The Heartbreaking “Farewell” Dennis Wilson Wrote for a Dear Friend Who Died in His Arms, Brother Carl Wilson’s Father-in-Law

Several years before his death in 1983, Dennis Wilson released his only album, Pacific Ocean Blue, in 1977. The album featured songs he co-wrote with a group of writers, including close friend and Beach Boys’ songwriting partner Gregg Jakobson, along with Mike Love and brother Carl Wilson. The album features the singles “You and I,” about Wilson’s ex-wife Karen Lamm-Wilson (also listed as a co-writer), and “River Song,” which was co-written with Carl. 

On Pacific Ocean Blue, there was another song written by Wilson, “Farewell My Friend,” dedicated to Otto Hinsche, the father-in-law of his brother Carl, with his first wife Annie Hinsche, who became a dear friend. Wilson lovingly referred to Hinsche as “pop” and considered him a father figure.

Before Hinsche’s death in 1976 at age 82, Wilson would also often visit him when he was very ill and help him up to his rooftop, so he could look out at the ocean.

“They had a special relationship that went beyond the relationship I had with my father,” said Hinsche’s son and Beach Boys collaborator, Billy Hinsche, in 2008. “Dennis would often come over and visit my dad, whether I was home or not. They had a lot of little adventures together. My dad died in ’76, so there were 10 years of him knowing Dennis.”

Hinsche continued, “After he passed away, Dennis told me this story about how he was driving around that day in Westwood and his tooth fell out and he thought that was a sign that he needed to go see ‘Pop.” He rushed to the hospital and, sure enough, my dad was dying, and he died in Dennis’ arms. He wrote ‘Farewell My Friend’ for “Pop.” It’s taken me 30 years to be able to listen to it and not get too emotional about it.

In a 1977 interview with Beach Boys historian David Leaf, Wilson said of Hinsche’s passing: “My best friend died in my arms, and I came to the studio. I knew that he loved the Hawaiian Islands; the song just happened, sort of a happy farewell. It’s written for Otto Hinsche, Carl’s father-in-law. I carry a picture of him everywhere. When my father died, Pops [Mr. Hinsche] saved my life in a way.”

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[RELATED: The Fraternal Beach Boys Song Dennis Wilson “Wrote” with Charles Manson]

‘I want to see you again’

Wilson’s lyrics are a sad goodbye to a person Wilson grew close to over a short period of time.

Farewell my friend
My beautiful friend
Farewell
You take the high road

And I’ll take the low road
And we’ll meet again
Farewell my friend, I love you
In a funny way
You take the high road
I’ll take the low road
And we will meet again
Farewell my friend

By the end of the song, Wilson repeats I want to see you again.

“After Dennis died, people used to ask me all the time what I thought about his solo record, ‘Pacific Ocean Blue,’” wrote Brian Wilson in his 2016 memoir I Am Brian Wilson. “I have said that I never heard it, that I won’t listen to it, that it’s too many sad memories and too much for me. That’s sort of true, but not really. I know the music on it. I was around for much of the time in the mid-’70s when Dennis was cutting the record.”

Brian continued, “I loved what he was doing. My favorite song that he ever made was ‘You and I’ – I love that cut. But I haven’t ever put the record on and listened through it the way I have with other records or the way that other people have with that record.”

When Dennis died after drowning at Marina Del Rey in 1983 at the age of 39, “Farewell My Friend” was played at his funeral.

Photo: Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images