Dylan, Elton & Smokey Wish Brian Wilson A Happy 80th Birthday

A very special group of musicians saluted the 80th birthday of Beach Boys founding member Brian Wilson on Monday by contributing to a nearly-seven-minute compilation video in his honor, entitled From Your Fellow Performers.

Elton John starts it off by saying, among other things, that to him Wilson is “the only real pop genius in the world.” Bob Dylan closes it by singing “Happy Birthday” to Brian.

Other performances come from Joe Walsh, who begins his guitar take on “Happy Birthday” with the opening chords to “Help Me Rhonda,” the band Fleet Foxes, whose horns played a bit of “God Only Knows,” and Smokey Robinson, who sang a bit of “Happy Birthday a cappella.

Among the many memorable testimonials was that of long time Beach Boys bandmate Al Jardine, who said, “Just remember, we’ll always be younger than your cousin Mike,” a reference to another Beach Boys founding member, Mike Love.

The other participants were:

  • Barry Gibb
  • Carole King
  • Graham Nash
  • John Fogerty
  • Micky Dolenz (of The Monkees)
  • Danny Hutton (of Three Dog Night)
  • Stephen Bishop
  • actor-singer Jeff Bridges
  • director Cameron Crowe
  • actor John Cusack (who played Brian in the movie Love and Mercy)
  • Don Was
  • Lyle Lovett
  • Blondie Chaplin (of The Beach Boys and Brian’s solo band)
  • Brian’s entire solo band
  • rapper Chuck D (of Public Enemy)
  • Jim James (of My Morning Jacket)
  • She and Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward)
  • Questlove (of The Roots)