The Smiley Smile Message Board

Tell me about this song.

I can't get enough of it.

TROMBONE

well, i think it sucks....lol

but it was about 10 yrs old when it was finally released. why in the world they picked it instead of other, far better,  tunes from the vaults is beyond me.......

Really?  OK...

it's an outtake from one of the "Add Some Music" / "Sunflower" lineups.  Brian and Mike reportedly wrote it after being inspired by Marilyn and her group of friends.  The track was cut by Brian with a bunch of session musicians, and some overdubs were added later.  The jangly instrument you hear is a marxophone, which is a keyboard-like instument where you punch  typewriter-like keys and a small hammer strikes a set of strings.  Here's  more detailed description from Wikpedia:

"The Marxophone is a fretless zither that has four sets of chord strings (Cmajor, Gmajor, Fmajor and D7) to be strummed with the left hand and two octaves of double melody strings (Cmiddle - C'') which are struck by metal hammers activated by the right hand. The hammers are mounted on spring steel and produce a mandolin-like sound from repeated bouncing on the strings, hence the name mandolin-guitar-zither that was sometimes applied to the Marxophone."

The track was considered for inclusion on "New Album" (if that's even a real title) in late '76, probably in a remixed form.  It was finally remixed by Bruce Johnston and included on "KTSA" ten year after it was recorded.   I remember one reviewer saying it was the best thing on the album, while another called it the "only real turkey" on there.  To each his own...

C-Man

Great info on the Marxophone. I've never heard of that and had put the sound down to a mandolin on the song. The version of the song on KTSA with the drums added kind of stinks compared to the original.

I like it. It has a different sound and structure than the usual Beach Boys' song. It's kind of sophisticated.

The thumping bass is cool. I think I read somewhere (on Stephen Desper's thread?) that the bass was much more prevalent on his mix, only to be lessened on the CD release of KTSA.

Have you got the other one? Not the KTSA version? If you don't I can send it to you. It's GREAT, and without those drum fills on the KTSA version. This one does sound sophisticated.

I agree the song is fantastic.  I only know the KTSA version.  I love the simple two-part harmony, although I can't make out if it's Brian doing the harmony vocal, or a second track of Mike.  Does anyone know?

I think the lyrics are really cool, clever and also very poignant.  The last verses are understated and beautiful.  

I love the melody of the bridge, too.  

The production and arrangement calls to mind a slower, waltzier "Trombone Dixie."  It's very sweet and sad.

The song also reminds me a little bit of "Cool Cool Water" -- not in its actual sound but because it seems so uniquely late 60s Brian, subtle, seemingly unambitious, yet incredibly beautiful in an almost fragile way.

I think it is absolutely amazing that they could have sat on this track for a decade -- 8 albums -- before finally releasing it.

I agree. I had always thought that one was totally quirky and original, and I always liked the images in the last verse, with the old women in the park talking about the loss of their husbands, as little girls run by talking about boys they just met. Indeed, I have never heard that "circle of life" concept put that way until that song, and the boys managed it in 4 lines. Quite nice imagery, there..

Always found this to be a nice song.  Sweet innocent words.  Kind of where Brian was at, at the time.  Too bad it was not released in context of the material of it's time.

Correct. He suggests the vinyl is the way to hear it as he intended. I haven't heard the KTSA version.

It's Brian. 

It's a wonderful song! It and " Going On" are really the only tracks that make the album woth getting (IMO).

This was originally intended for the "Last Capitol Album" or Reverberation and was on the reel as an instrumental!  I always wondered about that - were they going to leave it as an instrumental?  In some ways I think the song would be better without the lyrics - I'm not a fan of Mike's singing on this.

It has that "Pet Sounds" feel linking it to sophisticated film music which is always great to hear. Makes me wish he went into that sort of thing, we'd have heard a ton of great stuff.  :)