this song want's to sleep with you - BW Cd single

[Andrew G. Doe]

Pretty sure that Don had next to nothing to do with This Song Want to Sleep With You -- his credit was more for the other tracks on the single.

I also don't think there is an pirated Paley version -- I'm pretty sure that all circulating versions of this song come from that same European CD single (it was issued a year or two before the Paley sessions were widely booted).

As for the Was sessions, I think there may have been another song or two tried (AGD's site might have more on this), but nothing of any consequence.

This makes me wonder if there's more from those sessions that hasn't leaked. Does anyone know whether there are any other tracks not circulating from the original Paley sessions? Some of the booted stuff seems less common - including "Some Sweet Day", which is one of best tracks from the sessions.

There were definitely more songs mentioned at that time.  I remember reading in an ESQ about the Paley sessions from the 90s, I think the title of it was "Brian's Great New Music," or something like that.  It has a long list of song titles, and as I got the 2 Paley Session CDs, I remember looking to see what I didn't have, and there were at least 10 that had not been leaked.  I would get the ESQ out, and type them up, but I have no idea where it would be at now, or if I even still have it.

I'll venture this is maybe not the article you mean, but from an ESQ interview with Andy9 march 1995), comes this list of titles:  

    

Well, the only titles not in general circulation from that list are "Everything's Alright In My World" and "In The Wink of An Eye". All the rest have been out and about - granted in varying degrees of fidelity - for well over a decade. "Sweetie" dates from the very early 80s, as does "The Boogie's Back In Town" (correct title). There's a live version dating from late 1983.

[Matt H]

Interesting, I didn't know a studio version of "Sweetie" and "The Boogie's Back In Town" were out.  I have heard the demo (just piano) of "Sweetie" and the live version from 1983 of "The Boogie's Back In Town," but I didn't realize the Paley versions had leaked.

Can you comment on how the studio versions sound?

[Micha]

Is "Goin' Home" the song later to be featured on Lucky Old Sun?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Interesting, I didn't know a studio version of "Sweetie" and "The Boogie's Back In Town" were out.  I have heard the demo (just piano) of "Sweetie" and the live version from 1983 of "The Boogie's Back In Town," but I didn't realize the Paley versions had leaked.

Can you comment on how the studio versions sound?

My exceptional bad - I did mean those versions, not studio recordings: apologies for the confusion.

[metal flake paint]

My memory could be cheating, but I recall an interview with Don Was before the documentary came out, indicating that "This Song..." was supposed to end the film.  The idea being that up to that point the whole film was in black and white and then Brian would perform the song in colour, with a  "this is Brian Wilson today" feel.  I was surprised when the documentary came out and there was no sign of that ending.  Anyone else remember this?

That is the story, and it was indeed going to be "This Song...", but the interview where I read this was with Andy Paley, not Was. It was in Paley's extensive interview on the short-lived petsounds.com website.

http://web.archive.org/web/20000229234027/www.petsounds.com/

Are there any others that can be released like "In My Moondreams" at least?

Well there's one other that came out on a European thing. I think people mistakingly think that Don Was produced it. "This Song's Going To Sleep With You Tonight." That was produced by me and Brian. And it's just me and Brian, and Corky Hale on the harp, and me and Brian singing in the background. That came out on an EP or something.

Don actually filmed that song for the movie (the 1995 documentary, "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times"). But at the last minute they didn't use that footage - he didn't use that song in the movie. Somewhere there's footage of him doing that - in fact I think they shot that in color. The way Don described it was that the movie was going to be in black and white and there would be this new song that would be in color.


Interestingly, Andy mentioned that Danny Hutton also sang backup vocals on the track (Beard, 1995, p. 9).


References
Beard, D. (1995). Andy Paley: The ESQ interview. Endless Summer Quarterly, 8(2), 1-48

[Wirestone]

Is "Goin' Home" the song later to be featured on Lucky Old Sun?

Nope. A few lyrics are shared, but the Paley track is a country-ish, mid-tempo track.

[El Molé]

Really interesting stuff here, thanks to all. The interview with Andy Paley linked to above includes this comment about Where Has Love Been - "I got a call about that one and I guess somebody gave the song to J.D. Souther to write lyrics to and then they put it out. We wrote so many songs, it's kind of hard to say when we wrote it.". So it sounds like there wasn't any recording of the song, but it just adds to the sense that Brian and Andy were really creating a lot of music during this period. I would have loved to hear a version of that song completed by Andy and Brian. The Imagination release couldn't be further from the style of Brian and Andy's work together.

