What would Who Ran The Iron Horse and Home on the Range have sounded like?

[doinnothin]

So according to Vosse and session sheets, the "Who Ran the Iron Horse" and "Home on the Range" sections of Cabinessence were originally different songs.



My stab at it would be:

Who Ran the Iron Horse
- Welcome
- Bicycle Rider
- Who Ran the Iron Horse
- Rock Roll Plymouth Rock (not sure about this, but I like the idea of it being about the expansion over land after Plymouth Rock "rolls over")
- Ribbon of Concrete (fits nicely with the following ...)
- Who Ran the Iron Horse (with Truck Drivin' Man)
- Grand Coulie
- Over and Over

I'm considering using this to kick-off a SMiLE mix followed by Heroes & Villains (crow cries followed by the Crows - Gee intro is kind of neat)

Home on the Range
- Old Master Painter ("from the faraway hills" aka "funky cat up in the mountains")
- You Were My Sunshine
- Home on the Range (after the sunshine is taken away, "Light the lamp and fire mellow"
- With Me Tonight - faster version (I don't know about this, but it still sounds good to go to a big sound after Home on the Range)
- Home on the Range ("Want to watch your windblown facing")
- With Me Tonight - slower version
- Barnshine? (works well with With Me Tonight, and supposedly used to go with OMP/YAMS)

I'd love to hear other ideas.

[A Million Units In Jan!]

IMHO, I think that sometimes the posse got sections mixed up. I know that this interview was only a couple of years after the fact, but still, think about hearing all of these sections, and how Brian was constantly moving these parts around; it's easy to get confused. Even though these guys were around Brian alot, I don't know if they were always with him in the control room, looking over his shoulder for every bit of music he recorded. We like to think that because they were in Brian's circle that they somehow know all the answers.  I know the sessions sheets list them as different songs, but the only person it really mattered to was Brian, and if he knew 'Iron Horse' was the middle section of 'CabinEssence', then that's all that matters.

[hypehat]

I have to agree. Their memory for a lot of these things was in the context of joint-fuelled gatherings around Brian and acetates that might have lasted hours. And given Brian's impulsive nature, this could have meant a lot of things.

[OneEar/OneEye]

It's an interesting idea though.   Not to say that is how they originally intended anything, but still an interesting idea.
I once heard a mix someone had done where, because of the "the whole album is an american gothic trip" thing, they (that being the individual who had made the Smile mix) sandwiched all the different bits in the middle of Worms.  It opened with the first part of Worms and ended with the last part.   In between were all the different pieces (Iron Horse, Cabin E., Sunshine, etc.) in various configurations.
Some of this mix worked better than other parts of it, but it was very cool and really highlighted the modular nature of it all and how interchangable much of it was/is.   

[Dunderhead]

Hmmm, I dunno guys.
There was a lot of stuff going on with SMiLE, and sure not everyone could keep up, but I think just saying, "oh those guys were probably too high to remember" isn't right.

SMiLE is about medleys. "Pocket Symphony" is a term thrown out a lot, the "movements" of this symphony are all the sections that we have. I think in 1967 SMiLE became more about songs but in 1966, Heroes and Villains wasn't so much a song, as it was an extended medley of short "movements"

From the Goodbye Surfing... article:
"A panorama of American history filled the room as the music shifted from theme to theme; the tinkling harpsichord-sounds of the bicycle rider pushed sad Indian sounds across the continent; the Iron Horse pounded across the plains in a wide-open rolling rhythm that summoned up visions of the old West; civilized chickens bobbed up and down in a tiny ballet of comic barnyard melody; the inexorable bicycle music, cold and charming as an infinitely talented music box, reappeared and faded away."

I always thought it was strange that the bicycle rider "reappeared" after what sounds like Cabinessence and Barnyard (with animal noises and vocals perhaps?). I think having a totally different sounding Cabinessence is entirely possible and perhaps what Brian intended from the start. Early on I think Brian had something much grander in mind, but ended up worrying about having a single to put out so he put things into songs.

[A Million Units In Jan!]

From the Goodbye Surfing... article:
"A panorama of American history filled the room as the music shifted from theme to theme; the tinkling harpsichord-sounds of the bicycle rider pushed sad Indian sounds across the continent; the Iron Horse pounded across the plains in a wide-open rolling rhythm that summoned up visions of the old West; civilized chickens bobbed up and down in a tiny ballet of comic barnyard melody; the inexorable bicycle music, cold and charming as an infinitely talented music box, reappeared and faded away."

I always thought it was strange that the bicycle rider "reappeared" after what sounds like Cabinessence and Barnyard (with animal noises and vocals perhaps?). I think having a totally different sounding Cabinessence is entirely possible and perhaps what Brian intended from the start. Early on I think Brian had something much grander in mind, but ended up worrying about having a single to put out so he put things into songs.

Yeah, but isn't he talking about different acetates here, and not one long piece of music? I could see Brian with 5 or 6 different pieces of music, playing them one after another, and maybe playing the 'Bicycle Rider' section twice. Don't get me wrong, I think it would be great if there was this entirely different version of CabinEssence somewhere. I just don't think that there is one.

