The Smiley Smile Message Board

Recently watching some 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoons (Secret Squirrel), and the thought crossed my mind how similar some Pet Sounds + SMiLE backing tracks sound like when compared to some of the incidental background music in the Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but perhaps Brian soaked up some of that type of sound and instrumentation...

Brian seemed to have a fascination with Woody Woodpecker around this time period, and perhaps that was indicative of him being an avid cartoon watcher in general during the mid-sixties. Is there any evidence of such?

There's this nugget from the Gaines book:
"[Tony Asher] thought Brian was a nice guy, but something of a Hawthorne hick, who found it next to impossible to express himself verbally. Sometimes Brian’s lack of sophistication manifested itself in small ways…Other times, his childishness was more pronounced, as when he halted work to watch Flipper on TV and wept at the tender moments."

I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that the often childlike Brian watched cartoons in his spare time.

Hell, I'm going to be 37 in 3 weeks and I still watch cartoons, even when my daughter's at her grandmother's. The fact I'm a massive stoner has surprisingly little to do with it lol.

It's interesting you bring this up.  I was just thinking this the other day.  A lot of his music around 66/67 has elements that reminds me of the cartoons of the time, though nothing in particular. 

Totally! Especially the whistles in Heroes And Villains!

It's hard for me to tell if it's just a general 1960s type of stylistic instrumentation thing, as opposed to any direct influence...  but the more you listen to cartoon music from that time (especially Hanna-Barbera), it seems hard to think there was no influence, especially on SMiLE.

And with Brian's multiple nods to Woody Woodpecker at the time (Surf's Up and Fall Breaks), there seems to be a direct correlation to cartoon influence.

I wonder if there were some Wrecking Crew members on the Hanna-Barbera stuff...

Last week I was listening to I Get Around in my head. It was the lead guitar and Danelectro  parts. I thought, 'ah, Sugar Shack.' I was then singing the guitar/harpsichord answer part in the verse. I thought, 'oh, if Brian was thinking Sugar Shack, he might have been inspired by that organ answer part, too,
and changed it up to make the part original.' I sang that answer part again and, of all things, I realized that melody is the same melody as the beginning of the Quickdraw McGraw Theme (yippe-ki-o-ki-ay). Quickdraw is a twelve note phrase, I Get Around uses sixteen notes.

The cartoon theme melody starts on 'one.' The I Get Around answer melody starts on the 'and' of three. That timing shift made it unnoticeable to me for a long, long, long time. How will I ever hear that song in the same way again?

I winder if Brian was influenced by Vic Mizzy? or visa versa? (the music from "Addams Family", "Green Acres", and "Petticoat Junction.")

Could it be Brian was influenced by his friend Danny Hutton, who worked for Hanna Barbera?

http://www.waybackattack.com/huttondanny.html (http://www.waybackattack.com/huttondanny.html)

As if to complete the circle (assuming there is one) on Tony Asher's wiki page it states that "In the 1990s, Asher and Wilson reunited to write an original song that was featured in the film The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas." Released in 2000 this movie was co-produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions.

According to "Wouldn't It Be Nice", the Brian pseudo biography, he used to watch Mr Rogers' Neighbourhood every morning.

Any chance Brian watched Looney Tunes, with the wonderful music scoring of Carl Stalling? I suspect he did.

And that was the beautiful "This isn't love". It indeed was the musical theme of the movie so to speak. Getting played and sung more than once.

Thanks, Rocker. Is this the one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv-iC9qmUvI

The other version I found is painful to listen to...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1JRciMyDzQ

I only saw the movie once (just to hear a "new" Brian song in a current movie) but I remember it not being too beautifully :D
Unfortunately I can't listen to the videos you linked right now at the computer I am sitting right now. But if they are from the movie, they certainly are the right ones.

Not written specifically for the movie: it first appeared on the Windham Hill album Songs Without Words released 10/97.

Hanna-Barbera/Looney Tunes scores weren't exactly different from most comedy scores of that era.

Was Brian influenced by any and all cartoon/comedy motifs? Absolutely. Was Brian specifically influenced by Hoyt Curtin? The answer depends on whether he's the kinda guy to pay attention to incidental music. Would somebody ask him?

That may explain the use of the Celeste for the I'm in Great Shape sessions or then again Brian may have like the sound because he had previously used it on Girl Don't Tell Me played by Bruce Johnston.

Thanks, Andrew. That must be this piano-only version, played by Brian (?). (Interesting comment by Kaitoace...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHoAY5s9Wes