The Smiley Smile Message Board

I just can't get enough of this song....

Nothing beats Brian singing naturally in his normal register..... NOTHING!..... Not even Carl.

I want to know everything possible about this song!

Who wrote the awesome lyrics? (they really just flow like magic)

Who's playing the awesome guitars?

Who's playing the bitchin bassline?

Anyone got any factoids?

I have no factoids but I do love that song. It was one of the deep cuts that I was introduced to as a kid because my dad had and really liked the Wild Honey album.

I love that at some point in the creative process for the song, Mike, or whoever came up with the lyrics, said the phrase "I'd love just once to see in you in the nude", and absolutely no one had a problem with it; engineers, publicists, anyone at all.

It's the corollary to WIBN!

Sorry, I could not resist!   :lol

The song sounds so innocent and sweet, that is what cracks me up about the end lyric! :)

A perfect song

I remember c-man saying the boys played everything on this track, but he doesn't know for sure who played what. I'm guessing there's a strong chance Carl's on the acoustic and that Brian's on harpsichord.

Woah, there's a harpsichord? I think I know the section of the song you're talking about, but I think that's just some reverbed guitars... perhaps not?

Maybe he recorded harpsichord for the song but it was left out of the mix.

In my search and people were mentioning there is one, but now that I listen, it could just be guitar, maybe with light doubling but I don't have time/my headphones to really listen at the moment.

Well, the song has some really great reverbed parts going on, but it's mixed real subtly. That's what makes the song so great.

I've always wondered who this song is about? Maybe Diane? :lol

I could put money on that... ;D

I love this song, too. One of my 4 favorite songs from Wild Honey, the others being the title track, Darlin' and Boogalooed.

Oh, for sure, it is a great, great song. I think it tends to get overlooked because of the joke at the end - you know, like 'serious fans' can't take it as a classic because they feel it's too silly. But *stuff* them. Every aspect of this song is just so excellent. Catchy guitars, happening bass, crisp, to-the-point (and quite funny) lyrics about the bliss of simple domestic life with someone you love... it's a great example of a snappy pop classic of the kind that Brian used to just crank out in seemingly effortless droves when he was at the height of his game.

None of these aspects, however, great as they are, are what REALLY slays me about it. No, for me, the killer is the frustratingly brief but absolutely incredible baroque vocal arrangement at the end of the song, just on the fadeout. Again, it's a classic example of the kind of superb 'tags' or outros Brian was so good at in his 'imperial' period. And it's right at the VERY end of the song! The first time I heard it, I almost missed it, as the song was disappearing into the noise floor in my house with the fadeout, but I sat up, said 'Woooahhh!!! What was THAT????' leapt across the room and played it again. And again. And again. I'm sure many of us here have had similar moments with the Beach Boys music. I mean, we have a whole thread here, don't we, for 'specific musical moments that are kicking our asses right NOW'. And this was one of those for me, the first time, as I worked my way through my newly-bought SS/WH twofer in Autumn 1994, having my world changed by the music on it.

Though I have no idea about how this vocal tag came about, I always pictured Brian recording the track in the rudimentary 1967 Brother home studio, and musing: "OK... we're almost done with this track... but the ending just needs a little something... er... HEY! Dennis and Al, here, you sing this... Mike, here's the bass line... Carl, you sing *this*... and I'll just, er, improvise over the top, OK? Alright — roll tape, Jim... here we go!!!"

And that's it. Fifteen seconds of vocal magic, right on the fadeout. The mad genius of pop music, knocking another moment of throwaway harmony magic right out of the park... just as the song fades out of view.

Oh, and I'm gone, man, SOLID gone...

What a moment. You know, they say Brian Wilson is a genius for creating songs like Catch A Wave, I Get Around, The Warmth of the Sun, God Only Knows, SMiLE, Good Vibrations, This Whole World, Til I Die, Southern California, Summer's Gone... but I say the genius is equally strong in songs like this one. Little moments, I guess, but they knock you out all the more for that.

MattB

what kind of logic is that? Since she was his wife, he had already seen her in such capacity for four years

As Mike has a writing credit on the song I would assume that it's about somebody that he wanted to doink at the time.