Brian seems to have (co)written a huge amount (relatively speaking) between starting these session with Andy Paley and finishing work with Joe Thomas. The number of originals on Imagination might not be that high, but I think it's been said that some of the TWGMTR songs came from the original Joe Thomas era, along with some of the stuff Brian's currently working on. After that, newly written songs appear to become something of a rarity for quite a while afterwards. What was new between Imagination and That Lucky Old Sun?

A Friend Like You?
On Christmas Day?
What I Really Want for Christmas?
Christmasey?
Rodney on the Roq?
Walking Down the Path of Life?

Am I missing a load? It seems to me that he wrote at least thirty songs with others in the five years to 1998 (ish), and then very few that we know of in the next ten years. Maybe Brian did/does write a lot more than this and simply keeps them to himself most of the time. Or does he need a burst of enthusiasm and the right collaborator - for example, Andy Paley, Joe Thomas (sometimes at least) or Scott Bennett? The Paley material almost seems like the last great burst of writing Brian has had. It's a huge shame that most of the material hasn't had a proper release yet.

[HeyJude]

Really interesting stuff here, thanks to all. The interview with Andy Paley linked to above includes this comment about Where Has Love Been - "I got a call about that one and I guess somebody gave the song to J.D. Souther to write lyrics to and then they put it out. We wrote so many songs, it's kind of hard to say when we wrote it.". So it sounds like there wasn't any recording of the song, but it just adds to the sense that Brian and Andy were really creating a lot of music during this period. I would have loved to hear a version of that song completed by Andy and Brian. The Imagination release couldn't be further from the style of Brian and Andy's work together.

Brian seems to have (co)written a huge amount (relatively speaking) between starting these session with Andy Paley and finishing work with Joe Thomas. The number of originals on Imagination might not be that high, but I think it's been said that some of the TWGMTR songs came from the original Joe Thomas era, along with some of the stuff Brian's currently working on. After that, newly written songs appear to become something of a rarity for quite a while afterwards. What was new between Imagination and That Lucky Old Sun?

A Friend Like You?
On Christmas Day?
What I Really Want for Christmas?
Christmasey?
Rodney on the Roq?
Walking Down the Path of Life?

Am I missing a load? It seems to me that he wrote at least thirty songs with others in the five years to 1998 (ish), and then very few that we know of in the next ten years. Maybe Brian did/does write a lot more than this and simply keeps them to himself most of the time. Or does he need a burst of enthusiasm and the right collaborator - for example, Andy Paley, Joe Thomas (sometimes at least) or Scott Bennett? The Paley material almost seems like the last great burst of writing Brian has had. It's a huge shame that most of the material hasn't had a proper release yet.

Whether it was intended or not, "On Christmas Day" totally rips "Bell(e)s of Christmas/Paris", so that one's kinda not original either.

[HeyJude]

My memory could be cheating, but I recall an interview with Don Was before the documentary came out, indicating that "This Song..." was supposed to end the film.  The idea being that up to that point the whole film was in black and white and then Brian would perform the song in colour, with a  "this is Brian Wilson today" feel.  I was surprised when the documentary came out and there was no sign of that ending.  Anyone else remember this?

That is the story, and it was indeed going to be "This Song...", but the interview where I read this was with Andy Paley, not Was. It was in Paley's extensive interview on the short-lived petsounds.com website.

http://web.archive.org/web/20000229234027/www.petsounds.com/

Are there any others that can be released like "In My Moondreams" at least?

Well there's one other that came out on a European thing. I think people mistakingly think that Don Was produced it. "This Song's Going To Sleep With You Tonight." That was produced by me and Brian. And it's just me and Brian, and Corky Hale on the harp, and me and Brian singing in the background. That came out on an EP or something.

Don actually filmed that song for the movie (the 1995 documentary, "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times"). But at the last minute they didn't use that footage - he didn't use that song in the movie. Somewhere there's footage of him doing that - in fact I think they shot that in color. The way Don described it was that the movie was going to be in black and white and there would be this new song that would be in color.


