The Smiley Smile Message Board

Early 70s with Blondie and Ricky allowed?

I hope so, 'cos I'm going Come Together by said line up.

And Susie Cincinatti with John on lead

A Side: Either "Something" or "Let it Be" with Dennis singing lead on either cut. Tough choice. The production of these songs already kind of lend them to the Beach Boys anyway.

B-Side: "Do It Again" in a sort of "Get Back" style may work. Their roots-rock style they were exploring at this time is hard to match to the Beach Boys carefully produced sound.

This is a surprisingly hard task! One of my runner-ups for the A-Side was "Hello, Goodbye," but seeing as how it sounds so good as it is, it would be hard to expand upon. The Beatles could also do a rocking version of "Wild Honey" with a rough John lead, but I don't want to hog everything.

Side A: Here There and Everywhere.  (How do you like them vocal harmonies?!?!)
Side B: Help Me Rhonda  (picture the Beatles sound circa 1965 with 12 string electric guitar and lotsa tambourine)

Side A: Because
Side B: Good To My Baby

Wow, what a cool topic, so difficult to answer!

Side A: If I Fell

Side B: Sail on Sailor, Ringo on Lead Vocal

Side A : Across the Universe
Side B : This Whole World

Side A:  "Oh! Darling" - with a Carl Wilson lead vocal for commercial reasons, but would love to hear Brian tackle it with his voice in the early 1970's

Side B:  "All I Wanna Do" - with a John Lennon lead vocal with Paul coming in with the high part during the harmonies 

A: Ticket To Ride
B: Girl Don't Tell Me

 :p

I'd like to hear The Beach Boys tackle "Two Of Us" and The Beatles take on "Student Demonstration Time".  Yep, that's what I'd like... 

A side: Hey Bulldog (Carl lead vox...early 70's band style)

B side: Marcella (John & Paul lead vox...that guitar solo has George Harrison written all over it)

A: Get Back (sung by Carl. Al doing backups on the chorus. Sologuitar played by Carl)
B: When A Man Needs A Woman (sung by Paul)

Perfect! :lol

A. A Day In The Life

B. A Day In The Life of A Tree

A. Good Day Sunshine
B. Slip on Through

A: Happiness is a warm gun
b: Surfs Up

Amazing it would be.

A: Back In The USSR (Blondie if available on lead, otherwise Dennis)
B: Wonderful (maybe with George on lead)

A. "Here Comes the Sun"
B. "You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone"

I think the "A" side would be sublime with the background vocals engineered/mixed like they are on Sunflower.  

The "B" side I could see as entertaining with John and Carl singing a duet (in unison).

Regardless, I love both bands equally but their styles would be kind of hard to blend in some senses.

I'd actually enjoy a folk-rock sound (like the Byrds) from the two.  Beach Boys' Party! meets Rubber Soul would be awesome.

There have been some really good suggestions.  Two more:

A:  Good Night (would be a perfect BB lullaby)

B:  either:


or Sail Plane Song (with Beatles given liberties to add lyrics, etc)

ooooh, I like this one

I have always had a soft spot for Harrison singing 'Something' so I will go for that with Carl on lead vocal. I love 'Holland' so I would go with a 'Steamboat' guitar feel. Someone mentioned 'Marcella' and I could also live with that so...

Side A Something
Side B Marcella

One slow song then a rocker! :thumbsup

A: Yes It Is

B: Dance Dance Dance

A...'Mother Nature's Son'...the Boys could have taken it to the heavens.
B...'God Only Knows'...Paul would have wanted to do this one justice...and then some.

At that time neither 'group' would have wanted to backtack into the by-gone era.  It would have been all about QUALITY.  [and talent]

<<At that time neither 'group' would have wanted to backtack into the by-gone era.  It would have been all about QUALITY.  [and talent]>>

I may have read it wrong but I don't think the question was what they would have wanted to play - but what we would have wanted to hear.

Yes It Is has some of the most beautiful harmonies the Beatles ever cut - with some spectacular "odd" chord changes ala Warmth of the Sun.  A Beach Boys rendition of this would have been spectacular.

And as the Beatles were guitar-based, with wonderful riffs abounding, I would have loved to hear their take on Dance Dance Dance... as the instrumentation lends itself to a Beatles interpretation... 

