Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long

In 1988, the release of a new solo album by Brian Wilson was a most newsworthy event. During the second half of the 1970's, Wilson was under the medical and psychiatric care of his therapist, Dr. Eugene Landy, after spending several years doing little or no work with The Beach Boys. But starting in 1983, under Landy's constant supervision, Wilson began making infrequent trips to recording studios, amassing a hefty amount of songwriting collaborations with his old friend and collaborator, Gary Usher, yet still only having marginal involvement with what would become The Beach Boys' eponymous 1985 album, making it unforeseeable that Wilson could work as a seriously productive musician or composer ever again. The initial single from that Beach Boys album was released in April of '85. "Let's Go To Heaven In My Car", co-written with Usher, was a flop, despite or perhaps because of being included in the soundtrack for the movie "Police Academy 4".

Despite all odds, Wilson was signed to a multi-album solo recording contract with Sire Records in early 1987, after label president Seymour Stein saw Wilson perform an acappella version of "On Broadway" at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Producer Lenny Waronker concurred, and Andy Paley was hired as co-producer to lend an empathic ear and keep Brian on task. Gary Usher was a key participant in the early demo work for the album, until Eugene Landy later removed him from the project without explanation.

The eponymous debut solo album by Brian Wilson was released in July 1988 on Sire Records. It was voted one of the best albums of 1988 by NME, and as part of its acclaim, garnered the nickname "Pet Sounds '88" among some critics. Wilson themed the album around love and spirituality, exemplified by its lead single "Love and Mercy". Although the album's sessions were reportedly contentious, with some participants demanding a progressive artistic statement instead of conventional pop songs, Wilson managed to stay true to his own vision, despite the constant pressures of what others wanted from him.

Certain portions of "Brian Wilson" harken back to his earlier work with The Beach Boys. The song "Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long" is sort of a spiritual sequel to "Caroline, No", as Wilson himself explained: "At first, when I wrote the melody, I thought maybe it should be a love song. Most of the lyrics were romantic, but then I said, 'Wait a minute. Let's get rid of some of the love aspects, the romantic aspects of this song, and put in more sexual lyrics'. It's like when girls whack their hair off short, and they don't give a shit. Sometimes, you prompt someone to hit the road and get on the stick and let your hair grow long and try harder. It also exemplifies beauty in a girl."

The 1980's left us with many recordings that are now as identifiable by their heavy handed production techniques as they are by the actual melody at hand. In many cases, the two are inseparable. There are other unfortunate examples where the production overruled the song. This is one of those tracks.

 

In 2000, Sire re-released the album through Rhino/Atlantic Records with non-album single tracks, B-sides, demos, instrumentals, and interview clips. On its 25th anniversary in 2013, Friday Music reissued the album on blue 180g vinyl. Initially, Landy and his girlfriend, Alexandra Morgan, had their names included as co-writing credits on some of the songs on "Brian Wilson", but since Landy was successfully removed from Wilson's life in 1991, the credits were later revised to reflect their lack of involvement in Wilson's songs.

Nelson Bragg is a multi-instrument musician, best known as a drummer, percussionist, and harmony vocalist who has performed in more than 30 bands and has been involved in numerous recordings. In 2003, Bragg joined Brian Wilson’s band as percussionist/vocalist to perform on Brian's recreation of the legendary unreleased album "Smile".

In February 2004, Brian's band premiered the "Smile" show at the Royal Festival Hall in London, and performed a subsequent UK tour. "Smile" was then recorded and released to critical acclaim, winning a Grammy in the Best Instrumental category for the track "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow", which featured Bragg on whistles, sound effects, and celery. In a 2009 interview, Nelson said "Working with Brian Wilson helped me with arrangement skills for sure, and also helped me hear tuning better. My singing has vastly improved after 5 years with him, and I am certainly more adventurous with my harmony choices."

