"Plymouth rock" in Holidays

[Mikie]

Name the author of these lyrics and the song they were [presumably] intended for.:


Reconnected telephone dialing, different color chords to your extension.
 
Don’t forget to mention, this is a recording.
 
Even though the echoes through my mind, have filtered through the pines.
 
I came and found my peace, and this is not a recording.
 
Doobie doo, doobie doo, or not doobie.

[UK_Surf]

Aren't those some unused VDP lyrics for Cabinessence?

I've always thought that VDP's writing was also reminiscent of Hart Crane, who was steeped in American history but had a major penchant for puns. James Joyce is a fair comparison, but I think that there's a more 'American' version in the form of William Carlos Williams, who also was fond of neologisms, especially in The Great American Novel (1923), an improvisational masterpiece. I'd be surprised if VDP hadn't at least looked at Williams's In the American Grain.

But VDP was also a Southerner, so the high modernism of William Faulkner (who, some argue, myself amongst 'em, was also a Joycean disciple)  was also no doubt a point of reference.

The 'acid alliteration' (who said Mike Love was no lit-crit!) of the beats is most often cited, but VDP sits comfortably in a long line of experimental American wordsmiths.

Re: Holidays instrumentation - great ideas Micha. Re: instrumentation - the marimba is a classic exotica element. Smile is all about post-modern hybridisation though, so you get that exotica element, but it's combined with a slightly hokey broadway show tune aesthetic. Pretty common in VDP's arrangements actually.   

[hypehat]

I don't have any links, but I've read/heard several interviews where he says that.

I think it's also to do with the failure of his solo singles, and the implosion of Smile must have had an effect.

[Micha]

Frank Holmes:

"Yeah, there was quite a bit of lyrics for that song. As it turned out, there wasn't much used from the version I had. The lyrics I worked from had to do with images of people waving from an ocean liner, and native Indians behind that.  The lyric went:  "Once upon the Sandwich Isles, the social structure steamed upon Hawaii." Then it was "Rock, rock, roll, Plymouth Rock roll over..."  And then there's a piece called "Ribbon of concrete, see what you done done", which became  "Bicycle rider, see what you done done". It came from the old standard "CC Rider, see what you done done". I remember it went on, "See what you done done, to the church of the American Indian..." And there was a last part on there that went something like:
"Having returned to the East or West Indies - we always got them confused..."

I listened to what I think is the old Vigotone boot today - and I think there is a version of the Bicycle Rider section on it that actually features the words "Having returned to" overdubbed - not present on the GV box version. On the boot it is disc one, tracks 22 and 23, starting at 0:17. Could someone smarter than me check that out?

[mammy blue]

Bicycle Rider with extra vocals. You mean this?

http://www.sendspace.com/file/19k0fe

Intriguing, eh? I wonder if this is in the Box set. Anyone have any idea?

[mammy blue]

Judging by the Box Set tracklist, I'm guessing this will be on disc 3, track 5:

5. Do You Like Worms: Bicycle Rider Overdubs (Heroes And Villains Part 2) 1/5/67 [DO YOU LIKE WORMS (ROLL PLYMOUTH ROCK) Session: 10/18/66] (0:22)

[Micha]

Bicycle Rider with extra vocals. You mean this?

http://www.sendspace.com/file/19k0fe

Intriguing, eh? I wonder if this is in the Box set. Anyone have any idea?

Yes, the "Having returned to" vocal is on there.

I doubt it will be on TSS, as this is obviously from an acetate, and only two tracks have been sourced from acetate, this not being one of it. And would that vocal still be on multitrack, it would probably have been on the GV box set. But of course I don't know for sure.

Anyway, this vocal bit on a section not commonly associated with that section strengthens my belief that the "newly mixed" sections of Cabin Essence are genuine Brian 1966 mixes. You know, with the grand couli vocals on the second chorus.

[runnersdialzero]

Is that really part of the "Having returned to" vocal? It sounds more like another vocal echoing the line before, singing something like, "What have you done to the..."

Even hearing little stuff like this breaks my heart with its "What could have been"s

[hypehat]

I've always heard that line as 'What you done to me', and I've heard it on other sources than that.... I think it's on the multi-tracks, although we don't know. Without a doubt that section will appear in the 'Vocal backgrounds' track on the first disc, so we'll see.

