Does anyone know why Brian put the barking dogs & train at end of "Caroline, No?

[Stephen W. Desper]

COMMENT:

On the original Pet Sounds LP, the sound of a passing train can be heard at the end of Caroline, No, accompanied by barking from Brian's two dogs, Banana and Louie. Banana was a narotic ball-chasing, pure-bread Beagle and Louie was a loving dark-chocolate Labrador who loved to swim with Brian in his pool. Brian loved both dogs. They can be seen swimming with Brian in Alan Boyd's movie "Endless Harmony."

In the late 1990s, it was "rediscovered" that the train sound effect came from a sound effects LP titled Mister D's Machine, recorded in 1963 by Brad Miller. The album featured then-current recordings of various trains around the Southern Pacific system. The sounds that were lifted for the end of the Pet Sounds album were that of Train #58, "The Owl", speeding at 70 mph through Edison, California. The sound effects (minus Banana and Louie) are in true stereo on the original effects album. They appeared in mono on Pet Sounds, but were not remixed into stereo with the rest of the album in 1996.

As to "why" he put them there, I don't know. As an animal lover, like Brian is, if I could immortalize my dogs by including them barking in a song of mine, I would want to do it. The train sounds may reflect back to Brian's chiildhood in Hawthorn, CA, where I know he heard the sounds of trains while growing up, and has a history with them, but again, as to "why," only Brian knows.     ~swd

[Jukka]

Amazing. I love this forum more each day. Thank you!

[Letsgoawayforawhile]

I always thought Brian put it there to bring me out of the "awesome coma" that his perfect album put me in. It lets me know that all the beautiful, and perfect stuff, can't last forever. It also lets me know to start the album over again.

[Mikie]

COMMENT: In the late 1990s, it was "rediscovered" that the train sound effect came from a sound effects LP titled Mister D's Machine, recorded in 1963 by Brad Miller. The album featured then-current recordings of various trains around the Southern Pacific system. The sounds that were lifted for the end of the Pet Sounds album were that of Train #58, "The Owl", speeding at 70 mph through Edison, California. The sound effects (minus Banana and Louie) are in true stereo on the original effects album. They appeared in mono on Pet Sounds, but were not remixed into stereo with the rest of the album in 1996.

Exactly!  But I knew about it when I first heard Pet Sounds and "Caroline No" around 1972. My Mom bought me the "Mr. D's Machine" album around 1963 or 1964. I loved trains when I was a kid growing up (and still do). I played that album a lot back then. Then when I heard the same sound effects on "Caroline No"in the early 70's, I was real surprised to hear a part of it again! The effects of the diesel engine sound at the end made me love the song even more! 

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Ds-Machine-Railroad-Whistle/dp/B000RF2P5G

[hypehat]

Thanks, Stephen 

[The Heartical Don]

Thanks, Stephen 

...and from me too, Stephen.

I hear a wonderful coda to a wonderful song in 1973 or thereabouts for the first time.

I hear what its source is in 2012.

Only 39 years in between.

Funny old world.

[I. Spaceman]

I think of it as a rather disppointing end to Pet Sounds. By this I mean that the lovely instrumental outro of the great song which is Caroline, No is forgotten when you hear the horrendous clamour of the railroad bells, the incessant barking of dogs and then the tjoo tjoo train comes along. Why?

I can't believe I just read that.

[SMiLE Brian]

Thanks, Stephen 

Same here! I wonder if Brian still likes animals with melinda's horde of pets.

[Banana]

Am I the only one who grew up in suburbia? It's just sort of the lonely sound that you'd hear growing up as you fell asleep.

Yes!

[Alan Smith]

COMMENT: In the late 1990s, it was "rediscovered" that the train sound effect came from a sound effects LP titled Mister D's Machine, recorded in 1963 by Brad Miller. The album featured then-current recordings of various trains around the Southern Pacific system. The sounds that were lifted for the end of the Pet Sounds album were that of Train #58, "The Owl", speeding at 70 mph through Edison, California. The sound effects (minus Banana and Louie) are in true stereo on the original effects album. They appeared in mono on Pet Sounds, but were not remixed into stereo with the rest of the album in 1996.

