The Smiley Smile Message Board

People talk about strange '70s Brian tracks, but this has to be the weirdest song known to man. And they released this as a single?!?! The chorus is perhaps the most disturbing piece of music I've ever heard. It sounds so off. You have that crazy carnival organ, the occasional abrasive high-pitched sound, and that lumbering bass combined with some downright menacing singing from the Beach Boys. Oh, you're gettin' hungry for a girl, boys? Would like her done medium or medium well? Jesus Christ.  The drums, seemingly flown in from the beginning of "Vegetables", just add to the general confusion. I don't think I've ever quite felt the emotions conveyed in the chorus.

But then that craziness is punctuated by some fairly earnest R&B moments - only compromised by the fact the instruments were played by people so stoned you wouldn't believe it if I told you how much they smoked. What a spaced out mood.

Giving this song to DJs to play on the radio was like a big middle finger. You almost wonder if was a joke. Could you ever imagine a DJ in the mid-60s spinning this record and saying, "Oh yeah, this going to the top of rotation, right before Tommy James and The Shondells."

W..T.F....

"Vegetables" has drums in it?

Wait wait wait, "Gettin' Hungry" has drums in it?

I should've written percussion, and I was referring to the Smile version of "Vegetables".

It's one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums.

It`s one of my least favourite songs from the 60s.

Weird song from a weird album.  Boogedah, boogedah, boogedah!  :p

the transition between Smiley Smile and Wild Honey.

I really like it

My father once heard me listening to this track and caught the organ intro. He then asked why I was listening to a recording of a railroad crossing gate. A wonderful song though. Would love to have the 45.

I totally agree with the original post in as far as "what were they thinking?"  I especially don't understand Mike Love agreeing to doing this in light of him not wanting to f*** with the formula.  This makes anything on SMiLE seem tame.

However, I also have always wondered what this song could have ended up sounding like with a typical BB production.  I think it could have been a single type track as it has a somewhat memorable chorus.

That being said, I do like it from time to time.  There's nothing quite like it, and it sums up Smiley Smile to a T.  I also crack up at the thought that they played it live back then.

It's a song about putting your dick in a girl, which was far more commerical than the crow in the cornfield according to Mike.

Me too!  That is one funky keyboard sound.  Really cool. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Pu4bnI8Rc

In never got Gettin' Hungry or enjoyed it until I heard The Faces version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhyP4J4accU

I always thought it was the link too. Weird but very cool.

The mechanical press-like Intro is the sound of monotony, the workday world which the protagonist of the song longs to escape.

Donny L - it actually was released as a single, about six weeks prior to Smiley.  It is kind of a funky, cool sound, and had Brian/Mike on the label and sleeve. It got some AirPlay, (iPad, sorry) and followed Heroes 45 single.  It did push some different instrumentation into the airwaves.  By the time Do It Again came along, the more unique use of percussion or other unusual stuff was not received with surprise.  I guess the theremin broke the proverbial "sound barrier."   ;)

Short, sweet and to the point! I like it, too!

And then there's always Celebration's reggae-infused version....

It was also the debut single of the duo "Brian Wilson & Mike Love."  

Can anybody explain why it wasn't a Beach Boys single?

Paging Dr. Doe...

I have that 45. Wonder if it's worth anything?

Well he's right. The only thing more commerical than a song about putting your dick in a girl is a song when the guy is bemoaning that a girl has broken up with him and so he won't be putting his dick in her anymore.

Still suspended.

I never knew what to think of it. It definitely emphasizes the failure of Smiley Smile, the low point, and what we got instead of what we could have got. But then again the sense of failure just makes it all the more haunting and melancholy. I just listen to it half sad and half appalled, and in the end it's hard for me to sum up an overall impression.

BUT SCREW IT THE FACES VERSION IS AWESOME

whats disturbing about it? musically, its post-modern primativism; bold, minimalist cartoon rock. its fuckin genius and a definite highlight. its sequencing in the tracklist is perfect too.

mike love really knows how to write a hit for the plebes! he did work as a gas attendant for a while.

maybe stop taking lyrics so literally - its not about cannibalism you mongrel.

you're probably the type of demented reactionary that thinks i wanna pick you up is about munchausen by proxy or paraphilic infantilism fetishism.

I can think of two reasons - payback to Mr Love for abandoning him for his ego music Pet Sounds and Smile trips with other collaborators.

And it doesn't really sound like the Beach Boys - but they did include on Smiley anyway.

And Brian knew the single would tank?

Are you real?

So cool and thanks TonyW for posting the link.  Rod and Ronnie singing Gettin' Hungry! Maybe a little too long by a minute but great cover, nevertheless.  Thanks!  ;)

But, I didn't ever look at Smiley as a failure.  It felt like a gem that the world "was just not ready for."

And there was GV and H&V, and the beautiful Wind Chimes, Wonderful, Little Pad, etc.

Little did we know that Smiley was only a "window to a mansion."

Me?  I fookin' loves me some "Gettin' Hungry"!  Great track.

And the live go of it in Hawaii is fab as all get out, too.

Smileysmile was not a failure, nor is it today. It is simply a different approach. Creatively, it is minimalist. It is like looking  at a Japanese Zen painting and then looking at Smile and seeing an Albert Bierstadt landscape . They both might depict waterfalls, as an example, but the approaches depicting the waterfall would be radically different.

Paging Dr. Doe...
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Still suspended.
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What for this time?

Not sure.  Billy said he wasn't involved but it was for some F bomb attack on some unwitting poster.  I didn't see it on the board myself.
Anyway, 30 days in Siberia as of like 10 days ago or something.

Classic "quiet verse/loud chorus" from the era. I do love that organ sound and the guys seem to be having a lot of fun on it (save Brian's frustration in the intro evidenced on SOT 18). I dig it.

fun song... it''s not hurting anyone

An essential track from an essential Beach Boys album. In mono thank you very much! None of this "oh, I finally get Smiley Smile now it's in stereo" crap.

Was always fascinated at this promotion of the single. Is it authentic or a mockup?
(http://arkhonia.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/gettin_hungry-ad-llvs-1000.jpg)

Thank you. If I never hear stereo Beach Boys pre Friends again, I wouldn't care.

Hear, hear!

Oh man, and that Faces abomination. Noooooooo!

For years, I wondered what Domenic Priore was on about in LLVS when he said that the Lei'd In Hawaii concerts featured a rocking version of Gettin' Hungry that didn't slow down for the verses (not quoting directly, that's the gist of what he said as I recall it).

For years I wondered what those Hawaii concerts were like, and what the mysterious Hawthorne Boulevard was like, too.

And then I heard them. I'm still not sure whether I've heard all of the sets they played, but in what I've heard, Hawthorne Boulevard is just a dull instrumental less than a minute long based on 12-bar blues changes and Gettin' Hungry... is performed with loud choruses and slow, slow verses. So basically like the single and album track, only not as well played or sung as that.

People rip into David Leaf for his over-kind liner notes on the twofers, but Domenic was just as unhelpful in some of the things he wrote, too...!

I still wonder what a live, more rocking Gettin' Hungry might sound like (think a version that has proceeded even further down the road to the sound of the 'Wild Honey' album)... but I doubt I'm ever gonna hear it. And if I do, I'm pretty DAMN sure it won't be the Beach Boys singing it...!

Actually, musically speaking, I suppose you could sort of say that Wild Honey, the single, IS Gettin' Hungry gone a bit further down the road to a white R&B sound. A loud chorus driven by a repetitive, non-guitar-based riff (organ in GH, theremin in WH) that oscillates between two chords, with lots of 'perculating' percussion. The verses of WH are much beefier than those of GH, of course, but that's the bit that's been 'R&B'd up' in the transition...!

