Shared credits, but who did what?

[carl r]

Sorry if this duplicates a previous thread.

I'm curious about who wrote a lot of the best early 70s work - I know the credits, but not who did what in terms of composition. I wonder if anyone can help...

All This Is That
Leaving This Town
Our Sweet Love
Good Timin
It's About Time
Our Sweet Love

[c-man]

All This Is That - Al had written another song (possibly with the same title) based on the Robert Frost poem "The Road Not Taken", then Mike and Carl got involved and turned it into another song; Mike wanted meditation lyrics and Carl liked a certain style of production, SO...words  & music by Al, additional lyrics by Mike, additional music by Carl

Leaving This Town - written mainly by Ricky, with addtitional music & lyrics by Carl and Blondie, and additional lyrics by Mike

Our Sweet Love - Brian probably wrote all the music, and wrote the words with Carl and Al (similar to the songwriting process on much of the "Friends" album)

Good Timin - music by Brian, words by Carl and Brian, written on their grandmother's piano in a back room at Brother Studio

It's About Time - Dennis wrote the music, Carl helped him with some of the chord changes, Dennis asked Barbara's school friend Bob Burchman to write the words, then Al modified the words and came up with the "It's About Time" hook line

Hope this helps!

[carl r]

Yes, it does. Thanks!

[brother john]

Weirdly, I was just playing Good Timin' on the piano about ten minutes ago, and decided pretty much the same as c-man, that the music is completely Brian Wilson, has his sensibility written all over it, and that he wrote the chorus and Carl wrote the verses. The repetition of a phrase, you need good timin, good timin' etc. is indicative of Brian's mental state at the time, whereas the wishy-washy verses are more of a Carl thing.

[mikeyj]

Weirdly, I was just playing Good Timin' on the piano about ten minutes ago, and decided pretty much the same as c-man, that the music is completely Brian Wilson, has his sensibility written all over it, and that he wrote the chorus and Carl wrote the verses. The repetition of a phrase, you need good timin, good timin' etc. is indicative of Brian's mental state at the time, whereas the wishy-washy verses are more of a Carl thing.

Isn't Good Timin' REALLY similar to Surfer Girl?

[lance]

All This Is That - Al had written another song (possibly with the same title) based on the Robert Frost poem "The Road Not Taken", then Mike and Carl got involved and turned it into another song; Mike wanted meditation lyrics and Carl liked a certain style of production, SO...words  & music by Al, additional lyrics by Mike, additional music by Carl

Leaving This Town - written mainly by Ricky, with addtitional music & lyrics by Carl and Blondie, and additional lyrics by Mike

Our Sweet Love - Brian probably wrote all the music, and wrote the words with Carl and Al (similar to the songwriting process on much of the "Friends" album)

Good Timin - music by Brian, words by Carl and Brian, written on their grandmother's piano in a back room at Brother Studio

It's About Time - Dennis wrote the music, Carl helped him with some of the chord changes, Dennis asked Barbara's school friend Bob Burchman to write the words, then Al modified the words and came up with the "It's About Time" hook line

Hope this helps!

C-man, first off let me say I love your site.

Where have you gotten the info for these particular songs?

[c-man]

Weirdly, I was just playing Good Timin' on the piano about ten minutes ago, and decided pretty much the same as c-man, that the music is completely Brian Wilson, has his sensibility written all over it, and that he wrote the chorus and Carl wrote the verses. The repetition of a phrase, you need good timin, good timin' etc. is indicative of Brian's mental state at the time, whereas the wishy-washy verses are more of a Carl thing.

Isn't Good Timin' REALLY similar to Surfer Girl?

Dennis called it "another Surfer Girl"...he meant that as a compliment.

[mikeyj]

Dennis called it "another Surfer Girl"...he meant that as a compliment.

Yeah I know that he meant it as a compliment but aren't the chords basically the same in parts? I'm not saying it's bad or anything, but if that is the case then hence why it is pretty likely that Brian wrote the music by himself.

[c-man]

All This Is That - Al had written another song (possibly with the same title) based on the Robert Frost poem "The Road Not Taken", then Mike and Carl got involved and turned it into another song; Mike wanted meditation lyrics and Carl liked a certain style of production, SO...words  & music by Al, additional lyrics by Mike, additional music by Carl

Leaving This Town - written mainly by Ricky, with addtitional music & lyrics by Carl and Blondie, and additional lyrics by Mike

Our Sweet Love - Brian probably wrote all the music, and wrote the words with Carl and Al (similar to the songwriting process on much of the "Friends" album)

Good Timin - music by Brian, words by Carl and Brian, written on their grandmother's piano in a back room at Brother Studio

It's About Time - Dennis wrote the music, Carl helped him with some of the chord changes, Dennis asked Barbara's school friend Bob Burchman to write the words, then Al modified the words and came up with the "It's About Time" hook line

Hope this helps!

C-man, first off let me say I love your site.

Where have you gotten the info for these particular songs?

Thanks for lovin' the site Lance...a Bambu essay is in the works as we speak!  
Sources for the info above are as follows...

