I Don't Know- Dennis

[H Robinson]

Hi, does anyone have any information on the track "I Don't Know" by Dennis from TSS? I'm really curious about this track and if anyone has any information behind it that would be great.

[rogerlancelot]

I don't know.

[Jay]

 

[H Robinson]

I don't know.

haha, you know what? I knew this would happen hahaha

[Disney Boy (1985)]

All I know about it is it's got one hell of a killer riff!

[Cabinessenceking]

The song is just a riff, maybe it became Shortenin' Bread?

[runnersdialzero]

The song is just a riff, maybe it became Shortenin' Bread?

Obviously.

[Mr. Cohen]

Well, although we don't know too much about the motives or reasons for this, Brian spent some time teaching his brothers about songwriting/arranging and production around the time Smile collapsed. "Tune X" is the result of his efforts with Carl, while "I Don't Know" represents Dennis (obviously). According to some interviews from the time period, Dennis had maybe been playing piano for about 2 years or so before the song was recorded. It's interesting that as the two sessions with Carl and Dennis go on, Brian (or maybe Carl and Dennis) adds little part to the songs, until they're fairly full productions. Perhaps he was instructing them on how to do a full song: "And now, Dennis, we add a tambourine and banjo - get a load of that!"

[hypehat]

Wouldn't you hear Brian in the booth if that were the case? He's not there during the I Don't Know session.

[Mr. Cohen]

I don't know, but I'm pretty sure I read about it.

[guitarfool2002]

I've wondered about this too - Dada is correct that these were most likely "learning-teaching" and apprenticeship sessions, but they were pretty expensive lessons! Hiring the musicians, the studio, the copyists and all of that - not inexpensive in 66-67. But Brian was Brian - and I wonder if he charged these sessions to Capitol under his Smile budget or paid on his own?

Of the two, Carl's is clearly the more polished but it also sounds a bit more lightweight in some ways: A few notches below what Brian was doing (naturally), but still trademarked with enough character that it sounds like a Wilson tune.

In context, The Beatles individually were not really doing anything of this sort of studio production until 1968, correct? Up to '68 their recorded music was still going through George Martin and I'm probably missing something obvious but they didn't actually book any sessions or produce anything on their own without George Martin until '68.

[Cabinessenceking]

Brian is remarkable in that sense. Did it all by himself.

John and Paul had each others so they together made approximately the same amount of music as Brian. They had Epstein who knew the business. Epstein was the man who made them famous. He knew exactly how to capitalise, I guess Murry had a similar role, but he was fired way before Epstein died. George Martin was always this giant classical conductor working behind the curtain, but was colossal in their attempt to gain 'The Beatles' sound. Imagine Brian had to do that while fighting the image he had built up a few years earlier. Dat Brian.