Just a passing thought, nothing to see here...!

Smiley Smile is a genius piece of work and was way ahead of its time! Gettin' Hungry may not be the greatest track on it, but it's still awesome - and that opening blasting through ya speakers after the quiet fade of Wind Chimes: brilliant piece of sequencing. Love it!

I love the intro and the slow verses, but the chorus should have been more R&B like, with real drums and a bass that doesn't just play the root.

Well, it does show the Dutch picture sleeve of the Gettin Hungry release. Makes me wonder if this particular ad was used for a Dutch magazine.

Now to open a can or worms...

What are the opinions on the Celebration version?

Hilariously awful. I mean it has worth in how absurd it really is, but it's a really, really wretched version. It baffles me that Mike not only bothered to dig that song, of all songs, back out, but also what he did to it.

Wow, I'd never heard the Celebration version before. And now that I have, I hope I never have to hear it ever again.

Same.  First time for me, too, and just... wow.  What a freaking abomination.  Just on it's own merits it's terrible, but when one considers the source material available to them to play with.

Just.  Wow.

The refrain is so silly it makes me laugh.

Other than that, I probably share Auldsyrfahdood's opinion on this if he has heard it. ;D

The celebration version is cheesy, but I like it! (It's stuck in my head right now too)

I bought Smiley Smile upon it's release in September 1967. Weird as it may seem I can clearly remember sitting in the car, admiring its cover art on the way home. It may not have been a failure as asserted in a post above, but I can assure you that it was not a hit. At least not in my crowd. Whereas a year earlier the records of the Beach Boys had been a feature at every party (think side two of Today, and even Pet Sounds had featured at a Christmas '66 gathering) I don't believe Smiley Smile ever saw the top of a turn-table beyond my basement. Pepper, Pepper, Sgt. Pepper absolutely dominated - and the Doors (Light My Fire), and the (Young) Rascals (Groovin' and Collections), and Cream (Disraeli Gears).

The problems with Smiley Smile as I see it now were that (1) the dam thing wasn't finished. You'd think that having given up on the original vision for Smile they'd have at least completed its alternate version, but no, they deliver nine finished tracks, a fragment of a chant, and the GV single, the production values of which are completely at odds with the minimalist aesthetic of the album. And (2) the sequencing. At the very moment when the concept album dominates Rock the Beach Boys deliver a radical departure with a collection of tracks in no particular order that is ultimately and utterly incoherent! And (3) the production itself made it all sound like one big slab of mud.   

Too bad, because it now seems that all the pieces were actually there that might easily have been assembled to produce an album of Art Rock on par with the great progressive sounds of that era. The re-envisioned Smiley Smile that follows, based on the 2012 stereo remaster, sounds crisp and clear, flows seamlessly, and delivers an emotional payoff that elevates the work to a higher plane a la Pepper.

Well, You’re Welcome
Heroes and Villains
Wonderful
Getting Hungry ( lop off the opening drill-press – start at “I wake up in the morning…”)
Interlude: Wonderful piano riff from SOT
You’re With Me Tonight (from Hawthorne)
With Me Tonight
Interlude: HV vocal/piano riff from SOT
She’s Goin Bald
Whistle In
Good Vibrations (Hawaii rehearsal version)
Mama Says
Vegetables (Hawthorne version with 4 bar bass intro)
Interlude: Wonderful piano/vocal riff from SOT
Wind Chimes
Fall Breaks and Back to Winter
Water Chant (from SOT)
Little Pad (minus laughing breakdown)
Surf’s Up (Brian solo Fall ’67)
Cabinessence (doing doing/arabesques from SOT)

Each to their own. I think Smiley Smile is almost perfect - ironically, it's the best track (Good Vibrations) that spoils it, being so completely at odds with the surrounding material.
Perfection doesn't always mean pristine production and perfect harmonies - as a lo-fi avant-garde minimalist gem Smiley Smile works absolutely brilliantly and it's place in the Beach Boys canon is as a fascinating and wildly original one-off.
I personally think anyone who would willingly ditch the hilarious laughter from the beginning of Little Pad has just completely missed the point of the entire record!

Smiley Smile feels pretty finished to me. I actually usually forget "Good Vibrations" is even on it, that belongs to a different era.

Also, you take out the laughing in "Little Pad" and you remove a great deal of its charm.

Also, more like PM in the TM (aka a Prime Minister you receive at night containing rare unrealized bryan wilson demos called "f*** mike love" and "hoh hoh bobby" that the mods told you you can't post about on the board)

Obviously, the original sequence does not attempt an elements suite, but when you cross-fade the water chant into Little Pad the effect is like seeing the island paradise rising from the sea on the horizon. The laughing breakdown then becomes superfluous. Try it, you might like it.

I'd be more than willing to give it a try, TM, if only I had the requisite pieces.  Personally, I've never taken issue with Smiley Smile, but I always try to keep an open mind, and, if nothing else, you've served to peak my interest.

I am certainly not putting it down. What I'm saying is that there are more pieces to than appear on the original album, and that when you add them it truly rises to another level. I've heard it!

Oh, and by the way, I don't if it was released in mono and stereo versions. I'm sure that someone here will tell me in a flash. But I do recall that mono lps cost $2.76 in the mid-sixties, and stereo versions of the same lp $3.76. That was on Long Island, new York. Needless to say we just shoplifted most of the time.

I actually prefer it to the original.

Ha, more proof, (not that it's needed), that us Gen Xers, who embraced Smiley and Wild Honey, had far more eclectic taste than the Boomers!

The stereo mix of Gettin' Hungry sucks ass. They completely botch the edits on that one.

"Proof"?

Proof of what exactly?

Grow up.

And, the remasters sound fine.

I always liked the celebration version; it was one of the few highlights of the album. I like the arrangement, the guitar, and Mike's vocal. The song really gets going and moves. When I listen to it I envision it with Beach Boys' harmonies.

I have mixed feelings about the Smiley Smile "Gettin' Hungry". Of course it's good; it comes from Brian at/near his peak powers. Everything he composed during that era was brilliant. But, I always thought or felt that "Gettin' Hungry" signified the beginning of the end, or the beginning of the band using seriously bad judgment.

Up to that point, Brian was the master of the single. Did he/they really believe "Gettin' Hungry" had a chance at being a hit? On AM radio? And what possible benefit could come out of releasing it as Brian Wilson & Mike Love? I don't know....There's that weird "Smiley Smile" singing, with Brian yelling and Mike sounding kinda strange. I guess the music is OK; the melody is fine. "Gettin' Hungry sounds better on Smiley Smile than as a single. It was the beginning of the decline, though. Something wasn't quite right. To me anyway.

Except that the water chant was IIRC recorded during  the WH sessions, so it couldn't be on SS ever.

I have my own sequence to SS which I prefer, and as this is subjective, it differs from yours of course.

And I like to listen to SS at Christmas time. The calm minimalist mood of the album fits my  Christmas time.

I recall handling the Getting Hungry single in the local record shop. It had the same label as Heroes - that Brother records label - and came in a picture sleeve. I don't recall the flip side (I know that I can reference that quickly enough, but what the heck, I've got an army of Beach Boys scholars reading this).

Didn't buy the single, probably because I already had the LP, but maybe because it just wasn't a very good single. Works fine now for me with the intro lopped off as a track. Reminds me of a barren Western landscape in a spaghetti western. I can see Clint Eastwood squinting into the Mojave heat.  

Micha - How does your sequence go?

Didn't think much of Heroes and Villains either, when it came out. Start and stop, start and stop. It just didn't seem to go anywhere and what the heck was it supposed to be about?

To this day it's just OKish as far as I'm concerned.

