The Smiley Smile Message Board

So, Ive used the search function of this forum to go down the line on every SMiLE related name or phrase I could think of, from VDP's to the Vosse Posse members and song titles, etc. I have never seen a thread that aims to go through the SMiLE lyrics systematically and try to derive their meaning. I thought I'd start one.

In particular, I wanted to discuss some Surfs Up allusions I found that don't seem to get a lot of attention.

The wikipedia page taught me that the opening lines are a reference to the short story "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant, about a woman who borrows a diamond necklace to wear to a fancy party, loses it, then sells all her possessions and works as a maid to pay for a replacement only to learn the necklace she borrowed was a fake.

The last lines of the first verse are a reference to "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe, about the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition.

The lines "muted trumpeter's swan" according to AI (yes, I used AI for this, I haven't read every book VDP might've been familiar with to be able to do this exercise alone, mea culpa) could refer to "The Trumpet of the Swan" by E. B. White, a story about a mute boy who learns to communicate through his trumpet playing. ((Very Dumb Angel esque, would you not say?)) ACTUALLY nevermind. Apparently this story was written in 1970. Damn, it fits perfectly otherwise.

^All of these allusions I can buy as genuinely intended and they fit the themes of the song and/or SMiLE as a whole. The first story, I see as an examination of how modern people live--taking on debt and working our lives away for the promise to live like rich people do for only a brief moment (either credit card vacations/purchases we cant really afford or slaving away for retirement you may not even live to enjoy). The second is a more brutal straightforward reference to how the rich keep us down--by brute force. It's also an important allusion to religious differences leading to violence, a callback to why the pilgrims left as well as their hypocrisy perpetuating the same intolerance to the Indians and each other when they got here. The third is about the power of music to communicate feelings/ideas that can't be merely spoken.

Then, the AI answers veered into the "maybe, I guess?" territory, claiming "hung velvet overtaken me" was a reference to "Venus in Furs" by Masoch, "Dove nested towers" is supposed to be "Antony and Cleopatra" by Shakespeare, "Quicksilver moon" to Gatsby by Fitzgerald, and some even sketchier connections. I dont buy any of these and in some cases I googled the phrases in quotes next to the literature titles only to get no results. Just hallucinations and proof you cant trust everything these bots say.

If we take the song line by line, I think it's a pretty straightforward call to arms against the excesses of the wealthy aristocrats at least until the second half ("Dove nested towers...") which Im still perplexed by.


The rich treat us like pawns, they know we want what they have so we can be manipulated with a taste or tease of their lifestyles.


A lot of people follow them, march to the beat of their drum so to speak, but the musical imagery "drummed" I think is important.


We are manipulated into liking/following them by their beauty and threat of force. "Baton" makes me think of a marching band too, or conductor's baton, again more musical words deliberately chosen.


This line just comes right out and says it, this song is about the haves. They're blind because they govern badly and/or dont care about the fallout of their decisions.


Opera glasses are those little binoculars people wear at the opera to see the stage better. It's saying "look closer, look beyond the illusion" and also the reference to the opera itself is more musical imagery.


The reference to the harsh tactics they use to uphold their authority, possibly a reference to "the pendulum can and must swing back" IE things will have to change inevitably.


Society is breaking down, theyre leading us to ruin, old institutions must fall, but it's spoken in reference to a children's game.


Reference to old master painter, an appeal to God? Or saying we must act in the name of God? Certainly that we can and should "paint" (IE create) a new world, a new society and have the right/ability to do so.


Do you not see this, are you awake to the plight and need of our time?


The curtain had been pulled over the speaker's eyes before? If the reference to Venus in Furs is accurate, they learned to accept their subjugation like a masochist enjoys submission.


