Does The Great American Songbook Include Retirement Reinvention?

Our intrepid Contributing Editor, Dave Slavin, is wondering if reinvention in retirement is applicable to all of us just as the famed musician, and former Beach Boy, Brian Wilson, reinvented himself after the age of 55. Dave went through the reinvention process and highly recommends it. He also highly recommends the music of Brian Wilson!

The Beach Boys

Brian Wilson and his group, The Beach Boys, have made significant contributions to the modern Great American Songbook.The songs “In My Room,” “Don’t Worry Baby,” “God Only Knows,” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” will live-on for generations to come.These are just a few song titles that evoke feelings of teen angst, longing for love, and coming of age. 

The music of Brian Wilson served as both a comfort and a joy to millions of fans of music lovers in the 1960s and established Brian as an influence for many musicians, and non-musicians like me! Then in 1999, something happened that all the Beach Boys fans did not expect including me. Brian began a solo tour at the age of 56! 

This reinvention of the Brian Wilson legacy was both astonishing and inspiring. Part of the Brian Wilson legend is his nervous breakdown in December 1964 that preceded his withdrawing from touring with the Beach Boys. His emotional turmoil was documented in the 2014 movie “Love & Mercy,” detailing Brian’s life-long struggles with substance abuse, depression, and schizophrenia. While present for several Beach Boy shows over the years, Brian did not regularly tour with them after 1964, so to see him embark on a solo tour was surprising. My wife and I flew to Los Angeles to catch Brian’s first Los Angeles solo show at the Wiltern Theatre. The room was electric and filled with Brian’s family, friends, colleagues, and many studio musicians from the legendary Wrecking Crew. 

I was 44 years old and knew I would most likely be retiring from selling advertising for the old US West Direct/Dex Media Yellow Pages in 11 years. I had watched friends, who at the age of 55, sold their insurance agency book of business, or otherwise sought-out new adventures at the age of 55. I told my wife, if Brian Wilson can reinvent himself at the age of 56 and begin a “second act,” so to speak, so can I. I did, in fact, retire from the Yellow Pages industry in 2010 at the age of 55 and resurrected my electronic media advertising sales career. I also sold promotional products, and I began teaching advertising and marketing. I got out of the Yellow Pages business in the nick of time as the industry virtually self-destructed after that, but that is a different story. 

Brian toured virtually every year until 2022 and I saw him “perform” (Brian was not a performer!) nine or ten times over the last two decades. He was not always able to keep his voice through an entire show, but the thousands of fans in attendance were there to pick up his “Good Vibrations” and root for this legend! He had assembled a crack band with some of the finest musicians around and they covered for him admirably. In the studio, Brian went back to work making new music and he even revisited the legendary unreleased album from 1967called SMiLE, completed it, and released it as Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE in 2004. Our hero was back! 

Brian is now retired and under a medical conservatorship, but I am grateful for the last quarter century of Brian Wilson’s return to touring and making original music. Then in a crowning achievement, Brian with the Beach Boys, had a 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour in 2012, which happened to kick off right here, in Tucson, AZ. For a Beach Boy fan, it was a near religious experience! What “Fun, Fun, Fun!”

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