Now, Cabinessence - that's another matter entirely! Should have been the follow-up to Good Vibrations. Should have been the closing track of Smiley Smile.

Eclectic taste?  Interesting concept.  Funny that GenXers would have heard the music from their Boomer parents, who were blessed with among the best in music of the latter half of the 20th century.  Much of it was socially driven, and GenXers tend to be less socially-centric than the Boomers, and the music, oddly, I think was lots of "borrowed" amalgams of rock blended, into rap, such as "Every breath you take," with Puff Daddy/Sting and Police, and the explosion of country rock, when country became cool, and they ditched the Wrangler jeans and straw hats.  I think that this void and "reach back," is the yearning for more quality and depth, while the other great talent has been emerging.  And the BB's, Stones, Beatles are in that mix.  Not all young people I know are Pet Sounds junkies.  But, if the BB door opens with Kokomo, I think it is a beautiful thing.  

Who would think that all these country rock bands would be huge in the Norheast region of the US?  But they are, huge!  And they seem to be extracting the best of both styles.  With rap and hip hop, it is almost analogous to all the great Motown/soul music alongside 60's rock.  And reflects GenXers tastes with its own identity stamp.  Not greater or lesser, just different.   JMHO  ;)

Well, of course everything was coming at us on am radio - rock n roll, soul, country, pop, you name it.

WABC in New York played it all. Cousin Brucie, Cousin Brucie, COUSIN BRUCIE!!!

And weekly! I guess Monday nights, was the weekly Top 40 Countdown. So the new music wasn't aimed at niche markets, and the good stuff might be in any genre and get exposure. I don't know if that is true today. If it is I am not aware of it, which is a shame as I am sure that great stuff has been produced ever since but has perhaps not as accessible.

Cousin Brucie, indeed! WABC had a great night-time signal!  :lol

Yeah. I was trapped in Georgia in the fuckin' army in '71-72 and can remember picking up WABC on hot summer nights. 'Twas like a message from home. Then we'd smoke a little weed and listen to Smiley Smile coming down from our latest trip. That's a fact. I can still see my buddies grinning from ear to ear and a pronouncing the immortal exclamation - 'THAT'S THE BEACH BOYS?"

I was obviously lightheartedy ribbing you. Can't see how you could have taken it otherwise. Sadly, I resign myself to the fact that I must qualify every remark with a laughing yellow blob.  :(

There was some truth to my remark though. Smiley Smile was largely overlooked at the time, and perhaps it took a different generation to appreciate it. It was, as someone else has said, ahead of it's time.  :-*

Great story! It was a "message from home" no matter where you were.  I remember mostly listening to him during the mid to late 60's, where the DJ's played what they liked, as well, the "prescribed" playlists.  The signal must have been carried to the entire East Coast. NY/NJ are great BB fans!  ;)

Not me, My parent HATED the Beach Boys. They have sh*t taste in music. Bloody Beatles and their Srgt Crap Craps Crappy Crap Crap Band

To reitterate though. My comment was meant to be a  :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol  :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

And just to be clear, the Beatles comment was also a  :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

I personally don't like dumbing down though with use of emoticons and Beatle music.

Hey, just kidding.  >:(

Darlin' - your parents were in the majority!  :lol

And what? The majority is right? The majority of people now can't sit for five minutes at a bus stop without prodding away at their moron machines, so no thanks.

You are indeed passionate about this music! As were many others, but BB's were bigger, often away from home.

The Beatles had a powerful message, too, and were pretty significant, as well, and had some really cool stuff.  I loved O-bla-di, O-bla-da, life goes on! And, Sgt. Pepper, Rubber Soul, When I'm 64 ( I'm not!) - and loving one band's music best, doesn't mean you can't like another's.  Being well-rounded is desirable. JMHO

As TM said, we had an enormous amount of great music! And great DJ's (Bruce Morrow!) were open minded enough to present it!  ;)

My apologies, Mr. Newcombe.

So much is lost in print that might signal to the ear the message more clear. Hmmm...there's a line.

The Beatles were demi-gods then, no question. Sometimes, over the years, I've thought, well maybe the Beatles were greater, but maybe the music of the Beach Boys was better. But then, what in this case could better even mean? Unless there is some revisionist take making the rounds the Beatles remain the leaders of my generation.

Cool, 'cos no offense was meant. Anyway, I'm eager to get back to the SS lovefest.

This is one of the most fascinating 60s stories I've read! One thing I didn't get, though - why Side 2 of Today! was played at shindigs? I'd think people would listen & dance to the upbeat music when gather together? Side 1 with songs like "Do You Wanna Dance?", "Good to My Baby", "Dance Dance Dance" seems more suitable for that occasion. Or am I wrong? Anyway, Mr. TM, thank you for this utterly interesting post! I like reading about those times. Special thanks for alternate Smiley Smile tracklist! Shall check it.

For the record, Gettin' Hungry is great! Love the scrannel organ & the "quiet verse-loud chorus" structure. The group singing is fab in the chorus! It's got sth. from our national folk music, mostly evident during the "Searchin' for a pretty girl" line. Lastly, near the end there's wonderful little trade-off between Mike & Brian. Unlike other famous trade-offs, it's used in this song as the rest before continuing the journey. At least, that's how I associate that transition from mild to loud, "out of nowhere" vocals.

"One thing I didn't get, though - why Side 2 of Today! was played at shindigs? I'd think people would listen & dance to the upbeat music when gather together?"

Motown! Our house had wooden floors and my father being a Hi Fi big band jazz junkie we had the best sound system in town, probably on Long Island. So when we pushed the furniture out of the way and turned up the volume the floors soaked up those big James jameson bass notes and the whole house throbbed. And we danced the night away and poured ourselves right out the front door and onto the moonlit lawn. But latter on, as the party wore on, little groups would form, you know the routine, to chat and gab. But when someone laid that platter on the turntable and those first notes of Please Let Me Wonder filled the air and those wordless Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah's wafted across the room, it was - drop what you're doing, catch her glance in the crowd, press body to body and sway to the music together for 12 minutes or so, whispering "I Love You" in her ear along with Carl as the first track wound to a close. Then to hear with a girl in my arms the magnificent opening of I'm So Young - "I have a girl friend, She says I'm her only one..."  Whoa! Did that raise the temperature a few degrees or what? Then Kiss Me Baby - guess what was happening neath the Chinese lanterns by then. She Knows Me Too Well - well what can I say? Back of My Mind.  Side Two was (is) just unique. One of the supreme achievements of Rock n Roll music in the Sixties. Without question. Romantic and Sexy. Body and Soul. What more could you ask for?

This piece speculating on the relationship of Smiley Smile to Smile appeared sometime before 2004 so take that into consideration:

Smiley Smile IS SMiLE
by David Liljemark & Ronnie Dannelley

Dislcaimer: This essay presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. The writers' purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones, of the remarkable music we will be examining.


Every once in a while, there comes a time for the ever so lovely anal-retentive SMiLE-freak Beach Boys-fan, to back away from his/her collection of homemade ”SMiLE” albums, and try this thought on themselves – what... *nervous itching* ...if... *cold sweat*... Smiley Smile really IS Smile?!

To some of you, this might be kicking in open doors. Others could perhaps use a reminder, that the Smile album wasn’t, and Smiley Smile was. The chase for Smile will always be a wonderful “would-have-been”, and it sure is a lot of excellent session material, demos and test mixes etc, but Smiley Smile was Brian’s definite idea of “Smile”, one year later after album sessions started (sessions, that in all fairness should be called the “Smiley Smile sessions” if we should ever have the pleasure of seeing them officially released). And most of all: it was a finished product. The Smile album was at no point finished (“it was never one album”, to quote Bruce Johnston), nor Smiley Smile being its substitute. It was all a process, “Smile” is not an album, but a songwriter’s mindmap, the way TO the album called Smiley Smile (and some additional tracks), with the back side that many, or most, people disapproving on what eventually was being released. Who or what to blame for that, feel free to debate and pick your guesses. Still, like it or not: Brian Wilson decided that this was what he wanted to put out. As always, he worked with other people and took impressions from them, for better and for worse. A genius all right, but often in need of input, collaborators. Which doesn’t make him any LESS a genius; that’s just the way he worked.

