Brian Wilson Quotes & Sayings

I wake up in the morning and I say 'Ahh! Today's the day for a song! I'm going to write a song today!' And I do. I write a song. — Brian Wilson

First of all, I want people to understand that I'm here to create for them. To create music for people so they'll know that I'm a source of love. And they can depend on my name. — Brian Wilson

Any article's good. Long as it's publicity, I think that's all that matters. I think it's advancement for my career. — Brian Wilson

All of the artists did such a beautiful job I can't thank them enough. I'm just honored that God Only Knows was chosen. God Only Knows is a very special song. An extremely spiritual song and one of the best I've ever written. — Brian Wilson

I have auditory hallucinations, I hear voices saying derogatory things, like I'm terrible and I'm going to die, and they're usually worse in the afternoon. — Brian Wilson

I sit and I write automatically. I don't really try to write. My subconscious mind takes over and writes the songs for me. Songs come very easily for me. When I'm inspired, it takes me 20 minutes to write a song. — Brian Wilson

I always do get a little bit paranoid when I get a lot of attention. But I get used to it. — Brian Wilson

I would listen to Little Richard and Fats Domino and Chuck Berry, and I would listen to how they played their riffs, and after I taught myself that, I taught myself to play my own kind of stuff. — Brian Wilson

I have to tell you that J.S. Bach was easily the greatest musical innovator in the history of the world. He was so advanced for his time. There's a spiritual depth to his music. You can listen to it and it's like meditation. — Brian Wilson

So it's 1976 and we're still riding on our past success. I mean I've gone on like that for I don't know how long. — Brian Wilson

There's nothing greater than a girl ... Well a kid, your daughter, but that's a girl too. — Brian Wilson

I think in terms of emotions. And feelings. So sometimes what I say may not always be clear. But creatively, there's a lot to be said for that way of thinking. — Brian Wilson

The idea of taking a song, envisioning the overall sound in my head and then bringing the arrangement to life in the studio ... well, that gives me satisfaction like nothing else ... My state of being has been elevated, because I've been exercising, writing songs ... No masterpiece ever came overnight. A person's masterpiece is something that you nurture along. — Brian Wilson

Love and mercy that's what you need tonight. Love and mercy to you and your friends tonight. — Brian Wilson

If there's not love present, it's much, much harder to function. When there's love present, it's easier to deal with life. — Brian Wilson

When I can't write, it depresses me. — Brian Wilson

I earned my famous name. — Brian Wilson

Gershwin inspired me very much. The concept of 'That Lucky Old Sun' was inspired by 'Rhapsody in Blue' - not influenced, but inspired. — Brian Wilson

The only reason I'd ever get a sex change operation is to see what it's like to be right all the time. — Brian Wilson

My brother Carl taught me how to play bass. I'm a self-taught keyboard player, though - I figured out our harmonies at the piano. — Brian Wilson

If you're going to write a song, try to get together with a collaborator because it's better to write with collaborators. — Brian Wilson

My mother used to tell me about vibrations. I didn't really understand too much of what that meant when I was just a boy. To think that invisible feelings, invisible vibrations existed scared me to death. — Brian Wilson

I consider myself to be a crusader of love. I try to spread love around the world as best I can because I know I have a handle on love. — Brian Wilson

You want to know my real pleasure? Food. I love chocolate. I can't get enough chocolate. I can't help it. But my biggest pleasure of all is exercise. I really get off on exercise. — Brian Wilson

Pop music has been exhausted. The innocence has been exhausted. I think we've lost the ability to be blown away by music. — Brian Wilson

Probably not much of a song left in me, you know, if any, because I've written so many, some 250 songs or 300 or whatever it is. — Brian Wilson

I have stage fright every single concert I've ever done. I have at least four or five minutes of it. It's absolute living hell. — Brian Wilson

The keyboard is my whole life. My life is centered around either sitting at my keyboard or driving my car. Those are the two most important things, more than anything else. Being at my keyboard, it's the happiest time for me. — Brian Wilson

Don't get married until you're certain that you're marrying the right girl. How did I know my wife was the one? I'd seen her for a couple of months. I liked her. She was a very creative person and she had a very good grip on politics and business. — Brian Wilson

I'm just a shy and retreating kind of person. Sometimes I get in a real talkative mood - but not very often. — Brian Wilson

It's like when a guy gets a divorce from his wife. You part ways. That's what I did with The Beach Boys. — Brian Wilson

You know, Rolling Stones songs all sound kind of the same. — Brian Wilson

I think I need the demons in order to write, but the demons have gone. It bothers me a lot. I've tried and tried, but I just can't seem to find a melody. — Brian Wilson

I met Paul in 1967, Ringo in 1985, and I saw George Harrison in a nightclub somewhere in L. A. I never met John. — Brian Wilson

