The Smiley Smile Message Board

Well the only that I find cool about that song is well I only live a couple streets away from Pacific Coast Highway so I kind of know how it feels to cruise down it :)..
The song sounds not bad but not as good as you guys make it seem...it's the weakest song from the suite..What is it about the song that you guys find so amazing?
It sounds extremely boring :/ I'm sure I'm probably the only person that doesn't like it...

I love the piano and strings and background vocals.  I especially love the "goodbye" part...that part makes me very emotional.

To me, Summer's Gone is a far less interesting song than PCH. In fact, I think Summer's Gone is probably as overrated as you think PCH is.

It doesn't have that Beach Boys feel like From There To Back Again & Summer's Gone does. It just doesn't fit in for some reason..(besides the sad vibe of it)
summer's gone is the last song the boys are going to do so of course they had to go out with a bang..

How can you not listen to Brian freakin' Wilson sing those words on a Beach Boys album and not be a tad moved? Throw in the goodbye, and yeah -- grown men weeping, wiping their eyes with frayed Hawaiian shirt time...

I think it's a lot more powerful than the last track. They could've switched places easily.

It's my favourite track on the entire LP.

PCH isn't moving at all...Summer's Gone gives you that feeling that the end is here and that's powerful :'( if any song on the album could make you cry that's the one that could hit the spot.

It destroys me every time. Damn, it makes me feel a terrible sense of bereavement... not normal, I know, as I know my emotions are being manipulated. Makes me feel like this music I've listened to all my life won't be here much longer... an impending sense of departure. Nothing the BBs have done before gets me so utterly.

Yup, it's okay...

I love it.  Those pounding piano accents may be a little derivative but they're so right an powerful.  When Brian starts singing 'driving down pacific coast out on highway one...' I can almost literally see and feel that sun setting right in front of me.

However, I will say that that final 'goodbye' reminds me of The Spice Girls song of the same name  :afro sorry to dampen the mood.

The Beach Boys Summer's Gone = The Beatles Long and Winding Road

This! It's so short but so powerful.

Summer's Gone doesn't do much for me, but still enjoyable when looking at the whole picture. Or listening to it, I guess.

It's every bit as moving as the classic Beach Boys' song I'm listening to as I type this. ("Please Let Me Wonder")

Brian Wilson has this innate ability to get into that emotional space we'll call it where he is able to affect many people (somewhat surprisingly predominantly grown men) in a very unique way.  Maybe it's the fact that he allows himself to be so vulnerable, maybe it's the fact that his lyrics are able be communicated in such a personal manner that it feels as if he and the listener are sharing the same experience.  I don't know.  But "Pacific Coast Highway" has this quality as does almost every other classic Brian Wilson ballad from the sixties and beyond.  It communicates something very spiritual as Carl liked to put it and I think that spirit is just a very common experience that many people have but at times are unable to/afraid to express.  I believe that Brian Wilson has spoken for many and in doing so probably have provided a great deal of comfort to many as well.

^ Agreed with everything here 100%.

To you, yes...this is subjective material here.  You present it as factual, objective statements. Why?

I'm glad Summer's Gone moves you that way.  PCH moves me and apparently many others in a similar way.  Part of the magic of this music is that different things move us in different ways.

Well the song is definitely short, but it gets to the point.  I dig it.  There is even a little "Dennis" vibe going on with it. 

This is newguy you are talking about after all....  >:D

Dude, are you ever hearing the lyrics? If "My life...i'm better off alone/better on my own" isn't heartwrenching, I don't know what is.

I greatly prefer Spring Vacation, Isn't It Time, and Private Life of Bill and Sue over the last three tracks.