"Doink" - Ha, and every time I think I've heard 'em all, another one pops up.

Not just in the context of Wild Honey, one of my favourite BB songs

I've always found the lyric at the end to be beautiful and innocent, a rejoicing of nudity, and why the hell not?

How is it doubtful Diane ever made a pie for Brian? Brian had people at his place all the time back then, there was probably a lot of cooking going on by multiple people. With this logic it makes more sense that the song is about Diane since Marilyn was constantly making Brian meals (she probably made pies for Brian often).

I'd never thought I'd be involved in a speculative discussion about the cooking habits of the Rovell sisters on this board :lol

Case closed.

Also, the "I'd love just once to see you in the nude" line doesn't make sense if Brian was singing about his wife. Presumably, he'd at least have seen her nude once by 1967!  ;D

Now, that was an excellent post.

I've always enjoyed it a lot as well. For me, the song's charm lies in the way its two segments - the "I'm-busy-doing-nothing'" and the "childish-love-lust" - come together, both musically and context-wise.

But Darlin' is still my favourite song on the album and quite possibly my favourite Carl vocal performance ever.

I remember reading somewhere that Dennis played guitar on that one. But I doubt it to be honest.

From the first time I heard I always thought it sounded like early 2000s/ late 90s indie pop. Just very cool and hip...

I love how literal we're taking the 'pie' line  :lol

Maybe Marilyn doesn't like pies, so would never really bake them? Therefore, Brian is voicing his displeasure at the lack of pied goods in the Wilson household.

I would have thought Brian getting annoyed at having to do the washing up all the time would have got more traction, but y'know...

Yes, it couldn't possibly be just down to 'pie' rhyming with 'dry' could it?  :lol

We need AJ Weberman to "decode" BBs songs.

I always thought certain lines (not just the ending) were subtly racy:

"Oh, honey, don't know how long it's been, but this feeling's building up inside again."

"You had a way of makin' it come alive."

About as perfect a song as there has ever been.

Yep, kind of like a subtle version of Gettin' Hungry thematically.

I guess I'm the only one who really doesn't think too much of this song. Far too simple and corny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CSVt6prH9g

It's a joke song or parody song if you will. IMO it's sarcastic in the indie pop sort of way....I wouldn't dismiss the song because it's great and fun but I wouln't sit and analyze the lyrics either...not in a million years

I remember reading or hearing that too someplace...

I actually wouldn't doubt it. The guitars are pretty solid, but I guess if Brian taught him the rhythm part, Dennis could have pulled it off.

It's on Wild Honey, therefore it's brilliant!

Yeah, I mean, to me, in a song about hoping to see someone in the nude, the idea of "baking a pie," as it were, doesn't sound like it has anything to do with, you know, baked goods.  ;)

"I love humans. Always seeing patterns in things that aren't there..."

I wouldn't read that much into it. For me, the song is touchingly intimate, not rip-roaringly raunchy nor leeringly double-entendrous. It's just quite sweet. The kind of intimacy that you get a few months into your relationship, where you're comfortable with each other, and can talk about fancying your partner openly to them or others without having to go to 'Got To Know The Woman' levels of lust-driven craziness, nor resort to Finbarr Saunders-style sniggering behind the hand.

I think there's a good chance the word 'pie' is there, as someone said above, because it rhymes with 'dry'. Expediency was a big thing for Brian around this time. Later, it got worse, to where the need for expediency outweighed the innovation and inspiration (I'm thinking of the couplet he proposed for Bruce's 'Deirdre', here: "My friend Bob; he has a job...")

But at this point, he still had the power to marry a quickly dashed-off lyric to a crisp tune and production and produce THIS kind of result: pop genius that's hard to match.

WITH a bloody amazing baroque vocal tag on the end!!!!

MattB

PS By the way, does anyone else think (as I do) that the fading tag of this song is a bit like the amazing harmony tag on the Smiley Smile version of Wind Chimes? I don't mean musically - I mean in the sense that Brian seems to be saying 'Oh yeah, I CAN still do your amazing harmony vocal breaks, yeah, course I can. But since SMiLE, no-one really cares about me any more, so I'm just gonna hide 'em away at the end here, when the song's just fading out, or put 'em at a volume level that's next to inaudible. If you WANNA listen carefully, you'll hear 'em, but I'm not gonna shout about them or put 'em up loud and in your face any more... you'll have to come looking for them...'