As many artists tend to do, they change their minds many times during the working process. The Beatles original ‘Get Back’ project changed in theme and scope to ‘Let It Be’. The Who’s ‘Lifehouse’ ended up as ‘Who’s Next’. The Smile album that was to follow-up Pet Sounds and the Good Vibrations single, was at first called ”Dumb Angel”. Then that changed to ”Smile”. Then the album came out as ”Smiley Smile”. That’s what you got.

If “Pet Sounds” set the standard for The Beatles “Sgt. Pepper´s…” album, Smiley Smile could be seen as setting the standard for “The White Album” aesthetic, which also had a “back to basics” recording approach but still a lot of studio “tricks” and songs ranging from the complex and sophisticated to the simplistic and chant-like; from fully (or over) produced to the “less is more”. Bob Dylan and The Velvet Underground, for example, also did their albums later in a more “basic” way, so after leading the “production race”, Brian Wilson took a turn and also lead the lo-fi (or even anti) production race. According to sales, people must’ve been taken by surprise. An avantgardistic move perhaps comparable to Lou Reed´s “Metal Music Music” (1975)? The latter-day Japanese “noise” movement and assorted art-rockers in general took that album to heart and has hailed it as a masterpiece in its own right. But has the “lo-fi” movement really acknowledged “Smiley Smile” as it should?

Smiley Smile seems to suffer from the inevitable comparison to Smile. After almost a year of hype, Smiley Smile could ONLY fail! Even the “original” Smile (the term is of course hypothetical - Smiley Smile IS “the original Smile”) could well have been a flop after that long a wait, just as Smiley Smile probably would’ve faired better had it been released in January 1967. Can’t wait too long? Oh, they could, and did. In his book “Look! Listen! Vibrate! Smile!” (1988), Domenic Priore reasoned that, "even though the world missed SMILE, SMILEY SMILE is not without merit. Actually, the reason most people didn't care for SMILEY SMILE is that it came out in place of SMILE." But the bizarre truth is: they got Smile. The finished version. Only, they didn’t like it. Or didn’t “get it”. Or perhaps they had grown tired of waiting.

Bruce Johnston once stated that “…most of Smile is available now.” Sure, it was the day Smiley Smile came out! Bruce’s statement might not only have referred to the songs, or the fact that a lot of session material has since been released, but also the themes to Smile. That some of the original themes to Smile, especially the ‘humor’ aspect, made a clearly prominent or stealth-like appearance in the Smiley songs. Lots of ideas are indeed "recycled" in different ways. We aren’t here to talk about why Smile wasn’t released as first planned in January 1967. Rather, we would like to discuss how much it was realized AS WAS planned, how much of “Smile” actually did end up in Smiley Smile; not just some of the songs themselves and some of the first fragments, but the original themes and ideas of Smile. To show that Smiley Smile IS Smile.

WHICH 'IDEAS' WERE RECYCLED:

In May of 1967 Derek Taylor spoke of the fate of Smile in his press release. Smile “has been SCRAPPED. Not destroyed, but scrapped”. Could this mean that there was still some merit seen in the songs, but they would be ‘converted’ into other songs? This was effectively the fate of the Smile songs. They were reshaped, in constant chase of improvement. Brian himself stated, “1967 should bring a series of surprises for everyone from the Beach Boys.” Had he already decided to change direction on Smile? On the transition from Smile to Smiley, Mike Love explained, “We are finishing it now. We knew the title and the songs months ago already. Only Brian played the tapes again a few times and found it necessary to skip some songs. That’s what happened. Capitol finished the sleeve in April already. I don’t know how many sleeves they can throw out now, just because the lineup of songs and some songs have changed completely.”

First, let’s mention Brian’s mind-frame at the very start of the Smile project. One of Brian’s earliest quotes about Smile was, “I’m writing a teen-age symphony to God”. ‘Symphony/symphonic’ is defined as: “something that in its harmonious complexity or variety suggests an interweaving of themes.” Secondly, another early Smile theme was ‘psychedelic music’. Brian stated, “Psychedelic music will cover the face of the world and color the whole popular music scene. Anybody happening is psychedelic.” ‘Psychedelic’ is defined as “imitating, suggestive of, or reproducing effects (as distorted or bizarre images or sounds) resembling those produced by psychedelic drugs”. Thirdly, Smiley Smile was no mere psychedelic rehash of the Beach Boys ‘Party’ album. There was still the experimental spirit of Smile, just in a new direction.

There have been speculations on whether Smile was to be a “concept album” or not, Domenic Priore even suggesting the theory of the Smile album as something of a continuous song cycle with “link tracks” between songs, a theory that has since been heavily criticized. A lot of topics has been suggested: ‘Americana’, the elements, physical fitness - and humor. ‘Humor’ seemed to be one of the main themes of the Smile album, dare we say even more important than the ‘Americana’ theme. In describing Smile, Brian said, “The album will include lots of humor - some musical and some spoken. It won’t be like a comedy LP - there won’t be any spoken tracks as such - but someone might say something in between verses.” David Anderle added, “Brian was consumed with humor at the time and the importance of humor. He was fascinated with the idea of getting humor onto a disc and hot to get that disc out to the people”.

Smile might not have been a “concept album”, but when considering the amount of “laughter” that occur in several songs on Smiley Smile, it is tempting to call IT a "concept album". No, no link tracks, no side-long song cycles, but there is definitely the theme of humor, and this “humor album” has ”laughter” (in different ways) in quite a number of songs:

Vegetables: the “giggling” backing vocals.

Fall Breaks...: the “haw haw” (almost sounds like a barking dog) and the played Woody Woodpecker laugh.

She's Goin' Bald: not de facto “laughs” maybe, but a humorous/silly speed-up section.

Little Pad: the “stoned” laugh in the beginning

Wind Chimes: the accordion (?) ”laugh” at 1:26.

Wonderful: the utterly strange insert and children giggling (more audible on sessions on bootleg)

“Laughs” like these were tried out during the Smile sessions, in Surf´s Up (the horns

Bootlegged sessions named “George Fell Into His French Horn” shows this furthermore) and in the Heroes & Villains “Alternate take” (the “Cantina” version). There is also a demo version of Vega-Tables with so loud laughing that it at times almost drowns out everything else. And in “Heroes And Villains (Sections)”, there is a part that also includes laughter, a growing crescendo of grunts casually referred to as “Swedish Frog” (possibly the “swine section” that Al Jardine in a Goldmine interview 2001 said that he hated).

Another reoccurring humoristic theme tried out during the Smile sessions is slight "parodies" of other songs, or using them for funny effect (Could one maybe say that this started with their “weird take” – although not humorous - on Sloop John B on Pet Sounds?):

Friday Night/I Wanna Be Around - with the hammering sounds, “aow!”-shouts etc.

You Are My Sunshine - made gloomy with the past tense of lost love.

My Little Red Book – Brian singing by the piano covering Burt Bacharach in a rather amusing way 14/2/67 (this has leaked out in fan circles although has yet to be bootlegged); for more “silly voice” stuff check out “Vegetables promo” on Hawthorne CA (2001), taken from a tape known in fan circles as the “psychedelic reel”.

Heroes & Villains sections has a part lifted from "Gee" by The Crows.