Interestingly, Andy mentioned that Danny Hutton also sang backup vocals on the track (Beard, 1995, p. 9).


References
Beard, D. (1995). Andy Paley: The ESQ interview. Endless Summer Quarterly, 8(2), 1-48

Thanks for digging the Paley interview up. That's the one I remember. Really interesting insights. I'm not sure I buy his level of incredulity when it comes to the politics of working with Brian or the group. Perhaps he seemed more of the "just don't ask me about business stuff" type, but that seems pretty naive, especially for a guy that navigated the height of the Landy era.

[Wirestone]

Paley is, to put it mildly, a less-than-reliable narrator.

As for Brian's songwriting between '98 and '06, it does seem to be a bit of a black hole. I tend to think there are several factors.

1.) He started touring seriously. I imagine it was exhausting. He basically didn't do any dates for the entirety of 2006, and that's when he wrote the TLOS material. (So the period we're talking about is actually eight years, not 10).

2.) He had the Smile project to work through.

3.) Folks around Brian preferred him to write solo, or at least without musical collaborators -- the Paley and Thomas experiences had left folks feeling burned. So almost all the material released during this time is either a solo BW comp, or something written with a collaborator who only did lyrics. Paley, Thomas and later Bennett all had musical chops as well, which helps him actually assemble his fragments into songs -- or write a verse melody when he tuckers out, or a chorus, etc.

4.) I strongly suspect there were more songs written in this time than were released -- he supposedly did at least a half-dozen with Steve Kalinich in the run-up to GIOMH -- but they weren't used. It's quite possible they were terrible. There are always unreleased BW tracks around -- he did quite a bit with Scott Bennett during and after TLOS that hasn't been released or booted either.

5.) Brian stated in many interviews over the period that he had writer's block. I don't know if that should be entirely discounted, either.

Final note: "Believe in Yourself" is missing from that list.

[Matt H]

Really interesting stuff here, thanks to all. The interview with Andy Paley linked to above includes this comment about Where Has Love Been - "I got a call about that one and I guess somebody gave the song to J.D. Souther to write lyrics to and then they put it out. We wrote so many songs, it's kind of hard to say when we wrote it.". So it sounds like there wasn't any recording of the song, but it just adds to the sense that Brian and Andy were really creating a lot of music during this period. I would have loved to hear a version of that song completed by Andy and Brian. The Imagination release couldn't be further from the style of Brian and Andy's work together.

That is interesting, I thought I remembered an interview about that song where Andy said he didn't know why he had a credit on it, that he didn't remember the song.  Maybe I am mis-remembering stuff about the similarities that people talked about between My Maryanne and Your Imagination.

There was another interview from ESQ about Imagination and Joe Thomas mentioned additional songs that were recorded such as "Melinda Honey," and "It's Happening Again."  I think the first one was an Imagination take on "My Maryanne," and "It's Happening Again" was "Your Still A Mystery."

There were also collaborations with Tony Asher in 1997.  The old official Brian Wilson Fan Club Newsletter "Breakaway with Brian Wilson" mentioned, "Everything I Need," "This Isn't Love," "Rock N Roll Express," and maybe a couple of other songs, I can't remember.

[bgas]

Really interesting stuff here, thanks to all. The interview with Andy Paley linked to above includes this comment about Where Has Love Been - "I got a call about that one and I guess somebody gave the song to J.D. Souther to write lyrics to and then they put it out. We wrote so many songs, it's kind of hard to say when we wrote it.". So it sounds like there wasn't any recording of the song, but it just adds to the sense that Brian and Andy were really creating a lot of music during this period. I would have loved to hear a version of that song completed by Andy and Brian. The Imagination release couldn't be further from the style of Brian and Andy's work together.

That is interesting, I thought I remembered an interview about that song where Andy said he didn't know why he had a credit on it, that he didn't remember the song.  Maybe I am mis-remembering stuff about the similarities that people talked about between My Maryanne and Your Imagination.

There was another interview from ESQ about Imagination and Joe Thomas mentioned additional songs that were recorded such as "Melinda Honey," and "It's Happening Again."  I think the first one was an Imagination take on "My Maryanne," and "It's Happening Again" was "Your Still A Mystery."

There were also collaborations with Tony Asher in 1997.  The old official Brian Wilson Fan Club Newsletter "Breakaway with Brian Wilson" mentioned, "Everything I Need," "This Isn't Love," "Rock N Roll Express," and maybe a couple of other songs, I can't remember.

