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Curious for some thoughts on this song. I know it's quite often maligned, perhaps a little unfairly I think. Cheesy, yes, but I find much to enjoy in the vocal performance and arrangement.

One thing that spoiled it for me is learning the story behind it. I'd been enjoying the song for a couple of years before I heard that. I'm someone who has practiced TM, so I've nothing against it per se, I just liked it better when I thought the song was about a 'that girl'. The one who has the attention of everyone in the room, everyone men & women alike can't help loving her a little, but she herself seems beautifully oblivious. We all know one. I sure as hell do.

I think the song tries to tread that ambiguous line - kind of like a lot of religious music aiming for secular crossover potential does actually, where the subject of the song could be a woman or it could be God/Jesus.

But the lyrics make much more sense in the TM interpretation and once you know that was the inspiration you can't hear it any other way. Now when I hear it I can't help but picture Mike with bluebirds flying around his head while he sees Maharishi in soft focus from across the room. Nevertheless a good song and one that I'm surprised M&B don't make room for in the setlist more often.

Production-wise it sounds a bit out of place on 15 Big Ones but other than that I like it, though not quite as much as some other 60s/70s songs where he was the main writer, like Big Sur or Let the Wind Blow.

Oh absolutely. I believe that was my experience listening to 15 Big Ones for the first time, all these pretty good but uninspired ho-hum covers and then hey! Something new. And pretty good too.

Not horrible, not great, kind of schmaltzy to me.

In a good way, yes! :-D And if I imagine it being about a girl I like it too. Nice ballad.



OK, then listen to a Bruce song first and then to E'sILWY, see what happens! ;D

I find the arrangement to be really sappy and overwrought. It sounds like something in one of those cover albums made for children to fall asleep to - except it's the original recording. Plus, I don't really think Mike's voice is fit for this sort of song. The one thing I do like about this song is the idea for the lyrics, but once you figure out that Mike wrote it for the Maharishi, it seems like he probably stumbled onto it on accident. If the lyrics were actually about a girl who wasn't self-aware, I'd probably like it more.

Unabashedly. I'm a sucker for that.

I think this is a genuinely awful song. Possibly the first real stinker in their career after the odd number on the first album

Seconded. Otherwise it's pretty lame. Extra-lame, if you consider the Maharishi dimension.



Releasing it as a single...

(http://i.imgur.com/tJAHcVK.gif)

I imagine it'll be part of the UK sets in a couple of months.  I like it too.

I have to agree with the dissenters on this one.  Not everyone is in love with you, no, not by a long stretch!  >:D
Clumsy lyrics seem to stumble all over the exceedingly trite, gag inducing melody like a drunken Bigfoot through the village of Lilliput.  The vocals reek of smarmy insincerity.   Sorry Mike, but even you could, and have, done better than this.   :police:   

Oh, and yes, YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!!

Feel kinda bad saying this on his birthday, but E'sILWY is probably my absolute least favorite Mike Love song. The part where he sings "my-yiy-yiy" doesn't sit well with me. I'm not a Mike-hater, I like the guy and I love lots of his tunes...but not this one. The schmaltziness in this one is too much for these ears. I'd rather listen to Can't Stop Talkin' About American Girls on repeat for an hour. :p

Reason for that: was recorded the previous year.  :)

It really kills the good vibes of that album.

Yep. What a downer.

Ya win some, ya loose some...

Curious. I was born in '85. Did it do well over here?

Dont throw anything at me i bruise easily..LOL.. I like the song. I like the chord progression and the melody alot. The words are OK and i agree that if this was a song about a girl it would work better..But as it is i never skip the song when i play the cd.. That cant be said for Blueberry Hill or In the still of the night or TM song.. Hands down the best TM song is All This Is That. Followed by He Came Down.

Dunno about that.  Unless I'm missing it, it wasn't a single here at the time, though it was in the US.  I suspect that when Mike does deeper cuts, he simply does what he wants to do and includes stuff that's dear to him.  If I recall it right, he played it here in 2008 as part of a little TM section in the show.  It had this, All This is That and Cool Head, Warm Heart.

Wait, Mike was the main writer on "Let the Wind Blow"? How long have we known this? I never understood it to be anything but the typical Brian/Mike collaboration. I can't imagine Mike ever writing the complex key changes that happen in this song.

If I remember correctly Mike did indeed "write music" for it and then asked Brian to revise it. Finished product is a Wilson/Love composition.

Got it. I see. Thank you.

I can barely remember it.