"Brian Wilson" is a song by the Canadian musical group Barenaked Ladies. Barenaked Ladies, circa 2000. ...

The song was written by singer/guitarist Steven Page in his parent’s basement on his twentieth birthday, in 1990. The first lines of the song chronicle one of his many late-night journeys to the Sam the Record Man on Yonge Street. Steven Page is a lead singer and songwriter of Barenaked Ladies. ... This article is about the year. ... Sam the Record Man is a Canadian record store chain. ... Yonge Street (pronounced young), located in Ontario, Canada, is a major arterial street in Toronto and a provincial highway. ...

The song tells the story of a man whose life parallels that of Beach Boys member Brian Wilson, particularly during his time spent with psychologist Eugene Landy after Wilson was diagnosed with mental illness. The Beach Boys 1976 album 15 big ones The Beach Boys are a pop music group formed in Hawthorne, California in 1961, whose popularity has lasted into the twenty-first century. ... Brian Wilson, 1988 Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942, in Hawthorne, California) is an American pop musician, best known as a founding member of and the main producer, composer, and arranger for The Beach Boys. ... Eugene Landy was known as psychologist to the stars before being hired by The Beach Boys to treat Brian Wilson using unorthodox 24-hour therapy. ... The Scream, the famous painting commonly thought of as depicting the experience of mental illness. ...

Steven Page stated in the liner notes for Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits 1991-2001 that the song has more “official” recordings than any other song in their repertoire, saying that there are at least seven. The song was first recorded for the never-released 1990 BNL cassette, Barenaked Recess. After Tyler Stewart joined the band in 1991 as a drummer, it was re-recorded for the band’s platnium-selling Yellow Tape. It was then re-recorded the following year for Gordon, again in 1996 for Rock Spectacle, and yet another version in 1997, which was called “Brian Wilson 2000” and was released as a single. Disc One is the seventh album by Barenaked Ladies. ... Tyler Stewart is the drummer for Barenaked Ladies. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Yellow Tape is the Barenaked Ladies third indie tape release, after Buck Naked in 1989 with just Ed and Steve, then Barenaked Lunch (also known as the Pink Tape) in 1990. ... Gordon was the debut CD and first major-label album by Barenaked Ladies. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Rock Spectacle (1996) is the fourth full-length album by Barenaked Ladies and their first live release. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The “2000” version was an edited form of the song for radio play, as the band's management worried that radio stations would not play the live version that had recently gained popularity. The most noticeable differences are that “2000” replaces the first 2 verses with an 8-bar instrumental intro, and the outro is considerably shortened as well. However, most radio stations decided to play the live version instead, which was the version included on Disc One.

In recent performances, the band has started singing the first chorus a capella, eliminating all instrumentation (the rest of the song continues as normal). A cappella music is vocal music or singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. ...

In an ironic turn of events, Brian Wilson actually sang this song for a live album he recorded in 2003. Brian Wilson, 1988 Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942, in Hawthorne, California) is an American pop musician, best known as a founding member of and the main producer, composer, and arranger for The Beach Boys. ...