'Course, I could be talking total made-up buncombe, there...!

This tune is Brian's sense of humor at it's best. I can't think of another tune on Wild Honey that shows his humor better....

Expediency has always been a big thing with Mike too and he obviously must have contributed some or all of the lyrics to this one.

Part of the beauty of art, no?  It's there if we want it to be.

Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy?

I believe Stephen Desper said it was Dennis on guitars.

I love this song, such gentle beauty, like a summer morning, mixed with a bit of Brian humour. This is the first of Brian's "daily observations", yeah? Then Busy Doin' Nothin' and I Went to Sleep...

Umm...  I mean, yeah, you know, if that's your bag.  Dive right in!   ;D

Here in the UK, 'pie' can indeed mean fanny (and that's fanny meaning front bottom, not fanny meaning bottom (as i believe is the case in the US) - hence the delightful term 'hairy pie'.

Personally i'm just relieved Brian didn't sing that he was looking forward to tasting her beef curtains...

Add me to the list of those who think this song is a little masterpiece. It takes me back to when I first discovered the SS/WH twofer at university. I was seriously hung up on the girl who lived three doors down from me and that last line , however ridiculous, completely defined my unrequited love for her at the time. That song, more than any other, still takes me back there.

C'mon guys, a masterpiece?! Sure, it is one well written and clever lyric and also the song has a nice melody etc. But you can find much better songs in country music for example and no one would call those a masterpiece. Just because it is Brian/Beach Boys doesn't make it any better than it is

I would agree that it isn't a masterpiece by any means but it is a nice throwaway song. It fits perfectly on Wild Honey.

Well, we're getting into the realms of taste, here, aren't we? But for me personally, most country music doesn't have the snappy pop feel of anything on Wild Honey. And I certainly don't know of any country tunes with a vocal arrangement like the one on the fade of this song.

But I would freely admit that country doesn't do a lot for me, and maybe that's just me - or maybe I'm not listening to the right country music. Hey, you got a track you think will prove me wrong, I'm all up for hearing it, honestly. Point me at something!

MattB

This song is not meant for Marylin, Barbara or Diane. Nor for anyone Mike was seeing at the time. It was meant for Zeppo Marx.

I must admit that the sheer fact that I love this song doesn't make it a masterpiece per se. ::)

It's a wonderful, minor gem to be sure. I realized when reading this thread that I'd forgotten to collect the "rank the tracks" data for Wild Honey. Let's just go ahead and post that here:

-----------------------------------------8
Darlin' (7.9)
Let The Wind Blow (7.2)
Wild Honey (7.1)
-----------------------------------------7
Country Air (6.7)
Aren't You Glad (6.5)
-----------------------------------------6
I'd Love Just Once To See You
(5.4)
Here Comes the Night (5.3)
-----------------------------------------5
I Was Made to Love Her (4.12)
A Thing or Two (4.08)
-----------------------------------------4
How She Boogalooed It (3.3)
-----------------------------------------3
Mama Says (2.5)

Its position in the ranking seems to make sense; a few folks love it completely and have it as their #1; on whole, however, just about as many folks have it in their Bottom Four as their Top Four.

The flaw with "ranking" as opposed to "grading" (from 1-5, for example) is that we don't get overall album quality built into the data, but it's still rather interesting this way.

Am going back to collate the data on the earlier LPs. The consenus on the Wild Honey-Holland period is pretty darned interesting, and I suspect it will be even more so when we go backwards in time.

One question regarding the Wild Honey album: .... WHERE THE HELL IS AL?

He sang on How She Boogalooed It and has since said how crappy he thinks the song is.

Carl sang the lead on Boogalooed, but it is sped up quite a bit.

Yep, apologies. I misremembered the interview in which Al talks about co-writing the song (not singing it) and that it is crappy.