All This Is That:  the Byron Preiss book

Leaving This Town:  the back cover of Holland, the promo booklet on the recording of Holland, and the 2002 Mojo special feature on Holland

Our Sweet Love:  my personal speculation based on Long Promised Road being described by Carl as the first song he "wrote" (implying his previous colloborations with Brian on this song and the ones from Friends were merely lyrical and not musical), and the fact that when colloborating with his bandmates, Brian normally did all the music

Good Timin':  the Ten Years of Harmony inner sleeve songwriting credits and a 1979 Carl Wilson radio interview promoting the Light Album

It's About Time:  info provided by Jon Stebbins and the following website (a fantastic read BTW):  http://www.pipeline-operaglass.moonfruit.com/#/itsabouttime/4517958509

[c-man]

Dennis called it "another Surfer Girl"...he meant that as a compliment.

Yeah I know that he meant it as a compliment but aren't the chords basically the same in parts? I'm not saying it's bad or anything, but if that is the case then hence why it is pretty likely that Brian wrote the music by himself.

Also...see above...

[Aegir]

Weirdly, I was just playing Good Timin' on the piano about ten minutes ago, and decided pretty much the same as c-man, that the music is completely Brian Wilson, has his sensibility written all over it, and that he wrote the chorus and Carl wrote the verses. The repetition of a phrase, you need good timin, good timin' etc. is indicative of Brian's mental state at the time, whereas the wishy-washy verses are more of a Carl thing.

Isn't Good Timin' REALLY similar to Surfer Girl?

The falsetto line in the chorus sounds really Surfer-Girlish to me.

[Dancing Bear]

Our Sweet Love - Brian probably wrote all the music, and wrote the words with Carl and Al (similar to the songwriting process on much of the "Friends" album)

Yeah. I wonder if that bootlegged 'Our Sweet Love' with just the backing track and Brian singing some counterpoints is where he lost interest, then Carl and Al took the ball and ran with it. But that's wild speculation from my part.

[TdHabib]

Great info C-Man, has there ever been any documentation as to what Mike wrote and what Brian wrote on "All I Wanna Do" from Sunflower?

[Chris Brown]

Weirdly, I was just playing Good Timin' on the piano about ten minutes ago, and decided pretty much the same as c-man, that the music is completely Brian Wilson, has his sensibility written all over it, and that he wrote the chorus and Carl wrote the verses. The repetition of a phrase, you need good timin, good timin' etc. is indicative of Brian's mental state at the time, whereas the wishy-washy verses are more of a Carl thing.

Isn't Good Timin' REALLY similar to Surfer Girl?

The falsetto line in the chorus sounds really Surfer-Girlish to me.

Yeah they took the falsetto line in the last chorus straight from the intro to Surfer Girl...I've always considered it a well constructed re-write.  Totally agree with your assessment brother john.

[tpesky]

BTW, just listened to Our Sweet Love yesterday on the IPOD, has to be one of my all time favorite rare tracks.  It does have a Friends vibe to it, which makes sense as alot of the Friends stuff is Wilson/Wilson/Jardine work.

[phirnis]

...
Leaving This Town:  the back cover of Holland, the promo booklet on the recording of Holland, and the 2002 Mojo special feature on Holland
...

I never knew there was a whole Mojo feature dedicated to the Holland album. Sounds quite amazing to me as I always wanted to know as much about this project (which still remains a mystery in so many ways) as possible. Is it available on the net somewhere?

[John]

Yeah, me too. I've really been in a Holland mood for ages now. Mike, Al, Carl and Ricky/Blondie's best songs are all on that one, in my opinion.

[MBE]

Our Sweet Love - Brian probably wrote all the music, and wrote the words with Carl and Al (similar to the songwriting process on much of the "Friends" album)

Yeah. I wonder if that bootlegged 'Our Sweet Love' with just the backing track and Brian singing some counterpoints is where he lost interest, then Carl and Al took the ball and ran with it. But that's wild speculation from my part.

That's probably the track in an early stage. They could have finished it the same day or week etc. Desper doesn't write anything about Brian leaving it unfinished so I assume he didn't.

[brother john]

Weirdly, I was just playing Good Timin' on the piano about ten minutes ago, and decided pretty much the same as c-man, that the music is completely Brian Wilson, has his sensibility written all over it, and that he wrote the chorus and Carl wrote the verses. The repetition of a phrase, you need good timin, good timin' etc. is indicative of Brian's mental state at the time, whereas the wishy-washy verses are more of a Carl thing.

Isn't Good Timin' REALLY similar to Surfer Girl?

The falsetto line in the chorus sounds really Surfer-Girlish to me.

Yeah they took the falsetto line in the last chorus straight from the intro to Surfer Girl...I've always considered it a well constructed re-write.  Totally agree with your assessment brother john.

Actually, I have to say that I don't see any similarity at all. For me the structures, the harmonies, the chords, the sentiment are all quite different. Beyond them both being slow and ballad-ish, and both in 6/4 (I think...) and having falsettos on them they are separated by a huge gulf of history for the BBs, with one song being sung by callow youths and the other by grown men -and it shows in the songs. 

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Yeah, not much musical similarity between Good Timin' and Surfer Girl from an academic standpoint.