A: strawberry fields
B: wonderful

Love some of the selections so far, so I'll go with some that have yet to be said.

The Fool on the Hill (One of my favourite Beatles melodies. I can only imagine Beach Boys harmonies glistening in the background.  Maybe some lead vocal trades throughout, and a baroque Brian production.)
Aren't You Glad (I can really imagine the Beatles picking up the groove on this with a full band production. A rocking song with pop sensibility in the making.  Polished and yet loose at the same time.)

Different eras, but...
A. This boy
B Heroes and Villians.

I had looked at this thread, liked it, considered it, and failed to come to a conclusion so far. I've mostly just perused others' answers and sneered a little. "What a bad idea..." But with your idea, I literally (and internally, thus I suppose a hallucination) heard John and Paul singing in unison the opening sentence of "Heroes and Villains" (and soon imagined Ringo singing the cantina part) and realized you thought of something fantastic that hadn't occurred to me at all. It wouldn't end up the Smile version, surely, but one can imagine something like the Beach Boys' live versions or some other arrangement altogether. Great idea.

A: "Fixing A Hole", sung by Carl
B: "Girl Don't Tell Me"

I hear that Steve...BUT...I kind of felt like I'd need some cooperation from the actual participants for it to work to my benefit.  For whatever reason I envisioned this happening in the earlier rather than the later 70s as well...like when Jack Rieley was still around.   Why?  Don't know.  It just felt like something he might have approved of.  T'would have made for a great box-set if they'd all been recorded. :hat

A live version from 1984 exists, available on the Fourth of July album. Jeff on lead.

For how long was Back in the USSR in the BB's setlist? I recall hearing it at least once in concert during that era, but I'm thinking it was more than that.

Yeah, it would rock, wouldn't it?

Oh wow. I just thought of Dennis on verse and Carl on refrain of "I'm So Tired"

A: "She's Leaving Home" (with Maureen on harp)
B: "Vega-Tables" (with Paul reliving his celery-chewing duties)

How about ...

A:  "Sun King" (possibly the most complex vocal harmony thing the Fabs did)
B:  "Bluebirds Over the Mountain"

A: Because. I would love to hear Brian's falsetto on this.
B: Surf's Up. With a good George Martin production. Would have been very interesting.

A: Revolution 9
B: Mrs. O'Leary's Cow

 :3d

A: Another vote for "Because"
B: You Still Believe in Me

Side One:  ELEANOR RIGBY!!! The Beach Boys would be amazing on that!  And you said the magic word, "arranged', which means Brian could make it much more dramatic and go crazy with the vocal harmonies.  Just imagining it here in my head and it's astounding, think what Brian himself could do with it!

Side Two: HELP ME RHONDA!  The Beatles would be amazing on that!  And you said the magic word, "arranged", which means George Martin could make it sort of in a "Drive my Car" mode, rocking and rollicking like the original but also like the Beatles' really cool stuff.  Just imagining it here in my head and it's astounding, think what the Beatles themselves could do with it!  Lennon lead on this!

Absolutely!  John, 12 string guitars, bap bap bap Ringo drums, etc. it would be awesome. 

A Lennon vocal on that would be fantastic as well.  Oh what could have been. 

God, I'd love to hear Lennon sing All I Wanna Do.

And the Beach Boys sing Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

A. Your Mother Should Know
B. The Little Girl I Once Knew

1. Julia, with Dennis singing maybe
2. Wild Honey

1. She's Leaving Home, with Brian or Carl singing Paul's part, and full group harmonies on John's part.

2. That's Not Me, let the Beatles and George Martin pick.

That's perfect!
And The Beatles singing "Darlin'."

I've got a few more in mind.  Here's one:

A. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
B. Please Let Me Wonder

As I was trying to come up with suggestions for this, I couldn't conceive of the Beatles doing surfing or car songs.  I'm almost willing to bet that none of the Beatles saw a surfboard until they were in Miami Beach in February 1964.  Their experience with cars in Liverpool would have been so different from that of the Beach Boys.  On the other hand, the Beatles were much more familiar with public transportation (or should I say "transport"?).

A. Because (the Beatles' version is 3-part harmony; the BBs version would be like 5- or 6-part. Just imagine that.)
B. Let The Wind Blow (sung by the greate--I mean, my favorite Beatle, John.)