Nelson's 2nd solo album, "We Get What We Want", is a terrific collection of melodic, multi-layered Pop that showcases Bragg's skillful songwriting abilities that were no doubt influenced by not just Brian Wilson's work, but by many others along the way. Bragg wears these influences proudly, but not in any manner that overshadows his own work. He is developing his own sound, which is no easy task for any songwriter, building on the sounds of his previous album, "Day Into Night". He has mentioned on social media that his next album is in the works, but only he knows when we will get to hear it. He takes his time with his music, releasing it only when the work is complete to his satisfaction, as it should be.

Nelson Bragg at his office

I was most grateful when Nelson responded to my written request for some background on the recording of his version of Brian Wilson's "Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long", which is a feature track on "We Get What We Want". I told him that I felt Brian's version had the unfinished vibe of a demo, rather than a polished final recording. Nelson confirmed that in his response to me.

"When I make a new record, I always do 2 covers, one by a friend, or, an exceedingly obscure writer, and one by a famous artist. For "We Get What We Want", I thought it was time to cover Brian. But I am REALLY picky about covers. I have to bring something new to the table, or out-do the original in some way. One thing I love is when I hear a song by an artist where the beauty of the song is really obvious, but the era production or the format (obscure b-side) don't allow the song to get noticed."

"In preparation for a Brian Wilson cover, I was determined to hear literally every single song he ever wrote, or was a large part of. Nick Walusko from the Brian band gave me a DVD of everything: live, studio, solo, bootlegs, demos, covers, every single thing Brian ever did. It took me 3 or 4 days of constantly listening to find the treasure that is "Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long". There was not one song, other than this one, that I could really 'do something' with. It needed improvement and it sounds like a song I would have written, two great reasons to cover it. The 80's synth percussion and keyboard production is awful on that song. It is bombastic and plodding. It's an incredible lost opportunity for him. But the upside was that it seemed like a sequel to "Caroline No" from "Pet Sounds"! Unbelievable. On my last record, I have a song called "Death Of Caroline". I mean, it was clear: I am recording this song!… but it needed to be softer and more tender, maybe less chords, and I heard a mellotron on it. I really felt it needed a Psych treatment, as if Syd Barrett wrote it. So I changed the key up a whole step to make it lighter, but kept the tempo the same. It is NOT slower. I removed several chords in the pre-chorus and saved them for the last one. I sang softer, I even changed a few words to make it flow better; a "the" here or an "and" there…very minor improprieties. When it was done, I was thrilled. It was old-timey in a way."

"I tracked a small 1939 Martin acoustic on it, and drenched the song with mellotron. The drums are a tom-tom ostinato mixed low. I added a piano line on it that is not on the original. I was very influenced by The Stones' "She's A Rainbow" with that, and I compressed the hell out of it. I also added a guitar / trumpet duet that is not on the original, giving it a Sgt. Pepper feel. Another thing about this version: there is no bass. Instead, I tracked a huge pump organ line playing 1/4 note triplets. All of this with an extended vocal outro did the trick for me….a little Stones, a bit of Syd, a dash of Beatles and myself covering Brian Wilson. Good times!"

This is what can happen when skilled musical craftsmen are able to discover the true colors of a song that was buried under excessive production. They uncover it, feed it, give it room to breathe, and encourage it to bloom.

You can find music by Nelson Bragg at CD Baby, and Amazon, where there are also several albums by other artists that Nelson performed on. CD's of "Day Into Night" are hard to locate, but "We Get What We Want" is still readily available, as are downloads of either album. Both are terrific and highly recommended.

I would also like to send out my personal thanks to Mr. Nelson Bragg for his timely, enthusiastic, and thorough response to my queries regarding his process of recording the song. We would ask him to please give Brian our warmest regards, and sincere thanks for all of his great music.

The discography of Brian Wilson has grown considerably since the late 80's, and that's before you get into his work with The Beach Boys. I can't lament the loss of what music we could have had during his personal low times during the 70's and 80's, because Brian's output since then has been so consistently good. This is in no small way due to the love, generosity, empathy, and attention to detail provided to Brian and his music by musicians like Nelson Bragg, and for that, as someone who enjoys the fruits of Brian's creative spirit, I am most grateful.