[buddhahat]

I'm not sure. I was always intrigued by this quote and Who ran the Iron Horse and the bicycle theme go together very well and actually create a song that is much more focused on evoking the railroad. I can see these two belonging together early on, and then Brian splitting the sections into the songs we know now. Remember all sorts of migrations of fragments occurred during the smile sessions - the bike rider theme into H&V for instance. It's only logical that there may be some of these that we are unaware ever happened at all.

[desmondo]

Hmmm, I dunno guys.
There was a lot of stuff going on with SMiLE, and sure not everyone could keep up, but I think just saying, "oh those guys were probably too high to remember" isn't right.

SMiLE is about medleys. "Pocket Symphony" is a term thrown out a lot, the "movements" of this symphony are all the sections that we have. I think in 1967 SMiLE became more about songs but in 1966, Heroes and Villains wasn't so much a song, as it was an extended medley of short "movements"

From the Goodbye Surfing... article:
"A panorama of American history filled the room as the music shifted from theme to theme; the tinkling harpsichord-sounds of the bicycle rider pushed sad Indian sounds across the continent; the Iron Horse pounded across the plains in a wide-open rolling rhythm that summoned up visions of the old West; civilized chickens bobbed up and down in a tiny ballet of comic barnyard melody; the inexorable bicycle music, cold and charming as an infinitely talented music box, reappeared and faded away."

I always thought it was strange that the bicycle rider "reappeared" after what sounds like Cabinessence and Barnyard (with animal noises and vocals perhaps?). I think having a totally different sounding Cabinessence is entirely possible and perhaps what Brian intended from the start. Early on I think Brian had something much grander in mind, but ended up worrying about having a single to put out so he put things into songs.

Interesting stuff and something I think as some credence and may have completely fall apart when VDP left the first time - up til then yes a real possibilty as you had the bulk of the VDP/BW work

1. H&V and different sections
2. BR
3. Worms
4. Wonderful
5. Surf's Up
6. Child Is
7. Cabinessence and all the bits
8. IIGS
9. Barnyard stuff
10. MOC

[The Shift]

Agree with the acetates angle but this kind of patchwork quilting of SMiLE extracts is intriguing. Imagine the "Woo-woo-woo" from the Cantina section delving straight into "Who Ran the Iron Horse"?  Marvellous!  And maybe what fan mixes were invented for!

[Andrew G. Doe]

SMiLE is about medleys. "Pocket Symphony" is a term thrown out a lot, the "movements" of this symphony are all the sections that we have. I think in 1967 SMiLE became more about songs but in 1966, Heroes and Villains wasn't so much a song, as it was an extended medley of short "movements"

Excellent observation, which ties in nicely with the 1972 announcement and Carl saying that many of the titles were grouped together under the subtitle "Heroes And Villains". The tracks announced were:

Child Is Father To The Man
Surf's Up
You Are My Sunshine/The Old Master Painter
Barnyard
Cabinessence (incorporating Who Ran The Iron Horse)
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
I Love To Say DaDa (incorporating Cool, Cool Water)
Vegetables (original)
Wind Chimes (original)
Wonderful (original)

[desmondo]

So according to Vosse and session sheets, the "Who Ran the Iron Horse" and "Home on the Range" sections of Cabinessence were originally different songs.



My stab at it would be:

Who Ran the Iron Horse
- Welcome
- Bicycle Rider
- Who Ran the Iron Horse
- Rock Roll Plymouth Rock (not sure about this, but I like the idea of it being about the expansion over land after Plymouth Rock "rolls over")
- Ribbon of Concrete (fits nicely with the following ...)
- Who Ran the Iron Horse (with Truck Drivin' Man)
- Grand Coulie
- Over and Over

I'm considering using this to kick-off a SMiLE mix followed by Heroes & Villains (crow cries followed by the Crows - Gee intro is kind of neat)

Home on the Range
- Old Master Painter ("from the faraway hills" aka "funky cat up in the mountains")
- You Were My Sunshine
- Home on the Range (after the sunshine is taken away, "Light the lamp and fire mellow"
- With Me Tonight - faster version (I don't know about this, but it still sounds good to go to a big sound after Home on the Range)
- Home on the Range ("Want to watch your windblown facing")
- With Me Tonight - slower version
- Barnshine? (works well with With Me Tonight, and supposedly used to go with OMP/YAMS)

I'd love to hear other ideas.

Think I may have a go at this later

[desmondo]

So according to Vosse and session sheets, the "Who Ran the Iron Horse" and "Home on the Range" sections of Cabinessence were originally different songs.