[Micha]

I've always heard that line as 'What you done to me', and I've heard it on other sources than that.... I think it's on the multi-tracks, although we don't know. Without a doubt that section will appear in the 'Vocal backgrounds' track on the first disc, so we'll see.

Is that really part of the "Having returned to" vocal? It sounds more like another vocal echoing the line before, singing something like, "What have you done to the..."

Even hearing little stuff like this breaks my heart with its "What could have been"s

This is fun. I listened to it again, imagining your propositions. What I could consider was "Look what you done to", but the words closest to what I think I hear is still "Having returned to", even if that makes less sense than your propositions. Unless we get that vocal isolated, I regard your guesses as valid as mine.

Hypehat, what are the other sources you've heard that?

[hypehat]

I'm afraid i'm not listening to SMiLE material atm to sharpen my appetite for the box, but it's definitely on other boots - it becomes harder to hear in the fuller mixes of that section, but it's absolutely there. I only have Project SMiLE on this PC, but I can hear it in a few of them.

[guitarfool2002]

Bicycle Rider with extra vocals. You mean this?

http://www.sendspace.com/file/19k0fe

Intriguing, eh? I wonder if this is in the Box set. Anyone have any idea?

Yes, the "Having returned to" vocal is on there.

I doubt it will be on TSS, as this is obviously from an acetate, and only two tracks have been sourced from acetate, this not being one of it. And would that vocal still be on multitrack, it would probably have been on the GV box set. But of course I don't know for sure.

Anyway, this vocal bit on a section not commonly associated with that section strengthens my belief that the "newly mixed" sections of Cabin Essence are genuine Brian 1966 mixes. You know, with the grand couli vocals on the second chorus.

Great catch! I had forgotten about that piece...I've listened to that for years from different sources trying (then giving up) to figure out what he was saying.

Micha, I also now hear it as "having returned to", though I cannot rule out the other suggestions. But definitely I hear "having returned to", and wow, what a possibility that would open up!

Great work.

[mammy blue]

I doubt it will be on TSS, as this is obviously from an acetate, and only two tracks have been sourced from acetate, this not being one of it. And would that vocal still be on multitrack, it would probably have been on the GV box set. But of course I don't know for sure.

I'm not sure I agree with that logic. Not everything that is available now in the vaults was available or utilized back when they assembled the GV box in the early 90s. For example, there are missing yodels in Wonderful in the GV box.

[grillo]

My two cents:   Always thought it was "what have you done to..."

[Micha]

I doubt it will be on TSS, as this is obviously from an acetate, and only two tracks have been sourced from acetate, this not being one of it. And would that vocal still be on multitrack, it would probably have been on the GV box set. But of course I don't know for sure.

I'm not sure I agree with that logic. Not everything that is available now in the vaults was available or utilized back when they assembled the GV box in the early 90s. For example, there are missing yodels in Wonderful in the GV box.

If I remember correctly, the yodels are on the multitrack, the GV box version is a 1966 test mix, and for TSS the yodels were digitally mixed into it. Of course I don't know if the "Having returned to..." vocal will be on TSS, I guess it won't and will be happy to be proven wrong, and if it is I hope it is mixed loud enough so we can tell what Brian actually sings there.

[Micha]

and wow, what a possibility that would open up!

What possibility?

[runnersdialzero]

I doubt it will be on TSS, as this is obviously from an acetate, and only two tracks have been sourced from acetate, this not being one of it. And would that vocal still be on multitrack, it would probably have been on the GV box set. But of course I don't know for sure.

I'm not sure I agree with that logic. Not everything that is available now in the vaults was available or utilized back when they assembled the GV box in the early 90s. For example, there are missing yodels in Wonderful in the GV box.

If I remember correctly, the yodels are on the multitrack, the GV box version is a 1966 test mix, and for TSS the yodels were digitally mixed into it. Of course I don't know if the "Having returned to..." vocal will be on TSS, I guess it won't and will be happy to be proven wrong, and if it is I hope it is mixed loud enough so we can tell what Brian actually sings there.

Darian and co. did an extremely comprehensive job on making Smile a finished, presentable piece of work, but there's always these little details that didn't make it that I really miss. The harmonies in the 2nd chorus of "Child" had to have been an oversight, though. Still. Well done.