This “crazy covers” theme is featured on Smiley Smile, with the "What a blow" part in "She’s Goin' Bald". It is “a goofy take-off on "Get A Job"” by The Silhouettes, according to the CD liner notes. (Is that "Too Late Mama"-part also a cover snippet??) The preoccupation with classic doo-wop and R´n´B would be even more evident on the Wild Honey album.

The sequencing of the silent tag of Wind Chimes, a fade so quiet – and beautiful - that you have to turn up the volume more and more to hear it – to suddenly get the blaring Gettin’ Hungry riff loud in your ears. Is this also a “gag”, verging on slap-stick? The B-side to the single Heroes And Villains, “You’re Welcome” is also comic in a way; an “inverted” fade, a chant that fades up and when it has finally reached full volume - the song has ended. Hardly radio-friendly.

continued...

Smiley Smile is SMiLE continued...

The change in production technique is a striking difference between “Smile” and Smiley Smile. Marilyn Wilson explained, “We moved into the Bel-Air house about April 1967. I think the move may have had something to do with what happened to Smile. You know, new house, new things. We had a studio in the house.” Talking about the production of Smiley Smile, Brian said, “We did it [Smiley Smile] in 3 weeks. We had about 6 months before that we we're doing different things that we junked. And we ended up doing the whole thing here at the house with a sort of entirely different mood and approach than we originally started out.” It is the home studio sound, and possibly the mix that most people resent about Smiley Smile. A final word on the production from Brian, “Time can be spent in the studio to the point where you get so next to it that you just don’t know where you are with it…you just decide to chuck it for awhile.” But Smiley Smile should perhaps not be seen as an exhausted LACK of focus, but as a RETURN TO focus (if focus actually was lost, at all?). Brian Wilson finally decided on how to put the songs together, concentrated on “humor”, changed to a new vital way of producing, both basic and experimental. A return to his true musical path? Maybe that goes for the lyrics too - the other striking difference between “Smile” and Smiley Smile being the absence of many of the lyrics by the album’s original lyricist Van Dyke Parks. Brian Wilson said: “[Dumb Angel] was just a passing title. Smile was more cheery, so we used the more cheery title.” The 'Smiley Smile' title is credited to Barry Turnbull . If the public, through rock journalists’ preview reports, had gotten an idea about what “Smile” was going to be all about, this title further emphasizes the “humor” angle, possibly also a dose of the Beach Boys “Party!” album aesthetics, in all logic to how the album turned out. “Smile” had maybe gotten even “smilier”?

Although the recording location changed, there is a major technique of Smile, which translated to Smiley Smile: the ‘Modular’ format of the music. “I’m using some new production techniques that I think will surprise everyone,” Brian promised at the beginning. Again, we bring up the experimental nature of ‘psychedelic’ music, including voice manipulations, speed-up trick etc. Let’s compare two observations, one during Smile and one during Smiley. During Smile, David Anderle described, “Brian was cutting sections of music as they were coming to him. He was going in and recording them. He wasn’t doing them as ‘this is this song, and this is that song.’ He was always interchanging parts. ‘Cause at one point, he’d say ‘OK. This is “Surf’s Up” or this is “Bicycle Rider” or “Vegetables.”’ And then a night or two later, maybe the first verse and chorus of what had been ‘Bicycle Rider’ was all of the sudden the second verse of something else. It was continually changing at that point…I was always being thrown because I would hear something, and then I’d come back the next night, and he’d be shuffling around [the pieces]”. Compare that description to Jim Lockhart’s description of the Smiley sessions: "The Smiley Smile album was done on eight track in segments that were never put together in one tape. The intro was on one reel of tape, the first verse was on one reel of tape...When you take a song you have an intro, first verse, a chorus, second verse, a chorus, and then you have an ending. Each segment of that thing was on a different tape for each cut of the album." In addition to the continuation of the ‘modular’ theme, the ‘experimentation’ angle should be addressed as well. Jim Lockhart said, "There was so much experimentation... [On "Vega-Tables"] we had celery coming out of our ears - and carrots! - you'd never believe the stuff the guys were chewing in front of the microphone. Brian's swimming pool had a leak in it and was empty, so we put a microphone in the bottom of this damn near Olympic-size pool and the guys laid down inside the pool and sang so the sound would go down the wall of the concrete pool into the microphone - and that was part of the vocals on one of those songs."
It is also worth noting that Smiley Smile was the first LP since 1963 without photos of The Beach Boys on the front cover (except for the french edition),and the Smile cover was also drawn.

WHICH SONGS WERE RECYCLED:

At one point in time, late 1966, Brian Wilson gave Capitol a hand-written tracklist of 12 songs intended for Smile. A lot more stuff had obviously been recorded, but maybe not meant for inclusion (or de-/reconstructed into other songs) - at that time it was what he had decided on though, hence album covers and booklets were printed (although with the addition ”See label for correct playing order”). One would assume, that these tracks were finished, that is written, preconceived, although not completely finished as in recorded and put down to tape (and mixed and put together). Also, according to session tape, the a capella ”Prayer” was to be ”a little intro to the album”, so maybe there were 13 songs, but he might have changed his mind, since it wasn’t on the list. According to Brian's handwritten list and the printed cover slicks only, Smile consisted of:

1. Do You Like Worms (B. Wilson- V.D. Parks)
2. Wind Chimes (B. Wilson)
3. Heroes and Villians (B. Wilson-V.D. Parks)
4. Surf's Up (B. Wilson-V.D. Parks)
5. Good Vibrations (B. Wilson-M.Love)
6. Cabin Essence (B. Wilson-V.D. Parks)
7. Wonderful (B. Wilson-V.D. Parks)
8. I'm In Great Shape (B. Wilson-V.D. Parks)
9. Child Is Father Of The Man (B.Wilson-V.D. Parks)
10. The Elements (B. Wilson-V.D. Parks)
11. Vega-Tables (B. Wilson-Van Dyke Parks)
12. Old Master Painter (Haven Gillespie-Beasley Smith)

Compare this to the release of Smiley Smile in September of 1967:

1. *Heroes and Villains (B. Wilson-V.D. Parks)
2. * Vegetables (B. Wilson-V.D. Parks)
3. #Fall Breaks and Back to Winter [W. Woodpecker Symphony] (Brian Wilson)
4. #She's Goin' Bald (Wilson-Love-Parks)
5. #Little Pad (Brian Wilson)
6. **Good Vibrations (B. Wilson-M. Love)
7. #With Me Tonight (Brian Wilson)
8. *Wind Chimes (Brian Wilson)
9. Gettin' Hungry (B. Wilson-M. Love)
10. *Wonderful (B. Wilson-V.D. Parks)
11. #Whistle In (Brian Wilson)

* (4 songs) Songs that were re-recorded or drastically changed from their “original” Smile version.

# (4 songs) Songs that were possibly parts or fragments that have their origin in the “original” Smile. Again, you can use David Anderle’s portrayal of Smile tunes, “…a lot of those titles were at that point really just the tracks without the lyrics put on. That’s way it was so easy to interchange.”

**(1 song) Remained the same on both albums - essentially the 45 rpm. This leaves ‘Gettin´ Hungry’ as essentially the only “new” song.