I think about God, yes, and I wonder if there is a God. And if there is a God, will God please help me through my hard trips. — Brian Wilson

I think I'm a vocal genius, not a musical genius. I like background vocals. I consider myself a voice, not a singer. A voice is a sound, and singing is what you do with that sound. — Brian Wilson

I meditate and I also think about meditation. Which is funny. I think about Maharishi, about just the idea of meditating. It gives me something. — Brian Wilson

Some people might think that sex is the highest experience you can have. I tend to think that music is. — Brian Wilson

I'm doing good. I've had a slight nervous breakdown in the '60s. I got through that. And I got through the '70s. And I was in a doctor's program during the '80s and then I met Melinda and we've been together ever since. I've got a happy life. — Brian Wilson

You're called a genius by people, and then your whole life you become the part. — Brian Wilson

I'm happy; I'm a happy person. — Brian Wilson

What in the world is a hangover cure? — Brian Wilson

I still believe that something is right only when it feels right. — Brian Wilson

The Beach Boys have always been a part of the '60s spectrum, with The Beatles and that kind of thing. They were a part of the music business like everyone else. And they did quite well as a singing group, and I finished a lot of good records, and I'm very proud of them. — Brian Wilson

I've never written one note or word of music simply because I think it will make money. — Brian Wilson

I hate those old falsettos, I really do, and it's embarrassing since I've grown up. — Brian Wilson

You say how you feel, and songs don't lie. Songs are the most honest form of human expression there is
there's nothing that lies about a song. — Brian Wilson

Every now and then I hear voices in my head, but not very clear. I can't understand what they are saying. It's a mental illness. I have been diagnosed as a manic depressive. — Brian Wilson

Politics goes in one ear and out the other. I don't even know the president's name for sure. That's how stupid I am. — Brian Wilson

You know Chuck, Buddy, and Elvis paved the road. The roots are deep inside us, it's the rhythm in our soul. — Brian Wilson

My skills are musical, not lyrical. — Brian Wilson

I listen to oldies but goodies stations, '60s and '70s music. — Brian Wilson

Being single is like liking a Phil Spector record. — Brian Wilson

I wanted to emulate Bob Flanagan, the high voice in the 'Four Freshmen.' I wanted to sing high like he did. — Brian Wilson

Surfing music is dead. It was just a summer craze for kids on the beach. I'm finished with it. — Brian Wilson

Humor - it helps to make the vibe better - it loosens up the vibrations. — Brian Wilson

Summer means happy times and good sunshine. It means going to the beach, going to Disneyland, having fun. — Brian Wilson

I'd earned over a million dollars by the time I was old enough to vote. — Brian Wilson

Freedom and Liberty cannot exist without Individual Responsibilty. Failure to exercise Individual Responsibilty forfeits your right to self-governance and delivers it to Government which, through force, will set the parameters of your life. — Brian Wilson

I get off on hearing other people's voices. I like voices: they're my favourite things on records. — Brian Wilson

To wear a floral shirt is an experience. — Brian Wilson

I have an instinct for music, or a feeling about it, and I'll have my feelings guide my hands. — Brian Wilson

I like the piano - I'm always about 15 feet away from a piano. — Brian Wilson

I play piano all the time. I'm always at my piano, playing music. — Brian Wilson

I believe that writers run out of material, I really do. I believe very strongly in the fact that when the natural time is up, writers actually do run out of material. To me it's black and white. When there's a song there's a song, when there's not there's not. — Brian Wilson

I approach my music-making as an art-form
something pure from the spirit to which I can add dynamics and marketable reality. Music is genuine and healthy and the stimulation I get from molding it and adding dynamics is like nothing else on earth. — Brian Wilson

I think cursing is a bunch of malarkey. — Brian Wilson

Music is God's voice. — Brian Wilson

I was very, very financially secure my whole life. I have been very lucky to say that. — Brian Wilson

People are part of my music. A lot of my songs are the result of emotional experiences, sadness, pain, joy, and exultation in nature and sunshine and so on ... like 'California Girls' which was a hymn to youth. — Brian Wilson

You know what? I'm not always in a positive, happy place. But I'm able to concentrate enough to come up with a really good song. — Brian Wilson

You don't really know what to believe until the Government denies it. — Brian Wilson

I'm not a genius. I'm just a hard-working guy. — Brian Wilson

The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Phil Spector. Those were my idols. — Brian Wilson

Chuck Norris has been known to throw a baseball 100 mph. I've been known to throw Chuck Norris 100 mph. — Brian Wilson

The audiences in the U.K. like me more than in America. — Brian Wilson

There's no outdoing The Beatles. — Brian Wilson

I believe that music is God's voice. — Brian Wilson

I can write songs, I've had songs in movies, but I can't compose film scores, you know? — Brian Wilson