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So I just heard this for the first time. Who does the odd 'scratchy' vocals....is that Brian?

According to this site:

http://www.beachboys.com/raritiesV.html (http://www.beachboys.com/raritiesV.html)

"Next comes "Mother May" is next which has Brian delivering a powerhouse verse, but the song is undercut by the strange, screaming chorus, which sounds like a joke."

I'll give it another listen. I can't remember sitting through the entire double disc (In The Beginning/The Garage Tapes).

It sounds like Brian goofing around to me. It makes me wonder why it didn't make the Endless Bummer compilation.

so it's "Mother May I" which became "Our Car Club"

the "screaming chorus" is Brian doing his best mom voice. funny stuff

"Mother May I" became "Rabbit's Foot" became "Our Car Club".

Sounds more like "Hide Go Seek" to me, but granted it's a while since I last listened.

That screaming voice definitely sounds like Brian to me.  Check out the vocal in the middle of "Child of Winter" for more of the same type of thing.

Which became "Don't Back Down"

Was he trying to emulate  other singers that kinda had a similar vocal thing going... but just couldn't quite get there. I can't think of a great example of some similar singing elsewhere but I'm sure I have heard it. Maybe Frankie Valli? Either that or is was a parody.

"Mother May" was probably about May Rovell, eh?

he's doing a mother's voice on Mother May I. On Child of Winter it's basically the pied piper voice from Mt. Vernon & Fairway. it's a comedic thing.

1. it's Mae (or was).

2. it's "mother, may..." as in "can I ?".  :P

Yeah, maybe not, Mistah Doe.  Mae and Irving, right?  Very Jewish. 

if the title of the song is Mother May and not Mother May I, then it's gotta be a play on mama Mae.

Mama Mia

May I be the first to congratulate you on your new name and avatar. Very funny.

Correct - their original names were Irving Rovelski and Mae Gaussmann.  ;D

:D


edit

wtf was that? It's like the quote function broke all of a sudden.  Damned glitch gremlins...

I've been having a lot of problems with quoting posts lately too.

OK, just dug it out, and it's not a bit like "Hide Go Seek" - it's a lot like it, albeit with the middle-eight of "Our Car Club". Don't hear "Don't Back Down" at all...

He meant the early version of DBD

Oh, sorry, my mind-reading isn't what it once was. Foolishly, as the words "early version" were not mentioned in said post, I assumed, most stupidly, that the originally released version was being referenced. In future, I'll try harder to divine what the poster actually intended to say, even if they failed to make it clear. I am contrite in my inadequacy.

Oh, and it doesn't sound anything like either version of "DBD". So there.  :P

I did mean the early version. but that slipped my mind as I referenced it from memory. My music's not on this computer. One of the songs on disk one of Garage Tapes is an early version of DBD. I'm sure it's Hide Go Seek. Verses only, same melody.

yeah Hide Go Seek and the original Dont Back Down are clearly related.

and the word "twonk" just popped into my head for some reason.

Speaking of The Garage Tapes, do you think there's any chance that Little Deuce Coupe was influenced by "Marie"? Or at least the demo of "Little Deuce Coupe".

Problem being, "HGS" isn't on The Garage Tapes. Except as "MM". Just did an A/B, and the verse melody of "MM" and the alternate "DBD" are entirely different.

Brian used "MM" for the verse of "HGS" and the middle-eight of "OCC". There's a proto-"Do You Remember ?" on said boot, for sure.

Mother Mae = Our Car Club

Verse of early Don't Back Down = verse of Hide Go Seek


The melodies of the verse of MM and HGS are notoriously different. Although one can sing the verse of any of those over the track of either.

So is it "Mother May" or "Mother May I"? It's called "Mother May" on most of the bootlegs, but "Mother May I" on the 2013 compilation The Big Beat 1963, for example. In other words - was there ever an 'official' working title for the track or doesn't it matter at all? ;)

Bootlegs contain all sorts of title errors. "Mother May", in the context of the song, doesn't really make sense. I'd go with "Mother May I" over anything else.

I agree.  It could simply be a typesetting error, or if "In the Beginning" was pressed in a non-English country the compiler may not have been familiar with the kid's game "Mother May I" (or may have known it by another name -- according to Wikipedia the game is also known as "Captain May I" in some cultures), and may have unknowingly left off the "I."  To someone unfamiliar with the game it could sound like Brian is singing "Mother may, aaaahhh."

Lee

I like that Old Granny Voice...lol....

I'd care less if the song has or has not roman numerals. What I do care is that I love "Mother May" very much. It's hearing things like this that make you realize early BBs were oh so good.

In Russian fairy tales/cartoons, the antagonist is called Baba Yaga (super-old lady with a big nose who eats kids). Brian's comic voice reminds me of her.

You mean as in Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSio2Bg-kUQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSio2Bg-kUQ)

Great stuff. Can't beat Mussorgsky. :=)

Just heard about this for the first time and listened to it on YouTube. Very understandable it wasn't released at the time. Is that Dave trying to sing "Yes you are" at 2:05?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orhbuPJIN3Y

Stumbled across this wiki page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_May_I%3F

Finally I understand the baby steps reference!!
 

So, is this the first evidence of Brian trying to use his late 70's voice? Maybe I'll start a new thread...

Hey, I feel kinda lame bringing this thread back, but does anybody (maybe c-man, ferinstance) know when "Mother May I" was recorded?

Shoot. Well okay, that sank like a stone. Well does anybody know the era that this song was recorded in at the very least? Surfin' U.S.A.? Surfer Girl? Little Deuce Coupe?

For some reason I think I remember hearing that it's Surfer Girl era but I have nothing of substance to put that on.

My best guess - and that's exactly what it is, no more - would be before late July 1963: that's when "Hide Go Seek" was recorded... although, of course, Brian's never been averse to recycling a riff after it's been released.