Cabinessense chant

[thomasogg]

Does anyone have the transcript of what exactly Dennis is saying in the background on the 2nd chorus of 'Cabinessense'? I know what it SOUNDS like he's saying, but i'm not gonna say what i think that is as i'm pretty certain i'm wrong... Would be interested to find out though!

[Andrew G. Doe]

Printed in David Leaf's book, which i don't have to hand right now.

[kregan]

Hey!!

I happened to see this post and thought I'd throw my hat into the ring... if I'm not mistaken, the lyrics are as follows:

Truck drivin' man
Do what you can
High tail your load off the road into night life
It's a gas, man
I don't believe I gotta grieve
I'm outta luck 'tween a buck and a booth
catchin' on to the truth in the vast past
ah, the last gasp
In land or dust, trust that you must
Catch as catch can


That's all from memory, but I'm almost positive that's correct! Hope that helps! Take care!


Kev

[Andrew G. Doe]

Impressive - from memory that's almost perfect.

[thomasogg]

Hey, that's great - and boy, am i glad i didn't write what i thought he was saying after all..

[the captain]

I pulled out Leaf's book. The above isn't 100% correct, but it is close.

Here is what Leaf printed:

Truck driving man do what you can
High-tail your load off the road
Out of the night-life -- it's a gas man
I don't believe I gotta grieve
In and out of luck
With a buck and a booth
Catchin' on to the truth
In the vast past, the last gasp
In the land, in the dust, trust that you must
Catch as catch can.

[thomasogg]

Well, now i know. Pity it's from that utter tossbag David Leaf's book, don't like having to turn to such a turd-faced hypocrite for info.. Does anyone else downright loath his revolting linear notes on the two-fer CDs?

[peerke]

I have a feeling that you don't like the man, am I right?

[chris.metcalfe]

Worth noting that Nick Walusko didn't get the words quite right in 2004 ("I'm a gasman" being one example, conjuring up images of the Wondermints doing that Monty Python sketch with the queue of gasmen lining the street).

[Rocker]

Who did write that chant? I guess the answer is probably Brian/VDParks but I never saw any credit for it. unfortunately the lyrics to that chant aren't printed in the BWPS-booklet

[chris.metcalfe]

Undoubtedly Van Dyke Parks.

[Domo Arigato]

Do you think Brian's original idea was for the three sections of Cabinessence to go together?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Yes - that's Brian's own assembly. All that was added in 1968 was Carl's lead vocal and a few bvs, according to people who would nkow.

[Chris Brown]

Who did write that chant? I guess the answer is probably Brian/VDParks but I never saw any credit for it. unfortunately the lyrics to that chant aren't printed in the BWPS-booklet

You're probably right, although its funny because when someone asked Brian about it around the time of BWPS, he seemed like he had no idea that it had even existed.  Something like "I had no idea what Dennis was singing".  Obviously his memory isn't very reliable these days, since he must have had a hand in writing the melody back in the day.  The part is way too cool and brilliant to be the invention of another BB at that point in time.

[Aegir]

I remember reading somewhere that Dennis wrote it. That's probably a complete mental fabrication on my part, though.

[Bicyclerider]

Weren't the Truck Driving Man lyrics given to Frank Holmes by Van Dyke?  So that would certainly make Van Dyke the aurthor - besides the fact that the syntax and vocabulary is unmistakenly Van Dykian, and unlike anything Dennis would ever write.

[XY]

and what about

‘Reconnected telephone direct
dialing;
Different color cords to your
Extension,
Don’t forget to mention
This is a recording.’

‘Even though the echoes through
my mind
Have filtered through the pines,
I came and found my peace,
And this is not a recording.’

“Doobie doo,
Doobie doo,
Or not doobie!’”

[Roger Ryan]

and what about

‘Reconnected telephone direct
dialing;
Different color cords to your
Extension,
Don’t forget to mention
This is a recording.’

‘Even though the echoes through
my mind
Have filtered through the pines,
I came and found my peace,
And this is not a recording.’

“Doobie doo,
Doobie doo,
Or not doobie!’”

I imagine this has been suggested before, but could it be that Brian and Van Dyke briefly considered using the "reconnected telephone.../...echoes through my mind" lyrics underneath the first chorus in the same way that Dennis' "Truck-Driving Man" recitation appears underneath the second? Or possibly underneath the coda? Ultimately, Brian may have felt that the "Who Ran The Iron Horse?" vocal was enough for the first chorus and used only one of the recitations to give the second chorus an added dimension.

As an aside: this would not have been the only time Brian layered in unexpected vocal elements into a track. I'm thinking of the spanish vocals from IJWMFTT or the more recent example of Joe Thomas reading from "Dante's Inferno" in "Happy Days".

[SloopJohnB]

(...)

'm thinking of the spanish vocals from IJWMFTT or the more recent example of Joe Thomas reading from "Dante's Inferno" in "Happy Days".

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but do we really know what the "spanish vocals" are? 

[pixletwin]

(...)

'm thinking of the spanish vocals from IJWMFTT or the more recent example of Joe Thomas reading from "Dante's Inferno" in "Happy Days".

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but do we really know what the "spanish vocals" are? 

"Quando Sere. Un Dia Sere."

Right? 

[XY]

Dennis quote:

"On ‘Cabin-Essence’, there’s a line in there-‘truck-driving man’ which I sang. I got off so much doing that. It’s mixed way down in the track and it’s syncopated all the way through. Right there is my biggest turn-on."

[Glenn Greenberg]

Was Carl always meant to sing the lead vocal on Cabinessence, even back when it was supposed to be on the 1967 version of SMiLE?

[Chris Brown]

Was Carl always meant to sing the lead vocal on Cabinessence, even back when it was supposed to be on the 1967 version of SMiLE?

I would guess that Carl was supposed to do that lead all along, but I really don't know.  The only other member who could have pulled it off would have been Brian, and I think that if it was originally supposed to be Brian, they boys would have tried to get him to sing it in '68 (much like they did with Surf's Up in '71).  Even so, as much as I love Brian's voice during that era, I can't really picture his voice working as well as Carl's for that one.

[XY]

There's a story that Dennis was supposed to sing lead on "Cabin Essence". His voice would certainly have fit the mood of the song, I imagine better than Carl's lead.

[Daniel S.]

Here is Dennis' isolated vocal on Cabinessence for the Truck Driving Man lyrics, enjoy: http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=78BD5EDB6F3B8E4A