The Smiley Smile Message Board

On another thread there is discussion about the amount of leads Dennis had.  ITBOMM obviously came up and some people don't like it, fair enough.

I do though.  To me it always had the same type of 'feel' as Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Wonderful World.  Those songs are up there with my favourites of all time.  Not for the perfection (ala God Only Knows) but more to do with the innocence and simplicity of them. ITBOMY  is not technically the most perfect vocal, but the delivery seems to fit with the mood And vulnerability Brian was going for and Dennis, to my mind, delivered!

Does anyone else feel the same way?

One of my absolute favorites too. It does have a melancholic, nostalgic feel like the other tracks you cited, but also gets a little more adventurous in the bridge and outro.

Melancholic and nostalgic are the words I was looking for!  You are right, ITBOMM is more adventurous.  Brian was good at taking an influence and then improving on it and adding his own unique twist, even when doing a cover version. Maybe he did this regarding Somewhere Over The Rainbow?  I'd be interested to know if he ever mentioned that song.

Dennis sings it wonderfully -- but ITBOMM is just not my style of music. Today is one of my favorite BB albums, but I always skip that song.

Maybe someone could give ITBOMM the stripped-back voice and ukulele treatment like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" has been given in recent years.  :)

Or maybe a solo piano performance?  ;D


What Brian's '75 recording shows imo is what a great composition this songs is, even with the new parts in the '75 version. In short: this song sounds and feels like a Jazz standard. I wish more people outside the BBs universe would know about it.

I just can't understand any dislike for this song. it would have to be in my top 10 or so. it's jazz standard quality, and on par with anything on Pet Sounds. sure Dennis' double-tracked vocal is a little off in spots, but it's hardly the only BBs song with sloppy double-tracking. the passion of his vocal more than makes up for it. the pizzicato bridge is brilliant and the swirling strings and horns at the end are mesmerizing and a glimpse into the back of Brian's mind.

Any dislike I had for the song stemmed from the fact I first heard it in Duophonic, which meant an already busy recording (Dennis's multi-tracked vocals, the heavy orchestral backing) sounded messy. I liked the mono version more, but I like the single-tracked vocal on the stereo version best.

I thought it was corny when it came out (I was 11 at the time). Not fond of the lyrics, the melody or harmonic progression. It sounds like below middling Paul Anka.
The production is very good and the ending is fantastic. I do like the vocal; it has some nice emotional oomph at the end.

I can understand why some fans may have found it 'corny' at the time.  The jazzy feel made it unlike most other things they had done up until that point.  Sometimes I even think it's distant from the rest of the album but I still love it as a charming little song (and one of my fav's).

I think the lyrics are great. Some of Mike's best (although I have a feeling that Brian wrote many of them as well)

But, to a kid, it sounded like it was coming from a house on a cul-de-sac in Squaresville. It sounded like someone leading a quiet, simple, settled down life.

I'm not sympathetic this guy. He has such a feeling of dread that he is going to be ditched by his gf/wife. The lyrics paint a portrait of an insecure, almost paranoid, person. There is too much irrational emotion in the song for my taste.  The song gives no clue as to why the guy has this big dark fear.
It's unsettling. A downer. Not a great way to close out a Side 2.

That's the thing it has that paranoia and yet the mood of the song and the vocal seems upbeat and 'happy'.  The contradiction is perfectly summed up by the way the song goes off to a whole other place. Pretty clever production.

