The Beach Boys’ Mike Love On Working With Dennis Wilson Despite Conflicts

‘Living in the Fast Lane’ is an Eagles song, correct, but the phrase is also common in rockstars’ lives and can ultimately lead to their destruction. For The Beach BoysMike Love, his relationship with Dennis Wilson had its ups and downs, and it mostly circled back to the musician living in the fast lane. However, there were also times the former bandmates worked great together, and Love recently shared one of those times with Goldmine.

“The thing is, with Dennis, it’s no secret that he had challenges with lifestyle choices, drugs and alcohol, and stuff like that,” Mike Love said while talking about their relationship rollercoaster. “There are times when we had to tell him that he had to go to rehab. He was showing up for concerts or recordings, and he was not in great shape. It was sad to see and experience.”

He then shared his songwriting collaboration with the late musician, which was really special. “But he loved the environment as we all did. And so we got together, and I wrote the words for the song ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ and the lyrics for ‘Only With You.’ That song is very similar in its vibe to ‘All I Wanna Do’; it has a similar feeling, ‘All I Wanna Do’ being a beautiful song. Having done so many songs with his brother Brian, Dennis did turn to me for help and lyrics on a couple of his songs.”

Even though they looked through different lenses while walking through life, there were moments of pure connection during their time together, during which they created some unforgettable works. One of those tracks was ‘Only With You.’ Give it a listen, and you will understand why Wilson trusted Love to work on the track together.