A LITTLE ABOUT EACH SONG ON SMILEY SMILE:

Heroes and Villains: The discussion of Heroes and Villains could take up a whole separate essay! There are several trains of thought. Some say that the ‘cantina’ version is the final, some say it’s a test mix. Some say that the final Heroes and Villains is yet to be heard. There’s also talk about an early acetate stashed away in the vaults. THE final Heroes & Villains version though, is on Smiley Smile! As of June 14, 1967 Brian was still re-editing the sequence of the song from being long to the released version. At one time Brian called H&V “a three-minute musical comedy”. Later he said, “I was completely satisfied with the record two months ago. I haven’t done anything about it after that time. I see it like this: every Beach Boy record has it’s own story, not only musically, but also the lyrics. This story has to be told in 3 or 4 minutes, it’s just like a book. The persons come alive, they speak, and have their wants. That’s why we need so much time for every record.” Finally, Jim Lockhart describes the Smiley version: “We had the complete song, but they just wanted to use part of it. Brian wanted to change what had been done on the rest of it. I think he wanted instrumentally and vocally to make it more complex. I think he wanted to finish the song, it was a challenge to him. We went and re-recorded from where we started off the old tape, the rest of the song at the studio in the house. We did the parts and the music tracks and most of the guys played their own instruments…It was done in pieces and the vocals were done to complete the song.”

Vegetables: This track was re-recorded, tightening the flow. There is no “mama says”-section (“Eat a lot, sleep a lot”) and no whistling verse, as could be heard on the extended mix on the Hawthorne CA album (2001). To bring up silent sounds in the mix like the sound of a glass of water being poured and chewing, pre-dates Einstürzende Neubauten´s similar work by decades.

Fall Breaks and Back to Winter (W. Woodpecker Symphony): The “Symphony” label again brings back Brian’s “teenage symphony to god” quote. It might also indicate a humoristic connection close to the “Silly Symphonies” cartoons. Some have said that this is a re-write of “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow" (a.k.a. “Fire”) music, especially noting the similarities between the bass lines. After the “Fire” debacle Brian said, “I don’t have to do a big scary fire like that. I can do a candle and it’s still fire. That would have been a really bad vibration to let out on the world, that Chicago fire. The next one is going to be a candle.” Could THIS be the candle? The syncopes in the percussion might also bear some resemblance to those in the Child Is Father To The Man chorus, but what “Fall Breaks...” is most related to, is “Heroes And Villains Intro”, whose sessions is often named “Bag Of Tricks”. The rising/falling scale also resembles the backing vocals of the “Who Ran The Iron Horse” section in Cabin-Essence, a song that probably was “scrapped” at that time, until it was dusted off and used some years later on the 20/20 album. Brian also talked about a Smile track called Barnyard, or “The Barnyard Suite that was going to be four songs - In four short pieces - combined together, but we never finished that one. We got into something else.” That’s the thing about these sessions – he always changed sections around, he/they always “got into something else”. Or the “suite” became as much/little a suite as Fall Breaks... is a “symphony”.
She's Goin' Bald: The Smiley version of this song is credited to: Wilson-Love-Parks. An earlier version of this song was taped with lyrics starting with “He gives speeches...”, a collaboration with Van Dyke Parks (who doesn’t seem to remember it now). No one really knows what it was meant for, if it was a section for some other song (there has been theories that it was part of "Do You Like Worms" at one point) or just a demo. Brian’s quote “The album will include lots of humor-some musical and some spoken” is very fitting to this song, and its spoken interim at 1:10.

Little Pad: David Andlerle mentioned the Hawaiian theme - “Brian got very much into chanting. Not just Hawaiian chants but chants in general.” At least the Hawaiian topic can be said to have its origin in Do You Like Worms. Also, the lyrics MAY be a re-write of the known but not recorded verse lyrics to Do You Like Worms (compare the syllables to “Once upon the Sandwich Isles / The social structure steamed upon Hawaii” to “If I only had a little pad / If I only had a little pad / In Hawaii”), perhaps also having the same melody, but all we can be REALLY sure of right now is the “Hawaii” thread.

Good Vibrations: Continuation of the ‘good’ theme? On June 11, “GOOD NEWS” was the first session held at Brian's home studio at 10452 Bellagio Road, Bel-Air for an unreleased SMILEY SMILE track. Also on JUNE 25 & 26 was “GOOD TIME MAMA” – another unreleased song. Or is it just a coincidence that the ‘good’ mantra is repeated? At first, Brian didn’t want it on the album, but he changed his mind - it was on his “Smile” list, and it was on Smiley Smile.

With Me Tonight: With Me Tonight grew out of Heroes & Villains, with earlier versions dating from Smile sessions. The "good" in the beginning of With Me Tonight fits with the "someone might say something between verses" quote above, often attributed to the "You’re under arrest!" line in the Heroes & Villains “Alternate take”. That “good” has also been noted as indicative of Smiley Smile’s supposed “sloppiness”, but bootlegged sessions show that it has been EDITED to fit right on the beat, which instead underlines the focus and deliberate “coolness” of Smiley Smile.

Wind Chimes: Another re-recorded track. Compare the Smile and Smiley Smile versions of Wind Chimes, and you’ll find that the latter is even more peculiar as a song, structurally/section-wise. You have the hidden beauty of the ‘whispering winds’ section, which is a development of the instrumental xylophone section of ‘Holidays’. Also, Carl has the lead on the re-record. This brings up the fact that Smiley Smile was credited to the production of the BEACH BOYS, while Smile was basically just BRIAN. Therefore, the leads were distributed more ‘fairly’ to the group? Or was this planned all along, that the “Smile” recordings (or demos) were prepared for the group members to sing leads on, but couldn’t do them properly, that they were key-wise out of their range, and had to be re-recorded because of that? (See Wonderful, below) Or was it to make a mark to the “Brian Wilson is a genius” hype, that The Beach Boys was more than a Brian Wilson solo project? Still, Smiley Smile shows Brian to be very much in control.



Gettin' Hungry: The only possible ‘new’ song? But who knows what this might have been made of.

Wonderful: re-recorded, twice. What people don’t realize, is that the version that is on the Good Vibrations Box Set, was probably a Brian demo, meant for Carl to sing on, but possibly in a too high key for his register (was that a reason also for Surf’s Up being put on hold?). But most of all, even this grand, beautiful version of Wonderful was also meant to include a bit of humor! Bootlegs reveal corny backing vocals going “yodelaihoo, yodelaihoo”. A later version was tried (seems also to be out of Carl’s range), with a backing vocals line repeatedly going “Aom pretty baby won’t you rock with me Henry”. Also, an insert was prepared (going “mamamamamamamama” with kolibri-like humming). So if you think the Smiley Smile version is messed-up with that crazy insert, the idea was probably not all new. (Could the children’s laughter on the Smiley version be the Boys, the speed-up thing again?). Another thing worth noting on the Smiley Wonderful version is that its insert uses the “Bicycle Rider” part that it shares with Heroes And Villains. Apart from the aforementioned “laughter”, this is the only case of a musical theme that occurs twice on the album. This self-referentially might also be for comic effect, jokingly hinting at the woman and man interplay as a heroes and villains game. The song seems to be about loss of virginity, which might explain the voices of children? “Tricks” like laughter and voice manipulation are often used many times, and the topic of humor and good-spiritness, chants, but not de facto musical themes, which perhaps goes against the “link track” theory of repeated variations of themes. This shows that you couldn’t have both Do You Like Worms AND the Smiley Heroes and Villains; not the “Cantina” H&V AND The Old Master Painter sharing the same tag, etc.

Whistle In: On January 27, an early version of “WHISTLE IN” was recorded . Considering the similarity of a Heroes And Villains segment to the vocal work of the released Whistle In, it could have been originally intended as a Heroes And Villains piece.

AFTER SMILEY SMILE, WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE “ORIGINAL” SMILE?