Exactly!  But I knew about it when I first heard Pet Sounds and "Caroline No" around 1972. My Mom bought me the "Mr. D's Machine" album around 1963 or 1964. I loved trains when I was a kid growing up (and still do). I played that album a lot back then. Then when I heard the same sound effects on "Caroline No"in the early 70's, I was real surprised to hear a part of it again! The effects of the diesel engine sound at the end made me love the song even more! 

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Ds-Machine-Railroad-Whistle/dp/B000RF2P5G

Great information, thanks heaps Steve and Mikie - and great story about the album, Mikie!

[Mikie]

Thanks, Alholio! 

[Stephen W. Desper]

Am I the only one who grew up in suburbia? It's just sort of the lonely sound that you'd hear growing up as you fell asleep.

Yes!

COMMENT:

I Love it!  Your Avatar, that is.  That's Banana.  I've thrown more tennis balls for that dog then stars in the sky. She never tires! And never misses!  ~swd

ps  I think "Bananas" is the real name of the dog. So I would say, "Your Avatar looks like Bananas." 

[Fun Is In]

As the man said, it takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry.

[Wild-Honey]

Thanks Stephen.  I like to think he put it in because he loved his dogs too    It's suits the song very well.  It makes me wonder what other song would have suited it also....

[SMiLE-addict]

I read somewhere that Brian put the train sound there because it represented his emotional issues at the time (remember, this was around the time his mental illness first started creeping up on him). The onrushing train was how he felt - a huge amount of pressure, both internally and externally-generated, all kinds of forces pushing him this way and that, etc. He felt like these forces were rushing at him like a freight train.

Don't know about the dogs, they might be there just for amusement value. Or maybe contrast to the train (huge life pressures coming at you vs. faithful friends).

[Roger Ryan]

If I recall correctly, Marilyn mentions in one of the documentaries that after listening to the finished mix at home, Brian commented that he imagined himself on that train waving goodbye. The theme that is repeated throughout PET SOUNDS is of moving from adolescence into young adulthood and leaving the past behind; the ending sound effects perfectly evoke that theme.

[halblaineisgood]

.

[The Heartical Don]

If I recall correctly, Marilyn mentions in one of the documentaries that after listening to the finished mix at home, Brian commented that he imagined himself on that train waving goodbye. The theme that is repeated throughout PET SOUNDS is of moving from adolescence into young adulthood and leaving the past behind; the ending sound effects perfectly evoke that theme.

Good call. Completely agree.

[lance]

I always thought that the train representing the fast movement of time, and things being left behind: childhood, caroline, innocence, etc.

[The Heartical Don]

I always thought that the train representing the fast movement of time, and things being left behind: childhood, caroline, innocence, etc.

You mean Caroline suddenly had her hair cut very short, put on dungarees and Dr Martens, and became an aggressive man-hating punk lesbian feminist?

Could be. Puts a new perspective on Brian's life.

[Please delete my account]

I got to know Pet Sounds on cassette (with bonus tracks), and didn't realise at the time the noises were part of Caroline, No or the album proper. I assumed (if I thought about it at all) that they were either part of the first bonus track or an unlisted bonus track in their own right "unused sound effects") I was surprised when I first heard them on the end of Caroline, No on a hits compilation.

[Jason Penick]

Yeah, it's brilliant. Can't imagine the album without it.

[donald]

trains in the distance, dogs barking;  these are the sounds one hears on a night alone standing out in the back yard, alone with one's thoughts........perhaps pondering a lost love.....

that is how I feel it, always took it that way, semed obvious to me.  never occured to me it was anything else, or just random sounds tacked on

these ar good sounds.....as Paul Simon said, "Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance"

[Myk Luhv]

Consider the significance of the train in folk and blues music. Now, once you've done that, realise that Brian Wilson used the sound of a train for the same reason; to impart those same emotions.

[donald]

Consider the significance of the train in folk and blues music. Now, once you've done that, realise that Brian Wilson used the sound of a train for the same reason; to impart those same emotions.

indeed.   an iconic image