Sail On, Sailor - Matthew Sweet Remembers Brian Wilson
- Josh Kitchen
- Jun 18
- 3 min read
By: Josh Kitchen / June 18, 2025
“Brian was THE musical giant of our time" - Matthew Sweet on Brian Wilson, June 15, 2025
If you could sum up Matthew Sweet’s career in a song, you might go to his seminal breakthrough single, "Girlfriend," or a track like "Divine Intervention" from the same album. Drenched in power-pop guitar playing and Sweet’s immaculately crisp vocal harmonies, his catalogue is a goldmine for lovers of pop music and the foundational artists who influenced him.
But with Brian Wilson’s passing last week, I am thinking back to my conversation with Sweet from last year as his new tour was just heating up. As a huge lover of Brian Wilson, I had to chat with Sweet about him, and we talked extensively about his music and about when Sweet played the Brian Wilson tribute concert at Radio City Music Hall in 2001. Since that interview, Sweet suffered a debilitating stroke that derailed his touring plans and his entire life from then on. As I type this, Sweet is still facing steep medical bills and while is recovering, he has a long way to go.
With all this in mind, it's hard for me not to think of Sweet’s cover of the early Beach Boys masterpiece "The Warmth of the Sun" as a perfect summation of Sweet’s œuvre and journey. The original, written by Wilson just hours after the JFK assassination in 1963, leaves behind the carefree licks of "Surfin’ U.S.A." or "Fun, Fun, Fun" for something deeply melancholic—a breakup ballad drenched in sunshine and sorrow. Sweet’s version, recorded with Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles, is equally warm and breezy, his voice channelling Brian’s: yearning, introspective, melodic and mournful.
These qualities mirror Sweet’s own songwriting ethos. For years, he’s written songs that capture the full spectrum of feeling—often detailing heartache and depression with an open-heartedness that echoes Wilson’s most vulnerable moments. As Sweet told me last year:
“Once I had Pet Sounds, and I listened to that music, I mean—nobody was better or would ever be better."
Sweet has long grappled with mental health, eventually being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and treated in the early 2000s. That diagnosis changed his life. He described to me the liberating effect treatment had on his ability to connect—with his audience, with himself, and with the joy of performance. And it’s what made one particular experience all the more powerful: flying to New York to sing at the Brian Wilson tribute concert at Radio City Music Hall, produced by Brian Wilson friend and historian David Leaf:
“I started flying again...David Leaf was such a big fan of Girlfriend. Those people were so incredible and nice to me. When I was flying to the show, Brian’s daughter's Carnie and Wendy [of Wilson-Phillips] Would Come check on me."
Sweet sang "Sail On, Sailor," with Darius Rucker. That classic track was written by Wilson and sung by Blondie Chaplin from their underrated Holland album.
"Sail On, Sailor" stands out in the Beach Boys catalogue as a moment of evolution—both musically and culturally. With the addition of Blondie Chaplin, the band welcomed a new voice and presence, expanding the perception of who could represent the Beach Boys and the California sound. Chaplin’s powerful, soulful lead helped make the track a standout hit. Reflecting on his own performance of the song alongside Darius Rucker at a Brian Wilson tribute, Sweet told me, “I didn’t even think about this at the time—but it was really appropriate, since Blondie Chaplin, who sang the original, is Black. So it felt meaningful to have a Black musician and a white musician performing it together.”
"I felt a kinship to his music, like everyone has been moved by it.”
But like so many artists touched by Wilson’s work, Sweet’s reverence for Brian extended beyond admiration—it shaped his own life, his music, and his understanding of emotional honesty in pop. He was already deep into the world of Pet Sounds and Smile long before the reissues hit the mainstream. Brian Wilson meant so much to Matthew Sweet, and it's a testament to Sweet's survivor ethos and admiration for Brian Wilson that he shared more thoughts about Brian after he passed:
“Brian was THE musical giant of our time. I believe his music will survive for centuries. He would love that. The Beatles all looked at each other when they heard Pet Sounds—‘what the hell do we do now?’” June 15, 2025
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