Legal Issues Preventing Release of Beach Boys/Queen/Foo Fighters Collaboration
In the oddball collaboration department, how about a teaming of Queen, the Beach Boys and Foo Fighters?
That’s apparently the case for “Holy Man,” a song currently consigned to the vaults that was written by Beach Boys Brian and Dennis Wilson during 1974 and includes contributions by Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who recorded vocals for the track as well as percussion.
Dennis Wilson’s frequent songwriting partner Stephen Kalinich tells The Sun in the U.K. that “Holy Man” is “over six minutes long and it’s a masterpiece, but we’ve never been able to release it because we can’t get the legalities worked out…People here it and, honest to God, it brings tears to their eyes.”
“Holy Man” has been stashed away ever since Dennis Wilson’s drowning death in 1983, and another source says that, “The song is in a vault and nobody can do anything about it. It’s such a shame as there will clearly be a huge demand for it.”
Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist who not only covers music but has written books on Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.