MM: Is it true that this is the last time you’re gonna play it?

BW: It’ll be the last time we’re gonna play it this year, but then we’re gonna record an album, but I don’t know what kind. Maybe a rock ’n’ roll one, but I don’t know. ... I haven’t written any of the songs yet.

MM: Did you ever imagine when you were recording it that you’d be playing the record all these years later, that it would have this impact?

BW: No, no I did not. I could not imagine that at all. I could never have imagined it.

MM: It must be a thrill to see a record that you poured so much of yourself into mean so much to successive generations.

B W: Yeah, it’s a great feeling — a great feeling.

MM: You were all of 23 when you wrote and recorded Pet Sounds, which is kind of incredible to think about. Do the songs change in meaning to you over time? Do they seem different to you when you play them now?

BW: No. [Laughs.] They feel exactly the same as they did 50 years ago!

MM: So they plug you right in to where you were at the time, recording them?

BW: Yeah!

MM: That’s interesting. I mean, a lot of artists can be reluctant to embrace their past, but you really dig this record. What is it about Pet Sounds that you love so much?

MM: Well, I love “God Only Knows” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” very much. I think they’re great songs.

MM: Another understatement! Pet Sounds was one of the earliest things I ever heard as a child. What was yours?

BW: My mom playing “Rhapsody in Blue” for me — that’s one of my earliest memories, when I was 3 years old.