I didn't hear 'jazzy.' Still don't. And I had heard music like that; it sounded old fashioned. The arrangement could have served Perry Como, Eydie Gorme, Matt Monro or any number of popular vocalists of the early 60's. Musically, the only interesting section is the end/fade where you the music 'descends' then gets that swirling action going on.

in your opinion. i consider the bridge one the most interesting in the catalog, both for the instrumentation and the syncopation of the vocal.


the song expresses insecurity, something Brian obviously felt and felt the need to write about more than once. if you can't identify with insecurity or paranoia, lucky you. but why do you need to sympathize with a song's narrator or sentiment to appreciate and enjoy it?

the fact that Brian was writing music this sophisticated and "old fashioned" at the age of 22, alongside popular hits like Help Me Rhonda and Dance, Dance, Dance speaks volumes.

yes, 22 is a good age to be brilliant (see: Marcos Valle)
What really impresses me about Brian, with regard to the Today album, is how he re-worked the chorus to Don't Hurt My Little Sister, combined it the melody and bg vocal dymanic of I'm Into Something Good and came up with the chorus to California Girls.

That made him what he is.  He wasn't afraid to ty new sounds and different directions. He pushed the boundaries time and time again in a good way and sometimes his 'squareness' when it came to his musical tastes and influences actually helped make him 'hip'.

I remember him describing the Four Freshman as having really modern harmonies but not a lot of young guys would be listening to them.  They would be more into Elvis and Chuck Berry et al.  I think Brian and Mike's family get togethers and singalongs exposed them to a lot of 'old fashioned' music.

One, thing. The Four Freshman weren't square, harmonically. In the beginning they were a jazz vocal group. They came out of the Stan Kenton school. The Kenton band spawned a whole slew of talented and innovative composers and arrangers who would majorly influence not only the jazz and big band world, but also the area film, television and radio and in turn, American pop music.
Old fashioned would have been what we might call the more sentimental artists like Fred Waring, Mitch Miller, McGuire Sisters, Guy Lombardo, Vaughan Monroe.

ITBOMM and Cuddle Up seem to be songs that are in the same vein, two songs that have style that some people like or they don't, that classical style that isn't really melodic but more dissonant which makes them seem like a mass of sound to some people while others don't mind that mass of sound. It's very common in the classical world where a composer will come out of nowhere with a musical piece that sounds muffled and confusing and sounds like "Noise" to people who do not understand that specific style.if anything I think that these  songs shows how Brian and Dennis are Genius'.. outside of just Pet Sounds and GV.. other songs that seems to fit that vein are "When Girls Get together" (Especially the instrumental without that weird drum sound) and "Be with me". if these songs had NO lyrics or singing and were just instrumentals I can see people comparing them to some of the classical artists of the past..

In The Back of My Mind *is* jazzy, featuring some of the jazziest chord progressions in the Beach Boys catalog.  You can really hear the presence of the jazz chords much better in Brian's piano playing on the 1975 "demo".

Truth be told, the mono mix covers up a tremendous amount of what is really going on here.  Anyone who hasn't heard the instrumental version of this song in stereo needs to absorb this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuUtWOPzSeE

It's still schmaltzy. Major 7 and minor 9 chords and an intelligent progression don't make a song jazz. The rhythm section is playing straight 8's; there is no syncopation, no improvisation. It ain't got that swing. It's a great track. Yes.
People seem to equate pop songs that use chords with extensions or alternate bass notes as being jazz or jazzy. I don't see it that way. Burt Bacharach had done what Brian was doing (harmonically speaking)  on a more advanced level and he was not a jazz dude. Some of his songs did become vehicles for jazz musicians. Sonny Rollins' version of Alfie, or Roland Kirk's version of I Say A little Prayer, for instance.

As much as I enjoy your posts and opinions, I must protest your use of the name Donald as I have held the Donald name on these beach boys threads since the early days of the internet.   Putting a prefix on the name does not over ride my exclusive right to it.....including the lowercase d for Donald.   Olmec indeed!

Respectfully

....donald

I was thinking of using Symphoney Cid, but decided against it. Sorry, I'm keeping it for now.

Well, if you must ;)

:lol

Maybe since I talk about jazz and jazzy so much I should make it: Olmec Donald Byrd.

But are you really donald or just a Donald of Olmec ?

Of Olmec-ish stock.

Those pre columbian extractors of latex from the rubber trees Olmecish stock guys?