"Then there was a voice, unmistakably that of The Beach Boys’ mastermind, singing the chorus of ‘Your Song’: ‘I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind.'"

"We said hello. He stared at us and nodded. Then he sang the chorus of ‘Your Song’ again. He said we should come upstairs and meet his kids. It turned out that his kids were asleep in bed. He woke them up. ‘This is Elton John!’ he enthused. His daughters looked understandably baffled. He sang the chorus of ‘Your Song’ to them: ‘I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind’. Then he sang the chorus of ‘Your Song’ to us again. By now, the novelty of hearing the chorus of ‘Your Song’ sung to me by one of pop history’s true geniuses was beginning to wear a little thin. I was struck by the sinking feeling that we were in for quite a long and trying evening. I turned to Bernie and a certain look passed between us, that somehow managed to combine fear, confusion and the fact that we were both desperately trying not to laugh at the absolute preposterousness of the situation we found ourselves in, a look that said: what the fuck is happening?"

When Elton John met Brian Wilson, described by Elton John in "Me: Elton John Official Autobiography."



I'm picturing Brian Wilson singing "I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind" — just those words — on and on, a hundred times, and Elton John did mind, but he couldn't say so. Did he ever question the meaning of the song and begin to think the "you" to whom the song is addressed really would mind? I've heard the song hundreds of times, and I've never until now had the thought that "you" would hear the song and say, I actually do mind.