In August 1977, Dennis Wilson released Pacific Ocean Blue, the late Beach Boy’s first — and only — solo album. Now, nearly 50 years later, one of the songs is getting its due.
The Pacific Ocean Blue highlight “Rainbows” has been featured in two releases this month: the sci-fi blockbuster Project Hail Mary and the HBO series DTF St. Louis. It plays in the former when Ryan Gosling’s character, the teacher-turned-astronaut Ryland Grace, is describing Earth’s beauty to his adorable alien friend, Rocky. It fits perfectly in Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s film, alongside songs like Harry Styles’ “Sign of the Times,” Neil Diamond’s “Stargazer,” and the Beatles’ “Two of Us.”
The wonderfully weird DTF St. Louis — starring David Harbour, Jason Bateman, and Linda Cardellini — aired its fifth episode, “Amphezyne,” on March 29. The song appears in a flashback scene, in which Harbour’s character Floyd is delivering a long-winded, series-long explanation to Bateman (Clark) about how he got Peyronie’s disease, which makes his penis curved. In the flashback, Floyd is in Chicago for a job interview, but he breaks his wrists. He’s on a rainy street, struggling to open an umbrella, as a motorcyclist drives by and knocks it in the air, up high in the stormy clouds. He catches the umbrella, staring up at it in amazement, and smiles, just as Wilson’s voice enters the scene.
“Rainbows” wasn’t a even a single off Pacific Ocean Blue (that was the euphoric “River Song” and “You and I”), yet it’s blissful with a propulsive melody, perfect for the big screen. The lyrics about nature, co-written with Wilson’s brother, Carl, and Stephen Kalinich, are also ideal for both scenes. “Earth opens up its arms for me/And when you get the feelin’/The feelin’ everything’s all right, you’re right.” Gosling’s character is reflecting on how amazing his home planet is, while Harbour’s is just happy to live in it — despite his shitty day.
With Pacific Ocean Blue, Wilson was the first Beach Boy to release a solo album. After struggling with substance abuse and living in rock star excess for years, he died in 1983 at just 39, drowning at Marina Del Rey in California. At the time of his death, his follow-up album, Bambu, was still in progress; a compilation of completed tracks was released in 2017.
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“After Dennis died, people used to ask me all the time what I thought about his solo record, Pacific Ocean Blue,” Brian Wilson wrote in his 2016 memoir, I Am Brian Wilson. “I have said that I never heard it, that I won’t listen to it, that it’s too many sad memories and too much for me. That’s sort of true, but not really. I know the music on it. I was around for much of the time in the mid-’70s when Dennis was cutting the record. I loved what he was doing.”
He added: “But I haven’t ever put the record on and listened through it the way I have with other records, or the way that other people have with that record … If I want to know what Dennis’s soul sounded like, I can just remember the songs — ‘What’s Wrong,’ ‘Dreamer,’ ‘Farewell My Friend,’ ‘End of the Show.’ They tell the whole story of how sad and beautiful his life was, how the beauty tried to grow but the sadness kept it in the dark.”