"Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if #neilyoung knew the song “Surf’s Up” when composing and recording “After the Gold Rush.” Furthermore, #pynchon would never say if he had either song in mind when writing about the “The Dream of the Gentle Flood” passage in #vineland. Regardless, both songs and Pynchon’s piece are saturated with the same emotions — regret, longing, and eventually anguish — that connect to a common theme of lost innocence." https://reclinernotes.com/2026/05/10/the-dream-of-the-gentle-flood-thomas-pynchon-brian-wilson-neil-young-los-angeles/