Most of the time when I read the stuff on here it makes me feel like I'm not a huge beach boys fan like most of you are.
Not because I started listening to them last year but because it connects with most of you on a whole different level..I just love the melodies/Harmony..I think the only song where I could hear deep emotion from Brian was on "I'm Waiting For The Day", "Caroline No", "Til I Die"...& "Summer's Gone"..Most of the time when I hear songs by the boys the first thing I pay attention to is the mood of the song & the harmony ...the lyrics are last..
Brian can write some beautiful lyrics but he seems more like a music man then a wordsmith..
Now there are certain people that sing and completely overwhelm me with emotion. (depends on the song)  John Lennon is a perfect example of that and always does that for me. (Free as a Bird,Mother,Love)

It's too short to be boring.
It has a linnear structure. No repeats, just changes within a short time span.
Vocals are great. Harmonies sublime.
Subject matter touching.
Lyrics good.
Production ditto.

No way it's overrated.

I think that's great that those songs move you the way they do.  My problem with your comments, again, is that you state something very personal and subjective as factual/objective. 

To me, FTTBA and PCH move me much more than Summer's Gone. They give me a little bit of the feeling I get from God Only Knows, Surf's Up, Wonderful, Midnight's Another Day and the other handful of BW songs that really move me, emotionally.

This is just a matter of subjective vs. objective...the way any art makes a person feel can never be objectively defined as the way every person will or should feel about that same art.

PCH = poignant

SG = cathartic

SG = cliffhanger; unfinished business

It's too short, it never says enough to do much of anything for me.

Newguy, I have come to like your enthusiasm for music of the Beach Boys but please, please learn to express yourself better. Pacific Coast Highway may not be moving to you but a great number of people, including myself, find it greatly moving both lyrically and musically. The way you write makes it seem like your thoughts and opinions are absolute and are not be argued with, perhaps try adding 'in my opinion' to your posts.

For me its brevity is part of its beauty.

In My Opinion :)..It does make me happy to know that beach boy songs move many of you. It's always great to know I'm not the only one that recognizes "Good Music" lol..
How do you feel about Summer's Gone?

That pretty much sums it up. For me it is another example of Brians enduring creative talent. Call it genius if you will, certainly a great talent. It blows me away, no-one else produces the goods like this.

Not that it makes a whit a difference, but Rolling Stone likes PCH.  The latest issue has it #3 on its current RS playlist...(with a picture of Brian)

Brian is comfortable enough with the Boys again to really put himself out there. That's why this song, (and suite) are so special. To me at least.

Other than them being awesome.
HA!

They also have Hit Boy Jay-z Interview number 4 ;) lmao

A. I don't even know who (or what?) that is;
B. I stopped reading their list at # 3

So good!

check it out and see why rolling stones has him number 4 lol

I love it, the intro gives me goosebumps and the harmonies that kick in at 0:39 are heavenly.

I've grown to like this one even more than "Summer's Gone". I still wish it could be a little longer though.

PCH connects From There to Back Again with Summer's Gone.

Starting with Strange World I find the last 4 songs to be heartbreakingly beautiful!  Can't "explain" it to you.

And.......I know this sounds totally insane........... but I am starting to think that That's Why God Made the Radio is one of their very best albums!

Neither could I.  It took about five or six listens until I could get past these songs without choking up.  Some ridiculously touching moments in those songs.

From there to back again is easily in their top 10 of all time :) the beautiful harmonies and all the changes in the song...whenever I listen to it i never want it to end I continue to replay it and I never can get tired of it.

From there to back again could easily fit on Pet Sounds -- the guitar phrases in the lower ranges, the drum fills instead of a constant beat, and, of course the bicycle bell!   :lol

don't forget coca cola cans :) and barking dogs and the the train! haha..no but seriously it's one of the best they ever did i really hope this isn't the last album they do :/

I hate the lyrics to "Summer's Gone."  They're simplistic and cliched.  It's Mike Love on heavy barbituates.

Okay, perhaps not that bad.  But it might have been better if it didn't try as hard to rhyme every line.  It also is slightly hopeful.  It's like he's saying he has something left to say.  So it's not a total bummer.