My stab at it would be:

Who Ran the Iron Horse
- Welcome
- Bicycle Rider
- Who Ran the Iron Horse
- Rock Roll Plymouth Rock (not sure about this, but I like the idea of it being about the expansion over land after Plymouth Rock "rolls over")
- Ribbon of Concrete (fits nicely with the following ...)
- Who Ran the Iron Horse (with Truck Drivin' Man)
- Grand Coulie
- Over and Over

I'm considering using this to kick-off a SMiLE mix followed by Heroes & Villains (crow cries followed by the Crows - Gee intro is kind of neat)

Home on the Range
- Old Master Painter ("from the faraway hills" aka "funky cat up in the mountains")
- You Were My Sunshine
- Home on the Range (after the sunshine is taken away, "Light the lamp and fire mellow"
- With Me Tonight - faster version (I don't know about this, but it still sounds good to go to a big sound after Home on the Range)
- Home on the Range ("Want to watch your windblown facing")
- With Me Tonight - slower version
- Barnshine? (works well with With Me Tonight, and supposedly used to go with OMP/YAMS)

I'd love to hear other ideas.

Think I may have a go at this later

In fact here you go

http://www.zshare.net/audio/899947227b7da538/

[Andrew G. Doe]

From reading what Vosse said, it's obvious that what he's calling "Iron Horse" is actually the "Grand Coolie" tag of "Cabin Essence". FWIW, my take is that "Home On The Range", "Who Ran The Iron Horse" and "Grand Coulee/Coolie Dam" were simply working titles for the sections of "Cabin Essence" that Vosse most likely heard in isolation on acetates.

You also have to bear in mind that Vosse didn't realise that what he heard on 20/20 were the same tracks he heard during the Smile era, hence he states it was a completely new recording.

[Roger Ryan]

SMiLE is about medleys. "Pocket Symphony" is a term thrown out a lot, the "movements" of this symphony are all the sections that we have. I think in 1967 SMiLE became more about songs but in 1966, Heroes and Villains wasn't so much a song, as it was an extended medley of short "movements"

Excellent observation, which ties in nicely with the 1972 announcement and Carl saying that many of the titles were grouped together under the subtitle "Heroes And Villains". The tracks announced were:

Child Is Father To The Man
Surf's Up
You Are My Sunshine/The Old Master Painter
Barnyard
Cabinessence (incorporating Who Ran The Iron Horse)
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
I Love To Say DaDa (incorporating Cool, Cool Water)
Vegetables (original)
Wind Chimes (original)
Wonderful (original)

Isn't that odd that in '72 they would refer to the "Cabinessence" track as incorporating "Who Ran The Iron Horse"? The song had already been released three years earlier with the "Iron Horse" chorus in place; why refer to it as a separate piece in this announcement?

[Andrew G. Doe]

SMiLE is about medleys. "Pocket Symphony" is a term thrown out a lot, the "movements" of this symphony are all the sections that we have. I think in 1967 SMiLE became more about songs but in 1966, Heroes and Villains wasn't so much a song, as it was an extended medley of short "movements"

Excellent observation, which ties in nicely with the 1972 announcement and Carl saying that many of the titles were grouped together under the subtitle "Heroes And Villains". The tracks announced were:

Child Is Father To The Man
Surf's Up
You Are My Sunshine/The Old Master Painter
Barnyard
Cabinessence (incorporating Who Ran The Iron Horse)
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
I Love To Say DaDa (incorporating Cool, Cool Water)
Vegetables (original)
Wind Chimes (original)
Wonderful (original)

Isn't that odd that in '72 they would refer to the "Cabinessence" track as incorporating "Who Ran The Iron Horse"? The song had already been released three years earlier with the "Iron Horse" chorus in place; why refer to it as a separate piece in this announcement?

No idea - ask Carl.

[Chris Brown]

SMiLE is about medleys. "Pocket Symphony" is a term thrown out a lot, the "movements" of this symphony are all the sections that we have. I think in 1967 SMiLE became more about songs but in 1966, Heroes and Villains wasn't so much a song, as it was an extended medley of short "movements"

Excellent observation, which ties in nicely with the 1972 announcement and Carl saying that many of the titles were grouped together under the subtitle "Heroes And Villains". The tracks announced were:

Child Is Father To The Man
Surf's Up
You Are My Sunshine/The Old Master Painter
Barnyard
Cabinessence (incorporating Who Ran The Iron Horse)
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
I Love To Say DaDa (incorporating Cool, Cool Water)
Vegetables (original)
Wind Chimes (original)
Wonderful (original)

Isn't that odd that in '72 they would refer to the "Cabinessence" track as incorporating "Who Ran The Iron Horse"? The song had already been released three years earlier with the "Iron Horse" chorus in place; why refer to it as a separate piece in this announcement?

No idea - ask Carl.

That question has always baffled me too, as it goes against what we thought we knew about how Cabinessence came together.  The only thing that (to me) would make any sense would be that Brian recorded more than one section of music under the title "Who Ran The Iron Horse," only one of which actually made it into "Cabinessence."  If we start from the premise that the three sections that comprise the finished song all originated as separate tracks, this isn't too big a stretch, especially given how Brian was sequencing/re-sequencing almost daily.  Perhaps he recorded not only a chorus under that title, but a verse and/or insert as well? 

I'm not sure how well this theory jives with the session logs, but I can't think of any other logical reason why Carl would have listed Cabinessence in that particular way.