The Smiley Smile Message Board

Listening to Heroes and Villains yesterday - cantina version - and, although I’ve heard it a hundred times, I realized I have no clue whom the “You’re under arrest!” Refers to.  Is it Margarita, the woman dancing?  If so, why - was she doing an illegal strip tease?  Is it the first person narrator - if so, why?  Certainly not because he’s watching the dance?  Does it refer back to the verses where a woman is caught in a rain of bullets - and the narrator was the shooter?  Is the exclamation just a jarring unexpected and ultimately nonsensical interjection that Brian thought was hilarious for some reason?

anybody?

I never understood it either but for me I don’t really care so much as long as the music is good

I’ll go with Margarita and the narrator.

Brian was pretty damn high when he was making these songs. Things might not always make sense.

Don't believe me? Check out "Brian Falls Into a Microphone."  :lol

It could be that "You're under arrest" comes from the sherrif of the town who just comes into the saloon and arrests the villains who are watching Marguerita.... ?

I wondered why Brian didn't have Murry yell this part. I guess that would've been fitting  :-\

I like that idea - since the song is entitled Heroes and Villains, where exactly are the villains?  In the verses they are the ones firing bullets, presumably.  Then maybe those same villains are in the cantina watching Marguerita, and the sheriff comes in to arrest them.

Then who are the "heroes"?  The narrator, presumably?  Marguerita?  The sheriff?

I can see why Mike didn't understand this song.

Who's is the "You're under arrest" voice?

Gene Gaddy, Barbara Rovell’s boyfriend (now husband) at the time.

Oh thank you! Always wondered.

2Willy Wilson: Here's thread you can read the info about who did voice & in which jiggy22 seemingly found the answer: http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,11029.0.html

Thank you  :smokin

Could the you're under arrest also be a nod and a wink to a drug bust?  Anachronistic, but Brian and Van Dyke in 67 were certainly indulging . . .

I remember having a theory once about how the major and minor variations represented the heroes and villains themes respectively and that the key to working out the song structure somehow lay in unlocking the narrative order of the various themes. Nonsense theory, but I do still think the titular 'villains' may be represented by the ominously dark pantomime-like minor key sections.

Higher than a hawk's ass in a nosedive, as VDP succinctly put it...  ;D

Oh really? I always thought that was Denmis!

My theory is that Margarita was Sharon Tate and the bullets were shot by the Manson family.  Kind of like the Paul death clues given before 1966.  >:D

2Magic Transistor Radio - You'd written in this thread: http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,11187.msg216082.html#msg216082

Looks like you forgot the info about Gene Gaddy.

Margarita wasn't even a character in the song until 2004, it was originally "margaritas", as in the drink, keeping the spirit high.

EDIT: Never mind, I must be off my rocker. Margarita the woman is in the original. "Dance, Margarita, dance...".

Everybody is better with their Rocker  :3d

Rockers vs. mods!