The Smiley Smile Message Board

Okay-
I may get a lot of criticism for saying this, but I think Lady Lynda is one of the best Beach Boys songs of all time. It has such a beautiful melody and arrangement. Alan's vocals are great, and the fact that Dennis contributed to the arrangement is really neat! The song just creates such a cool vibe, that like Pet Sounds, combines classical and rock music.
I surely can't be the only one that loves this song. Who else does?

It's just one more excellent song on a very underrated and underappreciated album. I agree completely.

It's basically J. S. Bach's "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring" with a modern twist. Somehow I think that Bach's original piece will outlast "Lady Lynda" over the next centuries. I still enjoy Al's song though so I'm not trying to rain on the parade. I love the 1980 Knebworth video version!

Is it really, though? Sure, the intro and outro, but all the stuff in the middle? I'd say it's maybe 5% Bach, if that, and 95% ALTbach/Jardine!

I think it's a very pretty song, the Knebworth version is great.

It's a shame it was re-recorded as this horrid mess. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SzP8p2lFrw

It has its moments.  The live Knebworth version is better, as already mentioned. 

I agree. Beautiful and underrated. I saw a video a couple years ago on YouTube about the making of it, and it really made me love it even more than I already did.


https://youtu.be/-SVB-EvYtNw

I love the acapella sections, wish they could go on a bit longer. And I agree, the Knebworth version is great...

Yeah, but the 5% is the good bit.

I'm not sure if I'd go so far to call it a masterpiece, but it's definitely one of the most post Holland songs in the catalog. 

And I do agree that it's on a very underrated album (which I think would get a lot more praise if not for the dreadful Here Comes the Night remake). 

I'm not a musicologist, but I think a few of the chord changes in the body of the song kind of pull from the Bach piece as well. Certainly nowhere near a direct rendering of the song, but a couple changes sound reminiscent.

I think it's a solid song. The production on any of the 70s studio versions isn't so great. Very 70s, very dead and lifeless. Even the vocals aren't mixed that well. They don't breathe enough.

Kind of reminds me of Carl's solo album stuff, not in terms of style or anything, but just in terms of sounding markedly better when presented live. The live Knebworth version of "Lady Lynda" is perhaps a bit less polished, but it breathes way more and doesn't have those late 70's limp, lifeless studio drums. The live versions that go heavier on the drums and piano and vocals sound better.

I agree. It's just a great song with wonderful vocal and depth, simple. One of my favourite, if not 'my' favourite Al song.

Lady liberty is a masterpiece. >:D

It's an OK song on an album I really like a lot. Light Album to me is more than the sum of its parts, the only songs that are great on their own (imho) are probably just Good Timin', Angel Come Home, and Dennis' contributions. But it's a fabulous "ambient yacht rock" album from beginning to end.

Perhaps not a masterpiece but an underrated song on an underrated album  (that might have been better if only...)

They say first impressions are lasting.  I heard this track for the first time in Siberia in the mid-90's.  I had purchased a "Best Of" CD from an open air market.  The CD was consumer-burned and the liner a color copy.  It contained the classics-- most of which I was familiar with and loved.  Hearing them again brought me much joy in that dark, cold land.  Then, abruptly it transitioned from Wouldn't It Be Nice to Lady Lynda.  Not being familiar with their later material (and thus not appreciating their musical evolution), the transition was jarring.  I hated Lady Lynda.  And try as I may to let it grow on me, it never has.

The live version is better. The a capella outro at the end is excellent.

I liked Lady Lynda when it first came out but repeated listenings of the Bach intro got very annoying.  Also it just simply was not that good of a song.

However they did a delightful "vocals only" part during the song  in concert which sounded incredible back in the day.  But it probably was only a hit in England cause they were coming there to the CBS convention and that generated some excitement for the single over there.

You knew when the group was releasing Jardine-written singles something was very wrong!

I just listened to the studio version of LADY LIBERTY for the first song.

My god. It's awful. The production is incredibly lifeless- those drum machines are cringeworthy.

And what's it with Al and spoken word intros?!?

Identical to my experience (except for the part about Siberia.) Putting it on a best of that's otherwise largely sixties stuff is really throwing it in the deep end.