  Perhaps you need to work a bit on the Tibetan Memory Trick.... 

Given time I'll dig out the ESQs and Breakways and post them here. ( unless someone else wants to do them first; or DB has handy access to his files and feels generous! )

[Matt H]

Really interesting stuff here, thanks to all. The interview with Andy Paley linked to above includes this comment about Where Has Love Been - "I got a call about that one and I guess somebody gave the song to J.D. Souther to write lyrics to and then they put it out. We wrote so many songs, it's kind of hard to say when we wrote it.". So it sounds like there wasn't any recording of the song, but it just adds to the sense that Brian and Andy were really creating a lot of music during this period. I would have loved to hear a version of that song completed by Andy and Brian. The Imagination release couldn't be further from the style of Brian and Andy's work together.

That is interesting, I thought I remembered an interview about that song where Andy said he didn't know why he had a credit on it, that he didn't remember the song.  Maybe I am mis-remembering stuff about the similarities that people talked about between My Maryanne and Your Imagination.

There was another interview from ESQ about Imagination and Joe Thomas mentioned additional songs that were recorded such as "Melinda Honey," and "It's Happening Again."  I think the first one was an Imagination take on "My Maryanne," and "It's Happening Again" was "Your Still A Mystery."

There were also collaborations with Tony Asher in 1997.  The old official Brian Wilson Fan Club Newsletter "Breakaway with Brian Wilson" mentioned, "Everything I Need," "This Isn't Love," "Rock N Roll Express," and maybe a couple of other songs, I can't remember.

  Perhaps you need to work a bit on the Tibetan Memory Trick.... 

Given time I'll dig out the ESQs and Breakways and post them here. ( unless someone else wants to do them first; or DB has handy access to his files and feels generous! )

Yeah, sorry, I don't know where those are, and as I get older, the memory starts fadding.  The Breakaway one I remember was in the "From Brian" section at the beginning.  I think his description of "Rock N Roll Express" was that it was a train that went around spreading rock n roll, or something like that.

[DMBeard_13]

Hey guys. For the record, bgas reached out to me and asked if it would be okay to post past issues of ESQ.

I asked him not to. 

With something like David Leaf's "Pet Sounds" magazine, or any other out-of-print publication it certainly serves a purpose.

But most, if not all, of the past issues of ESQ are still available.

Here's the link showing issues dating back to 2006.
http://esquarterly.com/merchandise.html

Here's the link for editions between 1993-2006:
http://esquarterly.com/PDF/ESQ_Back_Issues_Order_Form.pdf

If it says that an issue is sold out, and you have a particular interest in that edition, please contact esqeditor@aol.com.

Lee will let you know if we have an extra one sitting around.

[bgas]

Really interesting stuff here, thanks to all. The interview with Andy Paley linked to above includes this comment about Where Has Love Been - "I got a call about that one and I guess somebody gave the song to J.D. Souther to write lyrics to and then they put it out. We wrote so many songs, it's kind of hard to say when we wrote it.". So it sounds like there wasn't any recording of the song, but it just adds to the sense that Brian and Andy were really creating a lot of music during this period. I would have loved to hear a version of that song completed by Andy and Brian. The Imagination release couldn't be further from the style of Brian and Andy's work together.

That is interesting, I thought I remembered an interview about that song where Andy said he didn't know why he had a credit on it, that he didn't remember the song.  Maybe I am mis-remembering stuff about the similarities that people talked about between My Maryanne and Your Imagination.

There was another interview from ESQ about Imagination and Joe Thomas mentioned additional songs that were recorded such as "Melinda Honey," and "It's Happening Again."  I think the first one was an Imagination take on "My Maryanne," and "It's Happening Again" was "Your Still A Mystery."

There were also collaborations with Tony Asher in 1997.  The old official Brian Wilson Fan Club Newsletter "Breakaway with Brian Wilson" mentioned, "Everything I Need," "This Isn't Love," "Rock N Roll Express," and maybe a couple of other songs, I can't remember.

  Perhaps you need to work a bit on the Tibetan Memory Trick.... 

