A contemporary of "Holidays"

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Still can't believe that no lyrics from that era exist for Child.

Who said there weren't any???

No one. I'm not sure on your point.

Maybe I missed your point? At the time I wrote that, I thought you meant VDP didn't make up any lyrics for CIFOTM in 1966. Now I tend to think you meant that no piece of paper still exists with 1966 CIFOTM written down on it.

My point was, I don't think that 1966 lyrics for CIFOTM never existed, but they may be lost now.

I don't know either way. I suppose this is what I mean: It would surprise me if there weren't any lyrics from 66 but it also surprises me/saddens me (in other words, I can't believe) that we have absolutely no trace of any lyrics for that song. If lyrics had existed for the song (outside of the chorus), it just seems like such bad luck for us that there was never a vocal session for them, no demo that has been found, it wasn't transformed for Smiley Smile and it wasn't a piece that was salvaged for subsequent Beach Boys records. On top of it there are no illustrations by Frank Holmes that would give us a clue and I seem to remember AGD saying that Holmes never did receive lyrics for Child.

[Bicyclerider]

AGD asked Mr. Holmes about the '96 illustration for "Holidays" and the response was that the illustration was based on a lyric sheet provided by Van Dyke Parks in 1966. Moreover, these lyric sheets were returned to Mr. Parks in 2003 which suggests that they were requested in order to complete BWPS or, at the very least, they were available for consideration in completing the album.

And why was Frank doing a Holidays illustration in 1996?  Was this for the planned Smile box set originally going to follow the Pet Sounds box set?  Didn't he also do some of the new illustrations in 88 for the planned 2 CD Smile set that was to follow Brian Wilson's solo album?