There is a bizarre mystery of the “10-track Smile-album”, which was possibly to use the 419,200 booklets that had been intended for the Smile album. In a memo dated July 25, 1967 Capitol A&R director Karl Engemann stated that he, "agreed with Brian that the best course of action would be to NOT include this booklet with the SMILEY SMILE package, but rather to hold it for the next album which will include the aforementioned 10 selections." Since more than two of the Smile tracks were included on Smiley Smile, the unrealistic idea of a 10-track Smile album must’ve been nixed before Smiley was even released. Even then, Smiley Smile was thought to be so different from Smile, when it really wasn’t. The first draft(s) of Smile was USED to MAKE Smiley Smile. A step on the way.

Afterwards, there wasn’t too much left to build on. Once you take Good Vibrations out of the equation (it was finished and released earlier) and the songs that were re-recorded/finished for Smiley Smile (Wind Chimes, Heroes and Villians, Wonderful, Vega-Tables), what is left of the original Smile line-up?

Prayer, which wasn’t on the list but anyway, came out as “Our Prayer” with additional overdubs (as if it wasn’t finished) on 20/ 20 (1969). So did Cabinessence, also overdubbed.

When the “Bicycle Rider” part was taken out of Do You Like Worms and put into Heroes and Villains (with changed lyrics, but they appeared again on the live version of Heroes & Villains on Beach Boys Live (1973)) as the chorus on the released versions, not much was left. The “Hawaii” idea/topic resurfaced in Little Pad (possibly also the vocal melody line, but that’s just speculation), and on Diamond Head (on Friends (1968)). The bass line in Be With Me (20/20) has similarities to the “Plymouth Rock” bass part.

A version of Surf´s Up came out on the album, which it named, 1971. Some say “bastardized”, some say “finished”!

I'm In Great Shape – how developed this track was, we might never know. The closest that has been made public, is on the Heroes & Villains demo on Endless Harmony (1998). A tracking session of that section has also been found but hasn’t been released officially nor on bootleg.

Child Is Father Of The Man. The bridge, very similar to the first part (verse) of the previously recorded Look, later showed up in Little Bird on Friends (1968). The chorus became the coda to the 1971 version of Surf´s Up, with some lyrics that we don´t know if they wer new or “new”.

The Elements. The Fire section was featured on the video An American Band (1985). That’s all that has been proved to be part of The Elements. See also comments on the bass line to Fall Breaks...

A Vega-Tables section (“Eat a lot”) eventually became a song of its own, Mama says, on Wild Honey (1967). It may also once have been a part of I’m In Great Shape.

Old Master Painter. A medley with You Are My Sunshine, (at one point including the tag to the “Cantina” Heroes & Villains, a tag which backing vocals was used on She’s Goin´ Bald) that just seem to have grown to a halt in the working process.
Some other sessions:

The hammering part from Friday Night/I Wanna Be Around (possibly part of The Elements?) was put on the tag to Do It Again (20/20) "Cool, Cool Water" on Sunflower (1970) has two SMiLE connections: it is said to be based on "Love to Say Da Da” (a purported SMiLE-era song) and it contains the water chant (which WAS recorded during SMiLE).

The idea of being stuck inside a music instrument that’s on the Surf´s Up session called “George Fell Into His French Horn” also echoes in the back of one’s mind when listening to the story of the “Pied Piper” in the “magic transistor radio” on “Mt. Vernon And Fairway” (7’’ featured with “Holland” (1972)).

During Smile, Brian talked about recording arguments for humorous effect, and also made some “gardener skits” for Vega-Tables (see “Vegetables promo” and the “Smile Sessions” bootleg box). Such an “argument” found its way to “T M Song” on 15 Big Ones (1976). He/they had done such things earlier too, on “’Cassius’ Love vs. ‘Sonny’ Wilson” on Shut Down Vol. 2 (1964) where they mock each other’s voices, and later Brian showed his self-depreciating humor on a possible radio spot (?) for Heroes & Villains, directing Mike Love to read some sarcastic lines about the track’s “bombing” on the charts.

There has also been Smile sessions & demo recordings released officially, most of all on the Good Vibrations Box Set (1993).

CONCLUSION:

Carl Wilson once said, "Smiley Smile was a bunt instead of a grand slam." Some people prefer Smiley Smile to Smile. Anyway, it’s nice to have both; you have the ‘official’ Smiley Smile or you can put together your own fake ”SMiLE” album. Taken on its own terms, Smiley Smile is certainly a goodie, and a crazy one too. Its significant also in showing a new direction for Brian Wilson to explore, resulting in great albums such as Wild Honey and Friends. Bruce Johnston described Smiley Smile as, “Much better than ‘Smile’ but few fans ‘get it’…very organic album. Perfect album in my opinion. Brian Wilson's genius in top form except he probably would not agree with me”. So in contrary to Carl Wilson´s famous quote, Smiley Smile was perhaps the grand slam everyone mistook for a bunt.

Hey, great original post about buying Smiley, BUT:  Gettin' Hungry, she no came with a Picture sleeve. at least not in the USA.  And with the B-side being a Party track( DTY) one has to wonder if the single was picked by the BBs for release, or some "smart" Capitol dude that thought it would be a trendy idea to release a "semmingly" Brian/Mike standalone 45. 

As to this ad, I'd swear that  I've actually seen it in a Billboard/ have it "somewhere". But I can't lay my hands on it at the moment. But, yes, genuine not a mockup.   I'll search...

I still wonder how a U.S. ad apparently shows the artwork for the newest 45-release... which ends up being used in The Netherlands. Was this artwork perhaps considered to be used for the U.S. 45? It does fit nicely between the U.S. sleeve artwork for H&V and Darlin'.

http://www.beachboys45.nl/Neth-Capitol-6768.htm

(http://i43.tinypic.com/b7ndbt.jpg)   (http://i41.tinypic.com/xm8wwl.jpg)

I always figured they wanted two singles at once so they put this out. I think doing it in Hawaii proves they were behind the record briefly at least.

Yes, I think that is the picture sleeve as I remember it, but I'm pretty sure it came with the Brother label. Of course, I could be mistaken all round, with my memory confusing the GH single with the HV single as well as images of sleeve and label seen elsewhere. As a working public historian I would have to rely upon more substantial evidence than that provided by memory alone.

Also, while I'm here, I'd like to point out that back in the day we, meaning the typical teen record buyer, had little or no pre-release info. These records, singles and LPs, just appeared in the wracks each week. We might hear them on the radio or see the group performing a promo on a TV show but I don't recall ever being aware of any discussion in the press prior to that, at least not until Rolling Stone began to publish.

So when Smiley Smile appeared it was not like we were wondering what had happened to Smile. No, we were wondering what had happened to the glories of Today and Summer Days. We simply weren't prepared for this change in aesthetic direction. Pet Sounds had been, how shall I say, difficult, but having grown up in a rather sophisticated musical environment I was accustomed to listening repeatedly to a work, discovering it as it revealed itself. Smiley Smile came across as not only weird, but as incoherent and, basically, incomprehensible. What the heck were half these songs even about?

Judging from the solo version of Surf's up produced during the Wild Honey sessions, one has to wonder how much additional effort would have been needed to flesh out the track listing and sequencing to produce a coherent and comprehensible artistic statement, no matter how off-beat. This was, after all the height of the Sixties and we were no strangers to the off-beat. They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha Ha anyone? In 4 minutes a perfectly satisfying, minimalist version of Surf's Up might have been recorded, and another 4 minutes could have produced a similar version of Good Vibrations. Hadn't the water chant been worked on during the Smile session? (correct me on that point please) And was not the instrumental skeleton of Cabinessence already in the can?

So, if Smile has ben like a great stained-glass window, the shards of which could not be fitted together, Smiley Smile might have been like a gallery showing of discreet but related canvases that, however odd, made sense. And we, the record buyers, would have bought into that - had only a little additional care and effort been invested in the project and its presentation.