I've listened to the album enough times now where I can safely say that "Pacific Coast Highway" is most definitely not overrated.  Even though there's not much to it, it still holds up on repeated listens (much like "Summer's Gone", actually).  If it were a lot of other artists, it wouldn't work, but Brian is a master at saying what he needs to say in under 2 minutes.

This.

I'd take "From Here to Back Again" over either. 

ditto :)

I think maybe the fact that it doesn't have  any repeated sections like typical song structures do is the very thing that makes it feel incomplete or underdeveloped as a stand-alone song to some people. To me it doesn't hold up on it's own, but as a bridge between the other two songs it's perfectly fine. I wouldn't put it on a playlist  without the others, but the others I would have no problem doing that. I agree with whoever said it's very much in  the mold of 'The Long and Winding Road', not that there's anything wrong with that.

Give me Spring Vacation any day!

I'm kinda with Newguy to a certain extent. It seems like Brian was being fed/feeding us emotionally triggering lines because that's what people believe we want to hear imo. I don't fully hear the honesty there.

Well, he's damned if he do, and damned if he don't!

"Gee, Brian, could your soulsearching be a little more honest?"

 I agree, and on repeated listening I haven't changed my mind as it is STILL growing but Im happy to declare it again, i think TWGMTR is the best album since Pet Sounds as it slightly outranks Sunflower for me, and as many of the beautiful moments on all the other albums, this one is the most consistent with overall song quality.

 In my opinion, five all time classics(2,3,10,11&12), another three(5,6&9) very close to that standard for me and the others excellent songs with some brilliant moments or harmonic elements in each, not to forget the beautiful prelude. In fact, I probaly cant even place those songs below the last 3 I mentioned as they are all crafted amazingly well and most of all, are catchy.It's like Brian & Mike have finally found the compromise on the "formula". They were both right and this album proves it.Also, none seem to "grate" on me or feel like filler. In am still gobsmacked! ;D ;D

'Pacific Coast Highway' sounds like Brian channelling Dennis. I love it.

Listen to how the piano comes in as the  'oohs' resolve. Then put on 'Cuddle Up' and listen to instrumental string section at the start of the last verse.

To me these songs could be musical companions.

PCH does more in 1:47 than most songs do in twice that.

It's a beautiful song, certainly not over-rated.

How bored can you be by a song that's less than 2 minutes long? 
I wish it was longer.. It floors me.  It's gorgeous. 

Brian was always at his best when he kept things brief. I mean, someone explain to me why "The Private Life of Bill & Sue" should be over 4 minutes long.... And to think, it was a big deal for Good Vibrations to be 3 1/2 minutes long.

One of the best BB songs ever, imho, is "This Whole World," coming in at a mere 1:58 min.

Agreed Dada, in fact I think I stole the brevity line from a thread you created!

I love that song. It's probably my favorite on the album. It ends way too fast, but then I also think it's the perfect length.

thanks for the love :)..yes i prefer there more happy/sunshine songs from the boys...that's their strongpoint to me ..don't get me wrong summer's gone is definitely one of the best they do in the last 40 years..but it makes me sad and feel like it's their last song...pch doesn't do much for me but eventually i'll get used to it like i do with most of the bb's music..

I get the impression hat something was excised from that song – the chorus seems out of place (almost another reeling off of place names…) and the story doesn't seem to develop beyond the almost inaudible news announcement of the stars of the show being lost at sea. It almost – almost – fits into the genre of Brian's 'slice of life' songs and I wonder if there's more to it… would love to hear the demos, or whatever the BBs played to Capitol when they went looking for a deal.

It's a bee-you-ti-ful song!  Too short!

I'm thinking of making a tape loop of it so I can listen to it for 6 hours without getting up!

 :lol

Great song.  So you're wrong.

If you're not moved by "PCH", then you're someone I have no wish to ever meet. Because you're simply not human.

Agreed. The entire final quartet of songs is a beautiful and melancholy statement by the man who made Pet Sounds, and it's a tragedy that the intervening 46 years haven't yielded as many of these moments as we all would have liked.

