instruments that were completely new to this type of music, most notably an Electro-Theremin. This song and the album Pet Sounds in general greatly influenced the Beatles, which resulted in Sgt. Pepper.