Mike Love's H&V rant on Lei'd in Hawaii recording

[The Song Of The Grange]

I have always thought Mike Love comes off as a MASSIVE jerk on this Lei'd In Hawaii outtake.  For a long time it seemed like the real smoking gun that showed Mike's true feelings about the Smile project.  However, Peter Ames Carlin (in his book Catch A Wave) suggests that this record was actually another of Brian's comedy skit ideas, and that BW had himself sketched out the speech (or at least the idea for it).  Carlin points to the talk back voice on the tape, which seems to be Brian's.  If this is the case, than Mike Love doesn't look so bad, and the recording becomes another of Brian's self-destructions.  This seems to fit with Brian's outlook at the time--that Smile was a big mistake.  I wonder how much of this attitude stemmed from Mike and the rest of the band's own negative opinion of the Smile project?  Post-Smile, Brian comes off sounding like an alcoholic whose family and friends staged an intervention.  Brian renounced Smile like someone would renounce drugs when they are fresh out of rehab.  So maybe this H&V rant really was dreamed up by BW (naturally, Mike would have been a big help in a task like this too).

I would be interested in anyone's views on the subject. 

[MBE]

I always thought it was just a joke and that Brian wouldn't have been singing back ups (I've been eating) if he didn't find it funny. Maybe it hits close to the bone for some who see  Mike as this evil jerk who made saintly Brian go nuts. In any case it backs up my theory that Brian was never sure Smile was right for the group himself.

[Jason]

Welcome to the THREAD, with your host, The Real Beach Boy.

We're gonna begin our panel tonight with this statement.

BRIAN WROTE THE FUCKING SCRIPT, OK?!?

[Naive Teen Idol]

One of the books--Dom Priore's?--talked about what a "hurtful" tape it was -- maybe it was Leaf?  I can't remember exactly.  But sounds like they weren't in on the joke...

I wonder if "Cassius Wilson vs. Sonny Love..." upsets them, too...

[OGoldin]

I always thought it was just a joke and that Brian wouldn't have been singing back ups (I've been eating) if he didn't find it funny. Maybe it hits close to the bone for some who see  Mike as this evil jerk who made saintly Brian go nuts. In any case it backs up my theory that Brian was never sure Smile was right for the group himself.

But the singing on that track -- as I seem to recall it -- is absolutely glorious.  And it is just as psychedelic as the original Smile tracks, unlike the somewhat dumbed down versions the band would later do live.  If Brian did write the script it shows hesitation not whether it was the right song for the band, but whether the band should go back to trying to make hits or trying to push music forward.  The Beatles were able to get on AM radio with Strawberry Fields and I Am the Walrus, but for whatever reason Brian thought he wasn't able to pull that off.  Still, I think that Heroes and Villains, before it was cut and subject to too much tinkering, could have done the trick.

[Andrew G. Doe]

One of the books--Dom Priore's?--talked about what a "hurtful" tape it was -- maybe it was Leaf?  I can't remember exactly.  But sounds like they weren't in on the joke...

I wonder if "Cassius Wilson vs. Sonny Love..." upsets them, too...

The first tape that came into circulation cut off before before you could hear Brian's voice and laughter. Hence the assumption.

[Fun Is In]

Welcome to the THREAD, with your host, The Real Beach Boy.

We're gonna begin our panel tonight with this statement.

BRIAN WROTE THE friggin' SCRIPT, OK?!?

Which does beg the question: WHY? and opens it up wide to speculation.

[OGoldin]

Welcome to the THREAD, with your host, The Real Beach Boy.

We're gonna begin our panel tonight with this statement.

BRIAN WROTE THE friggin' SCRIPT, OK?!?

Which does beg the question: WHY? and opens it up wide to speculation.

Well it certainly wasn't for potential release.  It had to on the surface be in the spirit of :"OK let's see what this sounds like."

It's not going too far out on a limb to see Brian trying to do a little bit of art imitating life -- sort of the way the Beatles in their movies played themselves -- or at least the scriptwriters' take on their view of themselves, or the scriptwriters' take on their view of others' view of themselves. . . . So what does Brian give us in his little tableau of the Beach Boys looking back at the Smile period -- a dramatic account of Mike Love being a real jerk, cruelly jabbering about dollars and the hit parade over a beautiful rendition of Smile music, making it impossible to enjoy that beauty and brilliance in its purity. . . . and Mike goes along with the "joke" . . . .

Even if Brian wrote it, it's hard to listen to, a little masochism on Brian's part, I think.

[A Million Units In Jan!]

I always thought it was basically because it wasn't a 'hit' like they thought it would be. So it was them making fun of themselves. Sometimes, when it comes to SMiLE, I think that we think too much.   

[petsite]

And any song with Brian singing "lately I've been eating so much pu**y" is one of my faves!

[rasmus skotte]

I'm with OGoldin on this one. Mike was put on trial and fell all too willingly into Brian's trap. It was almost too easy.
'Now hear what kind of hatespeech that helped bring SMiLE down - and myself in the process' or something like that?

[Cam Mott]

Inspite of what Mike said while he and Brian were jocking around entertaining each other on mic, hasn't Mike said that he felt H&V was the last production with Bri's dynamism ?

[bossaroo]

And any song with Brian singing "lately I've been eating so much pu**y" is one of my faves!

wow. never caught that...

BRILLIANT!

(perhaps this preoccupation is what really brought SMiLE down? : )


isn't there a version of "I Was Made To Love Her" with some kind of profanity or slur?