IMO, "Lady Lynda" is a good to very good song; it falls a little short of great. I also think it's the best song that Al Jardine ever wrote. When you think about it, I guess it's sad that Al and Lynda (the inspiration for the song) eventually divorced.

While I like the recorded version (the production is OK), the live version rocked. I saw the Beach Boys perform it live a couple of times, as early as 1978, before it was released. And, I remember how Dennis left the stage when the song was performed, and how Bobby Figueroa's drumming really added a lot of punch to the song. It was well received by the fans for a song that wasn't an oldie.

Wasn't the story that Dennis helped Al arrange the vocals? Or was that the live arrangement?

Al said in the 2000 Goldmine interview that Dennis helped "with the track", which could either mean Dennis contributed to the backing track, or that Dennis in some other way helped with the "track", meaning the song. The context of the interview suggests he's saying Dennis actually played on the track in some form:

How did you come up with the idea for the classical-sounding introduction to "Lady Lynda"?

A friend of mine, Ron Altbach, he and I decided to write something together. I was familiar with his love of classical music. I was at the Johann Sebastian Bach festival up here in Carmel which happens every summer up here. I heard that beautiful piece sung at the Mission Cathedral here in Carmel. Gorgeous piece. It's called "Jesu Joy Of Man's Desiring." It was written for the church. When I heard that movement I went, "My God, that's too heavy! Maybe I can start the song with this thing." [laughs] Ron is such a great player that it just worked. We had to hire a classical guy to play an absolutely beautiful harpsichord that was brought in just fro the occasion. It was a monster session with a 26-string orchestra, the harpsichord. Harry Betts arranged the strings. I can't remember if Dennis played the drums. Dennis helped me with the track. We played it live at a couple of places before we recorded it. I think he played drums. I did that 12-string guitar. It was a beautiful 12-string guitar that i still have. It would have worked better if it had been on my own album, but it certainly worked. We always seemed to be five people making five different albums on the same album.

Another vote for the live version. Which reminds me of how well Disney Girls translated to a live setting. And by live, I require it to be outdoors. A song must be able to project out into the sky and stars for it to be truly live.  ;D  Seeing Brian perform Hereos and Villians and Surf's Up live and outdoors was a sublime experience.

The Knebworth 1980 disc, with Lady Linda is great. And the song really shines here. At this point the Beach Boys were a much better live band than they were a studio band. Even if a live recording required a few post production touch-ups in the vocal department, so be it. Live, they sound like they are in full-command of the cohesive missing ingredient absent from their over-produced studio efforts.

Minus the self-consciously strained, stiff and polished studio-sound, songs like Lady Linda take on a new life.  A pretty song, performed with an edge of rawness is interesting. And the expanded bouquet of vocal parts, pounding drums, guitars and bass and cheering fans of this live version, make this a great later-day Beach Boys masterpiece.

Al. Jar. Deeeeeeeeen!

Yes! That is quite right.

I love it when Mike yells "ONE MORE TIME!" and the sing that outro. It just sounds soooooo good! The blend is spot on.

Cool video!  Great to catch a glimpse of Earle Mankey at 8:54.

COMMENT:  I remember Alan playing this song for me in his barn where he had a piano. In fact, I remember seeing him working out the way in which he would blend the Bach part to his Lynda part -- how he would marry the two in his compilation while sitting at the keyboard -- just playing and working with the notes on this "stage" that was at one end of the barn -- him doing this while I was grooming the horses at the opposite end. This was before Red Bran was converted into a studio. He had been interested in Jesu' by way of a friend, and studied it in depth on his own. I myself know the song and can play it on the keyboard. I turned Alan onto a version by Paul Beaver where the melody is complimentary to both contrapuntal sections. It is not in the Bach version. Alan worked on the song for about a year before he started recording it. We recorded many experimental trials as he worked the chord changes and lyrics into what you now hear.  I have no idea what he has done with the song with respect to tracking. I do hear the string section he has added (nice). I remember recording a basic track -- drums, rhythm guitar bass -- and some vocals. But those could remain or have been replaced. I just don't know. Dennis is attracted to romantic songs. He and Al found a common bond in this song and worked together on it. Alan wanted the song to be a tribute to Lynda, a very lovely lady and one of the woman who was special in his life -- I can't remember if they were married at the time or not. But anyway, he felt strongly about the song and worked very long and hard on all aspects of the song, most of which was worked out on the guitar, that is the chord changes, melody, and vocal harmonies.

