The Beach Boys song that was too painful for Brian Wilson to perform live: “Brings back bad memories
(Credits: Far Out / Caribou Records / Public Domain)
Sat 8 November 2025 15:34, UK
There are a lot of dos and don’ts that follow the creators of rock music. It might pitch itself as a rebellion against the establishment, but, in doing so, it created its own set of rules. When looking at the mechanics of rock and roll, Brian Wilson threw out the rulebook with The Beach Boys.
While the group’s first iteration saw Wilson making traditional surf-themed takes on the traditional sounds of Chuck Berry and Little Richard, his true genius appeared whenever he ventured into the studio, creating songs that became musical pieces of art across the late 1960s. When he did, he created anthemic songs that, richly textured and captivatingly nuanced, would sneak under the radar as a simple song.
It was this talent that allowed Wilson to become one of the most important musicians of his generation. Although Wilson was happy to spin all of his music into solid gold, there was one song that he never felt comfortable taking to the stage.
Then again, Wilson was never that comfortable with the stage environment. Since the band was a family affair in their early days with his brothers Dennis and Carl and cousin Mike Love singing alongside him, Brian was used to fading into the background at the band’s gigs, always keeping everything anchored with the bass guitar in his hand.
When Wilson began to see what was possible in his creative medium thanks to The Beatles, he took a hands-on approach whenever they made their following records. Considering how well it was paying off seeing Wilson create masterpieces like ‘Good Vibrations’, the band would go on tour without him, famously going to Japan without their musical leader while he stayed in Los Angeles to create Pet Sounds.
The Beach Boys in 1964. (Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Although Wilson would make a brilliant set of songs good enough to rival any of his British Invasion counterparts, he would be chasing that high for the rest of his career, including going down the road of psychedelia on albums like Surf’s Up. Outside of Brian’s contributions, though, the rest of the band had started showcasing their material, including Dennis helping fine-tune the ballad ‘Forever’.
Having been the good-time spirit of the band onstage, Dennis’ tone on the ballad would turn it into one of the most heartbreaking songs of their career, singing about his devotion to his lover back home. Although Brian loved the tone of his brother’s voice, he admitted that he had to retire the song after his brother’s death.
Outside of his behaviour offstage throughout the years, Dennis had been drinking heavily when on a yacht in 1983, when he decided to jump into the ocean for equipment that fell aboard, never to resurface again. While the band would eventually cut another version of their hit with actor and Beach Boys fanatic John Stamos, Wilson never wanted to play the original song live ever again.
When talking about the song’s legacy, Wilson said it would be too painful to revisit it on the live stage, saying, “There’s a song that brings back bad memories, because he says ‘Now I’m going away’ and then he died. I don’t really listen to it very often, and I try to keep it off the set. We had this amazing tight harmony sound, and it brings back a real memory that I don’t really want to deal with”.
The tragedy that likely showed itself to Wilson every time he touched a piano and heard the chords was enough to ensure he would never perform it live again. A touching, beautiful track, it serves as a fitting tribute to Dennis Wilson and Brian Wilson’s supreme talent.
Despite not wanting to play the song again, ‘Forever’ remains a beloved deep cut of the group’s back catalogue, being one of the most tender songs the band had put out since ‘God Only Knows’. Even though Dennis might not have been able to sing the song for very long, his good-natured spirit is still alive and well within the record’s grooves.
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