I recently came across this, in a mid-'80s issue of BBFUN (the official Beach Boys fan club newsletter)...thought the next-to-last paragraph in particular was interesting, since I haven't read about it anywhere else:

"I interviewed him when his solo album came out, and ended up spending the day and night with him. He had a recording session, and he took me and a bunch of people into Brother Studio, and had us singing background on a new song of his, 'He's A Bm.' A great song, and I hope it comes out someday. He taught us our part, and we sang it over and over until he was satisfied. That's the first time I really saw how hard it is to make records. Later that night, around ten o'clock, Dennis began working on a lead vocal for another song. He spent at least two hours singing the same verse, over and over again, until he was satisfied with every single word. I don't think people knew that when it came to his music, Dennis was really a perfectionist. He had so much talent, and I don't know if he ever acknowledged himself.

"That day with Dennis didn't end at the studio. Around 1:00 in the morning, when he quit for the day, he said to me, 'C'mon, let's go.' I didn't know where we were going; I just knew that he wanted to drive my car. I have to admit that made me a little nervous, not only because Dennis was a speed racer, but because on the back windshield of my car, I had a bumper sticker that a friend of mine had given to me. It said, 'Warning - I brake for Brian Wilson...When Dennis saw it, I was just humiliated. I thought, 'He's going to kill me.' And he looked at it, and got all choked up, like he was going to cry. And he said, 'I know exactly what you mean. Everytime I'm driving in my car and one of Brian's songs comes on the radio, I have to pull off to the side of the road.' To me, the bumper sticker was a mean joke, but when Dennis said it like that, it suddenly took on a whole new meaning. I never knew whether he was serious or whether he was putting me on, but he got pretty emotional about it...Anyway, he drove to his house in Venice, and we spent the entire night talking. He played the piano some, played a new song, and he got me to write lyrics to it. That's another beautiful song that never came out. I think the lyric was something like 'Drink up, the bartender said, the night is long and you've been mislead.' And in the chorus, Dennis sang, 'Did it hurt, did it hurt to love again?'. That was a powerful, emotional experience. And that's what Dennis could do to you.

"We talked 'til dawn, never went to sleep. We discussed different groups we liked, and it turned out we were both big Bruce Springsteen fans. The next morning, a friend of his visited, and around 10 a.m., I went home and slept. I will never forget that day..."

Craig, that is fantastic, thanks much for sharing this.