I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
I’ll make you so sure about it

God only knows what I’d be without you
If you should ever leave me
Though life would still go on believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me

God only knows what I’d be without you
God only knows what I’d be without you
If you should ever leave me
Well life would still go on believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me

God only knows what I’d be without you
God only knows what I’d be without you
God only knows
God only knows what I’d be without you
God only knows what I’d be without you
God only knows
God only knows what I’d be without you
God only knows what I’d be without you
God only knows
God only knows what I’d be without you
God only knows what I’d be without you
God only knows
God only knows what I’d be without you
God only knows what I’d be without you
God only knows
God only knows what I’d be without you
God only knows what I’d be without you
God only knows
God only knows what I’d be without you
-Written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher
-Performed by The Beach Boys

If aliens came down to our planet. And they cornered me while I was out on the High Trestle Trail doing my Saturday morning walk. And they told me they were going to destroy the human species if I didn’t give them one accomplishment by humans that was worthy to allow us to survive, I would first fight my base instinct to say, “Well, we are a failed species. Probably for the best.” I would pause think for a second and maybe play them “Amazing Grace”, but that song was written by a reformed slave trader and while a redemption arc is a great story, bringing up the human penchant to enslave other human beings would not save humanity from the calcinator death ray used by the aliens on Planet X. So my second thought would be to play them this song. A complete masterpiece and one of the most beautiful songs ever crafted by mankind.

Like Kenny Rogers and Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys were one of my Mom’s favorites. Like Kenny Rogers, I did get to take my Mom to a Beach Boys concert. It wasn’t as great as the Kenny Rogers question. Most of the real talent in The Beach Boys has since moved on. Either from the band. Or from life. Or in the case of the real genius (Brian Wilson) from reality.

Unfortunately Brian Wilson had a break from reality that was exacerbated and exploited by a talent agent. They made a movie about it called LOVE & MERCY. It isn’t great, but it is worth watching.

There were really only 2 original Beach Boys left when we saw them play and like many men of their generation it appeared that their brains had been melted by watching FoxNews and probably the Facebook algorithm. It was sad to see.

But Thursdays are for flowers! This flowertography collection was taken in my yard:

The next flowertography session will see a return to the Iowa State Fair.