I have also had the pleasure of mixing the song with Alan singing on stage in concert at many shows. He was figuring out the tracking of the song for production while performing it live in a more simple version at many venues.  Sometimes he would start with the Bach part played on his guitar. Other times, Bruce would play the intro on the organ. Alan is a consistently good vocalist. I have seen him perform this song many times, but each time he pulls off a perfect vocal. In the past 40 years, his voice has remained unchanged. He could perform "In My Room" today and it would sound like it did when he recorded it all those years ago.  ~swd

Great post Mr Desper........so in depth and concise.     My daughter is 32 and its the ringtone on her phone !!!

That's a really excellent post Steve.....would love to hear more stories about Red Barn recordings. Just home from visiting the Big Sur area, and was close to the studio near Pfeiffer. Beautiful place.

Very interesting story, Stephen, thanks for sharing!

Al & Lynda, Diane, Brian, and Marilyn

Lynda looks a little like Olivia Wilde here:

(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/1b/a8/88/1ba888734fd2b65fbc4771d5fc840978.jpg)

She looks Elvish.....and i mean that in a good way.   :)

Mr. Desper
Thank you for your great post!
I heard your relation to the basic track session for the first time.
and I have supposed that Jeff Peters engineered the session, because he was involved with MIU sessions as a final mixdown engineer.
(also with Al's solo album too)

The final version on L.A was rerecorded replaced your engineered the basic track.
But how about this version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm0rdP8cf6c
you were involved in this? though I have supposed this is Jeff's at MIU.

Ron Altbach has stated that the original version was recorded at Brother in a session engineered by Earle Mankey. He says that version formed the foundation of the released version - and certain elements, such as the electric piano and some of the chorus vocals, sound identical (except maybe for the relative speed of the two versions, but that could have been changed in mixdown). Bobby Figueroa recalls doing the final drums at Western, while the orchestral parts were added at Britannia, and the final vocals and mix were done at Super Sound in Monterey.

COMMENT:  Thanks for the background and history of this song's evolution. I recorded what I recorded at Alan's place in Big Sur back before the barn was remodeled into a studio. There was still recording equipment there and what I tracked was (evidentially) the rudimental beginnings of the song. Alan records and re-records many of this productions, so this is typical. At least I had some influence in the final version in that I was one of the designers of Britannia Studios where you said the strings were added.

Most of the memories I have for this song are from concert performances. The stage version started out with Al singing and playing an acoustic guitar. Later rehearsals brought more and more harmonies and other parts into the act, until it became a Beach Boy presentation complete with all the parts and instrumentation. I would say Lady was performed about every fourth or fifth show, I guess depending on how Alan felt and how tight the acoustics were of the venue that night. It's not a song that works in a large auditorium with much reverb. It does come off as a lovely piece to watch and hear in a smaller theater setting. Maybe Alan and group will be performing Lady during this current tour. That would be a treat to hear. ~swd 

Ok, I just listened to the live version, and y'all are right-- it is excellent.  Still absolutely detest the studio cut, though.  I can't think (off the top of my head) of any other song whose live/studio versions are so polarizing for me.

Apparently, the only times after early 1982 that Al has done “Lady Lynda” would be the “Lady Liberty” variant performed (maybe only once?) in 1986, and then apparently circa 1991 (or sometime in the early 90s) he did it on a UK tour and changed it to “Little Lady” for presumably obvious reasons.

One bit of trivia: I believe “Lady Lynda” was mentioned among the songs Al was *going* to perform when he was slated to do one of those “Pop Overthrow” festivals in the early 2000s (circa maybe 2000 or 2001?); he eventually had to cancel the gig due to needing to attend something related to some legal/court-related wrangling if I’m recalling correctly.

Even more arcane trivia: I remember reading a fan account of overhearing a Brian soundcheck during the 2000 “Pet Sounds” tour, and the fan mentioned that in between songs, Brian randomly started loudly singing “Lady Lynda” for a few moments.

I did a search but couldn't find it.........Wasn't there some sort of "stipulation" as part of the Al/Lynda divorce that this song couldn't be song by the BB's.
Obviously one wouldn't sing this song about an ex, however I recall reading here years ago about it not being sung formally by decree.   Anyone else remember this ?