ILJOTSY (for you abbreviation fanatics) is a great laid back song that fits perfectly on the Wild Honey album.  I wouldn't go as far as to call it a masterpiece, but it is one of the better songs on the album, IMO. 

I really don't think the lyrics are racy at all; I just think some people here are being a bit Beavis and Butthead over it ("heh heh, he said 'PIE'!")  Whatever.....   I suppose it can be whatever you want it to be, but in my world this ain't no "All I Wanna Do"!

If we want to pick this thing apart, what about that hiccup in the wordless vocal part in the middle?  It doesn't really bother me, but I can't help thinking that it's an edit that doesn't quite nail it, and someone decided, "hey let's just leave it in".  Sort of a "GOOD!" moment.  I mean, it doesn't follow any key signature count, whether it be a 2/4 or 3/4 for one measure.  It's like a fraction of a beat.  Thoughts, anyone?

What about the singe bass note that comes in hesitantly and then stops right after "It's not too laaaaate....." ..... Sounds like a mistake to me, but still has it's charm

I consider that bass note to be an (unintentional) exclamation mark.

I think it's an edit, too (it just *sounds* like a tape edit - hard to explain what I mean by that to anyone that doesn't understand what I mean already, but those of you that know what tape edits sound like will understand, and maybe even agree with me...)... but it might be a *deliberate* edit. I mean, there's nothing says you have to have 4/4 bars all the way through a song: Brian has recorded metrically imprecise material all through his career, as many artists did in the 60s and 70s, even mainstream ones (Lennon's songs are riddled with incomplete bars and shifts into weird time signatures, even though he probably wouldn't have understood what a time signature was if it fell on him — now I'm picturing giant cartoon musical notation pursuing an animated Lennon, like the stone letters the Glove keeps trying to destroy in Yellow Submarine). It's generally less common now that computers or click tracks are used, but it's been more common again in recent years than it was in the 80s, as it's got easier to work with computers and funny time signatures since then. Hell, you don't even need a time signature to record in Pro Tools if you don't want one.


So anyway, maybe the BB wanted a bar fraction here, or, perhaps, when they edited it, liked the effect of having an incomplete bar, as you suggest. I like the resulting 'hiccup' - it kind of gives the track a lift, which might have been exactly the intention.

And I reckon the lone bass note referred to above is a mistake they all decided they liked and kept in. But what do we know? Sadly, unless session tapes are lurking out there in Collectorland somewhere, we may never find out. The Smiley Smile, Wild Honey and Friends SOTs were so *frustratingly* incomplete. WhadIwoodena given fer session stuff on some of those tracks: Fall Breaks & Back To Winter, Little Pad, With Me Tonight, Aren't You Glad, Country Air, this one, Wake The World, Little Bird, Busy Doin' Nothing, a proper load of sessions for Time To Get Alone...

Perhaps one day we'll be able to buy this stuff. I got money burnin' a hole in my pocket to do that right here... but I suspect it'll never happen.

I don't think it was a mistake, and it does follow a time signature, it's a 2/4 bar. Brian does this a lot in the next album, Friends. Take a listen to When A Man Needs A Woman. He was just mucking about with time signatures, I think it sounds great.

Right, (Stephen), absolutely - When A Man Needs A Woman is a GREAT example of a BW tune that's all over the map, metrically speaking. I could have sorely done with that example in the middle of my last post!

And it sounds great - it's musically and rhythmically complex, but only if you stop to analyse how the bar lines fall. It manages to sound natural and not over-complicated if you just listen, and the skill of it only becomes apparent when you put your music teacher's hat on...

Looks and sounds simple - but isn't. Reveals more of its majesty the more you look into it. Neat trick if you can get your art to be like that. I shouldn't think Brian stopped to consider any of this for a moment, I bet he just did it naturally — but that doesn't diminish the achievement.

That's right. Maybe there was a flub in the missing half bar, so they just edited that half bar out instead of a whole bar? Today they'd probably just copy and paste the good half bar, if that happened.

it's a tape edit ... 'Transcedental Meditation' on Friends has a similar edit. I doubt it was a deliberate time change, but sometimes it's either leave in the little flaw or re-record/re-mix the thing. I think these edits have their charms!