So, Ive used the search function of this forum to go down the line on every SMiLE related name or phrase I could think of, from VDP's to the Vosse Posse members and song titles, etc. I have never seen a thread that aims to go through the SMiLE lyrics systematically and try to derive their meaning. I thought I'd start one.
In particular, I wanted to discuss some Surfs Up allusions I found that don't seem to get a lot of attention. The wikipedia page taught me that the opening lines are a reference to the short story "
The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant, about a woman who borrows a diamond necklace to wear to a fancy party, loses it, then sells all her possessions and works as a maid to pay for a replacement only to learn the necklace she borrowed was a fake.
The last lines of the first verse are a reference to "
The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe, about the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition.
The lines "muted trumpeter's swan" according to AI (yes, I used AI for this, I haven't read every book VDP might've been familiar with to be able to do this exercise alone, mea culpa) could refer to "The Trumpet of the Swan" by E. B. White, a story about a mute boy who learns to communicate through his trumpet playing. ((Very Dumb Angel esque, would you not say?)) ACTUALLY nevermind. Apparently this story was written in 1970. Damn, it fits perfectly otherwise.
^All of these allusions I can buy as genuinely intended and they fit the themes of the song and/or SMiLE as a whole. The first story, I see as an examination of how modern people live--taking on debt and working our lives away for the promise to live like rich people do for only a brief moment (either credit card vacations/purchases we cant really afford or slaving away for retirement you may not even live to enjoy). The second is a more brutal straightforward reference to how the rich keep us down--by brute force. It's also an important allusion to religious differences leading to violence, a callback to why the pilgrims left as well as their hypocrisy perpetuating the same intolerance to the Indians and each other when they got here. The third is about the power of music to communicate feelings/ideas that can't be merely spoken.
Then, the AI answers veered into the "maybe, I guess?" territory, claiming "hung velvet overtaken me" was a reference to "Venus in Furs" by Masoch, "Dove nested towers" is supposed to be "Antony and Cleopatra" by Shakespeare, "Quicksilver moon" to Gatsby by Fitzgerald, and some even sketchier connections. I dont buy any of these and in some cases I googled the phrases in quotes next to the literature titles only to get no results. Just hallucinations and proof you cant trust everything these bots say. If we take the song line by line, I think it's a pretty straightforward call to arms against the excesses of the wealthy aristocrats at least until the second half ("Dove nested towers...") which Im still perplexed by. A diamond necklace played the pawn
The rich treat us like pawns, they know we want what they have so we can be manipulated with a taste or tease of their lifestyles.
Hand in hand some drummed along, oh
A lot of people follow them, march to the beat of their drum so to speak, but the musical imagery "drummed" I think is important.
To a handsome man and baton
We are manipulated into liking/following them by their beauty and threat of force. "Baton" makes me think of a marching band too, or conductor's baton, again more musical words deliberately chosen.
A blind class aristocracy
This line just comes right out and says it, this song is about the haves. They're blind because they govern badly and/or dont care about the fallout of their decisions.
Back through the opera glass you see
Opera glasses are those little binoculars people wear at the opera to see the stage better. It's saying "look closer, look beyond the illusion" and also the reference to the opera itself is more musical imagery.
The pit and the pendulum drawn
The reference to the harsh tactics they use to uphold their authority, possibly a reference to "the pendulum can and must swing back" IE things will have to change inevitably.
Columnated ruins domino
Society is breaking down, theyre leading us to ruin, old institutions must fall, but it's spoken in reference to a children's game.
Canvass the town and brush the backdrop
Reference to old master painter, an appeal to God? Or saying we must act in the name of God? Certainly that we can and should "paint" (IE create) a new world, a new society and have the right/ability to do so.
are you sleeping (brother john)?
Do you not see this, are you awake to the plight and need of our time?
Hung velvet overtaken me
The curtain had been pulled over the speaker's eyes before? If the reference to Venus in Furs is accurate, they learned to accept their subjugation like a masochist enjoys submission.
Dim chandelier awaken me
See the light, wake up to what's happening and must be done, more opera/opulent imagery
To a song dissolved in the dawn
he's awoken to the songs that have been calling him to action* previously ignored, but a new day is coming where he will heed them, a new even grander light (than a chandelier) will wake the world
The music hall a costly bow
Opera's are expensive, all that money that could help people just to entertain the rich, also a play on words for "holocaust" IE great fire and/or genocide is here or is coming.
The music all is lost for now
things seem dire in the moment? Or, in combo with the next line, nothing matters right now BUT the music
To a muted trumpeter swan
reference to a dumb (mute) boy, an angel you might say, learning to communicate through music Or just a reference to the trumpets in the music of SU itself.
Dove nested towers the hour was
peace is on the horizon? peace should be exalted?
Strike the street quicksilver moon
we must take to the streets quickly, be the first to take charge even before the new dawn?
Carriage across the fog
Carry the message through the haze of apathy, misinformation, confusion?
Two-Step to lamp lights cellar tune
Cheeky reference to Murry? Carry the message/music/light even in hidden and dark places?
The laughs come hard in Auld Lang Syne
Remember your friends and the good times? Maybe to get through these hard times ahead?
The glass was raised, the fired rose
We need comraderie, people sharing a drink together, a fire (is fired rose a bonfire? IDK)
The fullness of the wine, the dim last toasting
Apparently "fullness of the wine" is a phrase found in the Bible, dim last toasting I guess the last happy moment shared with loved ones? Remember it's all for God, God's plan?
While at port adieu or die
The speaker knows as the meet with people (at port) it'll be for the last time, as he's got to leave this society/social paradigm or die? Or that some people are going to die or flake out in the cause, and those who won't join the endeavor should be abandoned? That he's gonna go places others won't follow or some who do will die/change so much as to be a different person?
A choke of grief
In reference to what I just said in the previous line
Heart hardened I
Speaker's resolve is set despite the cost
Beyond belief a broken man too tough to cry
Despite the heavy cost of what he has to do, how much he'll be alienated for this message against the status quo, he can't cry about it, it must be done.
Surf’s Up
The time is right, the wave of change is upon us
Aboard a tidal wave
Better to ride it to new heights than let it crash you into the depths
Come about hard and join
so join the cause
The young and often spring you gave
The young, the new buds (like flowers), the next generation of life coming after the harsh winter, are already there
I heard the word
Reference to Jesus/God, the Logos (Word) or just, the message of change and redemption
Wonderful thing
I wonder sometimes if Wonderful isn't a song about Mary, with "one one one wonderful" a reference to one God in 3 words, or 3 syllables, and tying the word back in here might be part of that? Or it could just mean it's a wonderful message they fight for.
A children’s song*
Listen to the youth, they come into the world pure, they deserve better from us. We could stand to learn from the innocence of children, we owe it to them to leave a better world than we inherited.
*VDP and/or Brian (cant exactly remember but check my notes) say in the 2005 Priore book that this song itself and "a childrens' song" referenced at the end were about the counterculture music of the 60s calling society to a higher standard.
Would love to see other people offer different takes on this and other SMiLE songs. Frankly, while the second movement is a bit vague in some lines, VDP's lyrics arent THAT hard to understand, if you just sit down and hash it out line by line. Even if a few passages are oblique the general idea is clear even before I knew about these literary allusions (which certainly enhance his meaning). I think some people just cant be bothered to think about things and want easy answers. Not accusing anyone here, just a general observation of humanity in my experience and the fact that all these supposedly professional critics/authors never bother to take a crack at it (they just dismiss VDP's words as "impossible to understand" or words to that effect) I think is pretty damn lazy. Rant over.
Author