Given time I'll dig out the ESQs and Breakways and post them here. ( unless someone else wants to do them first; or DB has handy access to his files and feels generous! )

Yeah, sorry, I don't know where those are, and as I get older, the memory starts fadding.  The Breakaway one I remember was in the "From Brian" section at the beginning.  I think his description of "Rock N Roll Express" was that it was a train that went around spreading rock n roll, or something like that.

  I leafed thru my 11 issues of Breakaway, and couldn't find the reference you're speaking of, unfortunately. I'll try and look again, and let you know if I find anything. 

[metal flake paint]

Really interesting stuff here, thanks to all. The interview with Andy Paley linked to above includes this comment about Where Has Love Been - "I got a call about that one and I guess somebody gave the song to J.D. Souther to write lyrics to and then they put it out. We wrote so many songs, it's kind of hard to say when we wrote it.". So it sounds like there wasn't any recording of the song, but it just adds to the sense that Brian and Andy were really creating a lot of music during this period. I would have loved to hear a version of that song completed by Andy and Brian. The Imagination release couldn't be further from the style of Brian and Andy's work together.

That is interesting, I thought I remembered an interview about that song where Andy said he didn't know why he had a credit on it, that he didn't remember the song.  Maybe I am mis-remembering stuff about the similarities that people talked about between My Maryanne and Your Imagination.

There was another interview from ESQ about Imagination and Joe Thomas mentioned additional songs that were recorded such as "Melinda Honey," and "It's Happening Again."  I think the first one was an Imagination take on "My Maryanne," and "It's Happening Again" was "Your Still A Mystery."

There were also collaborations with Tony Asher in 1997.  The old official Brian Wilson Fan Club Newsletter "Breakaway with Brian Wilson" mentioned, "Everything I Need," "This Isn't Love," "Rock N Roll Express," and maybe a couple of other songs, I can't remember.

  Perhaps you need to work a bit on the Tibetan Memory Trick....  

Given time I'll dig out the ESQs and Breakways and post them here. ( unless someone else wants to do them first; or DB has handy access to his files and feels generous! )

Yeah, sorry, I don't know where those are, and as I get older, the memory starts fadding.  The Breakaway one I remember was in the "From Brian" section at the beginning.  I think his description of "Rock N Roll Express" was that it was a train that went around spreading rock n roll, or something like that.

Pretty good memory!

Tony describes the train as spreading good music wherever it travels, and another collaboration, "Right Before Your Eyes", as a ballad with a bouncy melody (Klobas, 1996, p. 3).


References

Klobas, L. (1996). Wilson-Asher sneak preview. Break Away: With Brian Wilson, 1996(1), 1-4

[bgas]

Wow!  I guess my problem is using my eyes, much less worrying about memory...  
( and in the FIrst issue , no less!)  

[joshferrell]

I think the Andy Paley IJWMFTT connection makes total sense, why? because there's a part on the documentary where Melinda talks about how Brian has been excited about writing new songs and wants to go to Andys house all the time (of course I'm paraphrasing) the interesting thing is that the movie NEVER explains who "Andy" is ANYWHERE!! I didn't know it was Paley until someone said it on here, there are no interviews with him, nor any songs with him but yet he's mentioned that one time, maybe he was involved in the beginning stages but wasn't involved in the latter stages or something like that, also why mention Andy and not say who it is or why Brian was excited about going over to Andys house or didn't expound on what kind of songs they were recording...

[Lonely Summer]

Paley is in the film. He talks about when he first met Brian, he had this guy that was always hanging around, and now, that guy is gone. Of course the guy is Landy - never mentioned by name in the film.

[joshferrell]

Paley is in the film. He talks about when he first met Brian, he had this guy that was always hanging around, and now, that guy is gone. Of course the guy is Landy - never mentioned by name in the film.

oops forgot about that..lol..

[Andrew G. Doe]

I'm sure Lauri won't mind my copying

I doubt it, given she passed on some years ago.

[bgas]

I'm sure Lauri won't mind my copying

I doubt it, given she passed on some years ago.

Exactly! 

[The Heartical Don]

One of Brian's best solo songs imo. Absolutely gorgeous, beautiful and so Brian

Yep. It is unjustly neglected a lot of the time. I rate it up there with 'The Night Was So Young'. It has Bri's name written all over it. Wistful, longing, highly melodious. What's not to like?

[Micha]

What's not to like?

Give me some time, I'll find something!