Oh well, let's just fire up another bowl and...wait...what was I sayin...yeah man...far out...

Hmm... Actually I don't know it by heart, I'll have to listen to my old cassette to be sure. I remember it starts with You're Welcome before H&V, Gettin' Hungry is on side 1, side 1 ends with Whistle In, and side 2 ends with Surf's Up -> Prayer -> Good Vibrations.

Wow, we're hearing some definite affinities.

Spot on!!

Well, if we're talking about the production of Smiley Smile, it's obvious to me that this was the Beach Boys ultimate stoned album, even more so than Pet Sounds. And like you'd expect from a musical genius blown out of his mind, there are moments of ridiculous genius mixed with bizarre, WTF moments.

I think "Wind Chimes" is a masterpiece. To me, it's everything Smile was supposed to be. The way it just sways in and out of focus, almost out of control and yet completely together, is so crazily evocative of wind chimes. When the swimming pool vocals come in you almost feel like you've taken LSD, and the sophistication of the tag is otherworldly.

"Fall Breaks and Back To Winter" is also another brilliantly arranged song, although maybe it's looped a bit too long. The toy-like atmosphere is unbelievably pulled off, it's like you can imagine this crazy cartoon world coming to life.

But then there's some lazy moments. Take "Little Pad". That little intro/outro section is crazy great, but the chorus feels a little too off the cuff. All that brilliance and all they could be bothered to do is an organ drone and some rudimentary clip-clop percussion for the chorus? While such reckless creativity is part of the album's charm, you have to wonder what could've been if Brian would've spent a little more time.

"She's Goin' Bald", "With Me Tonight", "Whistle In" are perfect examples. It's Brian goofing around for maybe a few hours at time with some riffs he had lying around from Smile, and the songs sound like it. There's not much depth. He just went and did it and that was that.

"Vegetables" feels a little more inspired, and from what I can tell, he spent more time on it than he did most of the Smiley Smile material. Hell, there's even evidence on tape that he actually took the time to try and reject arrangement ideas. And for the record, I think the Smiley Smile "Heroes and Villains" is brilliant. Maybe it's not some alternate universe's best possible take on the song, but it's still chock full of amazing ideas and sounds.

Smiley's "She's Goin' Bald" and "With Me Tonight" are much more fully realised than the Smile snippets. The chord sequence on the latter is a beautiful thing.

I love Smile, and between '89 and '95 was full on obsessed with it. But Smiley........it's just perfect. Probably my favourite work of theirs. To my ears even the mistakes are inspired, just because Brian said "it's fine, leave 'em"

I don't think Brian made any serious improvements on "With Me Tonight" for Smiley Smile. He just performed the song on his organ, and that was that. Obviously, the second half of "She's Goin' Bald" is all new, but it's more like a funny, improvised skit then any sort of great music.

Don't forget the effortlessly awesome 'Too late mama...' vocals.

This is absolutely true!  In fact, I was totally unaware of the existence of the Gettin' Hungry single until I found it in a used record shop in May 1968, eight months after it had been released.  When I saw it I assumed it must be a different recording than the Beach Boys version on Smiley Smile, but when I got home and played it it I was surprised to find that it was the exact same recording.  

Back then I was dumbfounded as to why the record was released as being by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, and I'm still baffled by that to this day.  In 1966 Caroline No by Brian Wilson was released just two weeks before Sloop John B, and a couple of months before Pet Sounds, so it's easy to see the logic in releasing the Caroline No single under the name Brian Wilson, but BB discographies have the Gettin Hungry single being released at the same time as the Smiley Smile album, when Heroes and Villains was falling off the charts and thus it was time for a new BB single, so why confuse record buyers with a single released at the exact same time as the album containing the single, but the single is listed under the artist name Brian Wilson & Mike Love whereas the album is by the Beach Boys?  The flip, Devoted to You, from the Beach Boys Party album receives the same treatment.  Maybe the reason for this decision is lost to history, but I'd be curious to know if it was Brian and Mike themselves or someone else who came up with this idea.  But, since the record bombed, the question of record buyers being confused is a moot point anyway!

"On and on she go down be doh dah..."

"On and on you go down be doh dah..."

Gee, what could that possibly mean?

"Maybe the reason for this decision is lost to history..."

It must have been the result of the dope. Look what a royal fuckup the Hawaiian shows turned out to be.

Hmmm, may be!  I've always assumed the reason Child of Winter was released two days before Christmas, when it should have been released at least six weeks before that, was because somebody, or maybe a number of somebodys, were too coked up to realize that releasing a Christmas record two days before Christmas made absolutely no sense. 

I always assumed the reason behind the release date for Child of Winter was simply down to it being the Beach Boys.

Nick Kent isn't a great source but he says Brian was on the phone crying for Child Of Winter to come out to a WB exec. True or not I think he delivered it too late and still wanted it to come out. No more than that as far as I know.

An ad for Gettin' Hungry was featured in Cash Box, September 9, 1967. Same graphics, different layout.

I fear that, had SMiLE been finished in 1967, this might have been the general reaction to the album as a whole. Remember, the masterpiece Pet Sounds didn't go that high in the charts either. You never know, of course.

And completely changed the chords and slowed it right down, ala Wind Chimes.

I prefer the SS version.

Absolutely.

Me too. When I first heard WMT on a Smile boot, it took me quite a while to get used to it. I don't know if it's been mentioned yet, as I didn't read this whole thread, but the transition of the majestic dreamy echo drenched "whispering winds" fade in Wind Chimes, to the louder than God organ intro to Gettin' Hungry just might be the cruelest, yet funniest "musical joke" ever played by a musician or group to the audience/record buying public.  I know it's there, but damn if it doesn't get me every single time.  :lol

I really don't think so. Honestly, this whole idea that SMiLE was "too weird to be popular" is a bit overemphasized imo. Yes, Pet Sounds disappointed in sales, but consider why that might be. Not because it was "too good" for the ignorant masses or any silly idea like that. It's because it wasn't promoted well by Capitol and was very melancholy and depressing compared to what BB fans were used to. They released a hits compilation which also confused the public and created internal competition.

SMiLE, in whatever form Brian eventually decided on, was gonna be weird. And good. And in California, 1967...that's just what the doctor ordered. Seriously, consider how weird Sgt Pepper, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Red Krayola, After Bathing at Baxter's and all the other far out classics of '67 and '68 were. The times they were a'changin' and only Brian seemed to realize that in the Beach Boy camp. I have no doubt that a 1967 release of SMiLE in any form would've not only lived up to the success of GV (speaking of "weird" music...) but also would've stolen Pepper and the Beatles' thunder and become the anthem of the aquarian age. Add a Monterey performance to this alternate timeline and I can see the BBs effortlessly transitioning with the times, perhaps becoming as synonymous with psychedelia as Hendrix (hey, more "weird" music!)

But, as we know, that didn't happen. None of the other Boys had the foresight to see how radically the music scene was changing, and wanted to play it safe. Brian second-guessed himself, ran out of time, and withdrew into himself. Smiley was a misfire. It's a brilliant, one of a kind work of art. But it misfired. Not because it was "weird" but because it lacked the psychedelic grooves and high production values of its competitors. That's what makes it so great now, but back then it was seen as a sign the band was out of touch. Again, not for being "too weird" so much as "not the right kind of weird."

I do think, however, that the H&V single was doomed to disappoint from the start. It's a great track, the backbone of what would've surely been hailed as a groundbreaking album, but there was little chance of topping GV, especially with a 4 minute musical comedy about the old west. I never considered this, but some other poster in this thread suggested that Cabin Essence be the lead in single. I think that would've had a much better chance at success. Perhaps with CIFOTM (a finished, fleshed-out, 3,3:30 long version) as a double a-side?