“Don’t talk // take my hand // and listen to my heart // beat… Listen // Listen // Listen..”
“Don’t Talk”, written by Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, is a far cry from “I Get Around” or “Surfin’ USA”. It’s intimate…vulnerable. The string instrumental is pained and careful. In his review for Record Mirror, Norman Jopling described the song as having a “hymnal sound … with a tremendous atmosphere … of late night, very tired sitting on the rug at your girl’s place.” That is what this song sounds like to me. Sit still. Quiet your mind. “Let’s not think about tomorrow…” I recorded the song in one raw take just before the sky went pitch-dark, sitting at a window looking out to a street blanketed in the hot humidity of a summer night, watching the cars pass. If I ever end up on a rooftop to watch the sunset, this is the song I’m playing in my head.