Is it too much to ask that a rejuvenated Brian gives us a whole album of this kind of stuff next time around...?

I'm not human :/

now now now we all know you're human, NG

"Young But Daily Growing" as the old song goes.......  :smokin

that's true  ;D....lol..you guys have to remember this is all new to me..my peers listen to justin bieber and i listen to the beach boys and mostly 60's/70's stuff so i have a lot of music to show them!

4 1nce im glad im old lol ( as U kidz say)

 :afro

Your guy friends seriously listen to Justin Beebs?
I'm not that much older than you, honestly. You just have to learn to put across your opinions less brashly and you won't feel so attacked.

wow :p lol..i know it's tough right now..and dubstep is huge right now too smh..do you know what dubstep is?

no but the girls do smh lol my homies listen to wiz khalifa..kid cudi..skrillex..drake..odd future ever heard of those ppl?
lol i need 2 work on that :D

Bill and Sue wasn't played for Capitol -- it was one of the newly written songs. Brian wrote the verse melody and a few of the verse lyrics, along with (from the sound of it) the bridge. He also had the idea for the fade. He then handed it off to Joe Thomas, who apparently did the rest.

dubstep is some crazy type music that the kids like..........  :lol

I'm 2 old 4 that sh.. stuff......

 >:D

HAAAAAA it's like techno but has that wobbly sound that sounds like charlie brown's teacher speaking lol
and you're one of those "it's only rock n roll but i like it!!!!" ppl lol jk..
seriously it would be awesome if i could trade places and be in the 60's so i can go to woodstock and monterey pop festival and be part of that experience!

If I remember correctly, the songs (or portions thereof) played for Capitol were TWGMTR, Spring Vacation, Strange World and Summer's Gone

A verse of Summers Gone, natch.


And given the long and troubled gestation of Spring Vacation, we don't know what form that was presented in.

Didn't Brian go to Capitol himself? I doubt he had nothing more than guide vocals for most songs. I'll bet the execs made their decision mostly based on the music only.

Brian recorded the entire album with him and Jeff on the leads and all the backing parts first. The Boys then replaced those parts track by track.

well drugs is part of the experience :) ..and have you been to either of those?

Newguy, you need to like PCH because it's Brian Wilson sprouting giant wings and a tail and making one more late visit to the long-shuttered brain space that gave us Pet Sounds, Smile and 'Til I Die.  The last thing anyone ever expected was for the Brian we've grown to know and love to be taken over by THAT guy again, firing on all 16 cylinders and making capital-a Art.

The last 4 tracks on TWGMTR are pure f*cking gold. And the rest of the album, although mostly lower-case-a art, rolls up and smokes most of what the band has put out in over 40 years.

This is The Resurrection.

so i decided to listen to the last 3 songs as a whole and it actually works well together :) pch is like a little bridge that links the two just perfectly..

For f*** sake :wall

Give me a break  ;D it takes me time..

Don't start a thread about it then......

C'mon; he's inquisitive and he's trying. 

So you have heard it as the suite?

No he is compulsive and shocks in order to gain attention.

I never heard it all together..until now..

OK... so you've claimed it's the weakest song of the suite without hearing the suite as a whole ? Son, that makes you fair game.

fuckkkkk! i know i'mm get it now (yikes)  ::)

Amen. (Head bowed.)

I can see people not getting into it because it's not really a song like the rest of the album - excluding the opening track - but when you look at it as a fragment or section in a suite of songs, it's beautiful and evocative.  It would serve equally well as a coda to the album.  Summer's gone is an adult/ older man version of Caroline No - even the instrumentation is similar - amd Brian saying goodbye on PCH would be a fitting end.  Think Smile sections/suite and you maybe can get where PCH is coming from.

Newguy...........

Yup.

 :lol

What He Said!!!!!!!

The Brian and Mike show  is back!  Thank you Jesus!

 :hat