I think the essence of this song is... Brian Wilson, leader of the Beach Boys, wrote some of the happiest, sunniest, cheeriest and most brilliant music of the rock era while he himself was depressed, neurotic, deeply introverted and insecure. He wrote songs about frolicking on the beach and surfing while he himself spent a lot of time locked in his own bedroom. At one time, Brian Wilson had a big sandbox placed in his own bedroom. At another time, Wilson became a binge eater who ballooned up to 300 pounds because all he did was eat and lie in bed.

But again, for all his personal weirdness, Wilson was producing remarkably good and absurdly cheery music.

Wilson withdrew completely from the public eye for many years. He finally made a comeback of sort in the early Eighties, under the guidance of a psychotherapist named Dr. Landy.

Now, what are the Barenaked Ladies getting at in this song? I think the song is about writer's block. The snger has hit a creative dry spll, but has had an inspiration: he's going to try to write msuic as great as Brian Wilson's by copying all of Brian Wilson's craziest quirks. He hopes if he lies in bed for weeks, eats compulsively and acts as stranegly as BRian Wilson, then maybe, just MAYBE he'll be able to write classic songs the way Brian Wilson did.