See the light, wake up to what's happening and must be done, more opera/opulent imagery


he's awoken to the songs that have been calling him to action* previously ignored, but a new day is coming where he will heed them, a new even grander light (than a chandelier) will wake the world


Opera's are expensive, all that money that could help people just to entertain the rich, also a play on words for "holocaust" IE great fire and/or genocide is here or is coming.


things seem dire in the moment? Or, in combo with the next line, nothing matters right now BUT the music


reference to a dumb (mute) boy, an angel you might say, learning to communicate through music Or just a reference to the trumpets in the music of SU itself.


peace is on the horizon? peace should be exalted?


we must take to the streets quickly, be the first to take charge even before the new dawn?


Carry the message through the haze of apathy, misinformation, confusion?


Cheeky reference to Murry? Carry the message/music/light even in hidden and dark places?


Remember your friends and the good times? Maybe to get through these hard times ahead?


We need comraderie, people sharing a drink together, a fire (is fired rose a bonfire? IDK)


Apparently "fullness of the wine" is a phrase found in the Bible, dim last toasting I guess the last happy moment shared with loved ones? Remember it's all for God, God's plan?


The speaker knows as the meet with people (at port) it'll be for the last time, as he's got to leave this society/social paradigm or die? Or that some people are going to die or flake out in the cause, and those who won't join the endeavor should be abandoned? That he's gonna go places others won't follow or some who do will die/change so much as to be a different person?


In reference to what I just said in the previous line


Speaker's resolve is set despite the cost


Despite the heavy cost of what he has to do, how much he'll be alienated for this message against the status quo, he can't cry about it, it must be done.


The time is right, the wave of change is upon us


Better to ride it to new heights than let it crash you into the depths


so join the cause


The young, the new buds (like flowers), the next generation of life coming after the harsh winter, are already there


Reference to Jesus/God, the Logos (Word) or just, the message of change and redemption


I wonder sometimes if Wonderful isn't a song about Mary, with "one one one wonderful" a reference to one God in 3 words, or 3 syllables, and tying the word back in here might be part of that? Or it could just mean it's a wonderful message they fight for.


Listen to the youth, they come into the world pure, they deserve better from us. We could stand to learn from the innocence of children, we owe it to them to leave a better world than we inherited.

*VDP and/or Brian (cant exactly remember but check my notes) say in the 2005 Priore book that this song itself and "a childrens' song" referenced at the end were about the counterculture music of the 60s calling society to a higher standard.

Would love to see other people offer different takes on this and other SMiLE songs. Frankly, while the second movement is a bit vague in some lines, VDP's lyrics arent THAT hard to understand, if you just sit down and hash it out line by line. Even if a few passages are oblique the general idea is clear even before I knew about these literary allusions (which certainly enhance his meaning). I think some people just cant be bothered to think about things and want easy answers. Not accusing anyone here, just a general observation of humanity in my experience and the fact that all these supposedly professional critics/authors never bother to take a crack at it (they just dismiss VDP's words as "impossible to understand" or words to that effect) I think is pretty damn lazy. Rant over.

I think you're take on the first section in the opera hall is on point. But I think the second half starting at "Dove nested towers", speaks to someone on the street coming across a lively pub. If I was to turn it into a simple story, I'd say our narrator has gone to the opera and sees nothing but fading opulence, the music has been lost, so he wanders out into the fog on the street and finds a lively cellar pub where people are poor but merry, it affects him deeply and he realizes he needs to make a change.

I think it may speak to what Brian was going through with his skyrocketing success that took him to a wealth he couldn't imagine and a growing ornateness to the production of his music, but pulled him away from the joy of music, so he turns to recapture what he's lost with a children's song.

Damn thats brilliant! I never thought of it that way but really like that interpretation! So it's contrasting the removed and fake way rich people listen to music, with highly paid professionals and lavish productions where nobody in the room knows anyone else and the music is a performance rather than genuine expression against a shared moment of people who love each other. Damn. That would maybe lend weight to the idea that there was no SU part 2 (Ive seen the idea called into question lately) and the song really was meant to be Brian at a piano. I appreciate your contribution!