SMiLE Song Titles

[John]

I don't know, but it did say in bold and italics right after "In Blue Hawaii", SING SLOWLY, which always tickled me. I saw that in Beautiful Dreamer.

I found that somewhat disconcerting. Lyrical prompts I can understand, but needing to be reminded how to sing a song ?

That is odd. I bet he was rushing the "Is it hot as hell in here, or is it me?" bit.

[Bicyclerider]

I just thought it started out on a play on "dig" both as in "use a spade or shovel" and as in "like". "Do You Dig Worms?" in the garden, kinda makes sense, and from there it's a short jump to "dig = like".

"Do You Dig Worms?" could also be interpreted as posing a question to the worms. How do they feel about Plymouth rock "rolling over" and disturbing their way of life? Do they dig it? White man's expansion was disturbing the pristine quality of America's natural bounties, spreading disease and leading to deforestation, along with numerous other harmful effects.

But then, wouldn't the title have been "Do You Dig, Worms?"

[Chris Brown]

I found that somewhat disconcerting. Lyrical prompts I can understand, but needing to be reminded how to sing a song ?

I wouldn't be surprised...he might have had a habit of singing it too quickly...he has at least one habit that drives me a little bit nuts...the way he sings "God Only Knows" -- "God only knows whaddeyed be without you..." Every concert, filmed performance, whatever, that I've seen or heard, from ANY year, that has Brian singing GOK, he sings it like that instead of the triplet way (which is one reason I'm extremely confident that it's CARL, not Brian, singing the lead on the "disc 5" version).

From what I understand, the prompters also had (notice past tense -- he hasn't been using them lately) stage directions, like "exit to the left," "talk," etc.

That's always bugged me too...I don't know why he does that.  I'm sure if he tried, he could do it correctly.  Maybe he likes it better sung that way for whatever reason. 

[brianc]

That crap doesn't bug me. Brian's an old man. He's always had stage fright. And I'm sure it's not easy for him to be on the road year after year, even if he loves room service, and even if his band is great.

[Bill Tobelman]

I don't know, but it did say in bold and italics right after "In Blue Hawaii", SING SLOWLY, which always tickled me. I saw that in Beautiful Dreamer.

I found that somewhat disconcerting. Lyrical prompts I can understand, but needing to be reminded how to sing a song ?

The general tendency is to speed things up during a live performance. Add to that the impulse to "get it over with" and "In Blue Hawaii" has an excellent chance of breaking the speed barrier. Following "Mrs. O'Leary's..."  and the intro to "In Blue Hawaii" and the slow & down mode certainly needs correction.

Perhaps Brian was prone to over correcting a little too much on that number.

[mikeyj]

Every concert, filmed performance, whatever, that I've seen or heard, from ANY year, that has Brian singing GOK, he sings it like that instead of the triplet way (which is one reason I'm extremely confident that it's CARL, not Brian, singing the lead on the "disc 5" version).

Hey that's what I've always thought with that disc 5 track too. Sounds totally like Carl to me.