The Smiley Smile Message Board

As we know, Brian still doesn't care for his vocal on this song (the original, not the version on "Imagination"). Let's look at other voices who could have sung it if Brian didn't on the original recording. My vote would be for Al. I think his voice would fit perfectly for that song, listen to the backing track from Stack 'O Tracks and picture Al singing it. You would still have Brian on the high parts in the chorus, just have Alan sing the lead. Thoughts?

I think it's the high parts that Brian doesn't like, and I don't think anybody else could've sung that high (Carl maybe?).

What song are we talking about? For some reason I have thread topic as "\".

process of elimination, i'm thinking Let Him Run Wild

I think Al would've had a good shot at pulling it off!

His got that "punchy" vocal style that might have turned out to be more to Brian's liking.

Sorry I dont know why it did that, but yes Let Him Run Wild

No. Fourteen: Yeah I agree with you about his "punchy" style (punchiness? hah)

LostArt: But doesnt Brian sing high during the whole song? Or do you mean just in the chorus?


Nevertheless, its still a great song  :)

This is actually one of my favorite vocals from Brian because its so uncharacterist of him.

I don't think it's his lead that Brian hates so much, but the "Let Him RUN!" on the choruses; he's said that he sounded "like a chick" or something to that effect.  Though it's a bit high pitched and whiny, so is the end of "Caroline, No".  Sometimes he's his own worst critic.  :-\

The backing vocals are out of tune/badly arranged on this track, apart from that its great, even Brian's 'Let him RUN...'

I disagree to the point where I've always considered it a quintessential Brian Wilson vocal.


On the chorus, I agree, some of the vocals are a little clunky, but the underlying vocal pads during the verses are sublime.

 :lol

I never thought he sounded "girlee" on the "Let him RUN!". In fact it has always sounded a bit like Lennon to me.

Brian had a thing about his voice. He around 1975 became hell bent on destroying it literally smoking as much as he could. It worked and he never sounded the same. If anything Brian did that was self destructive it was the waste of his God given talent.

I always thought I was pretty good at picking out things on and off key, but this song is a bit of a mystery to me.  I don't understand Brian's critique of it.

To MY ears, on the chorus, he sounds, in the 60's, like he sounds now (in his 60's!).  When he sings high now, he flies off key and it gets shrill and a little whispy sounding.  That's how the chorus to Let Him run Wild sounds to me.  The backup vocals are awesome, though. 

With that said, Brian sang in good form for a few years and has sounded slightly off key and shrill all the other years... so a large part of me has gotten used to his current voice and identifies that as the true Brian Wilson sound.   Part of the man's character is that he's broken in places and doesn't quite ever reach the full potential you still see glimses of, his voice does the same exact thing.  This song is kind of like that, too, to me the song sounds a little bit like Brian kind of gave up on it, or never quite got it where he wanted.  There's another version I believe floating around with different chorus vocals and things... the lyrics never quite were 'perfect' to me, maybe with a couple more sessions spent on the song it could have been incredible.  It's almost like you listen to it and want it to be a little bit better.  If you listen to "In My Room" when it finishes you go "Damn that was fucking out of sight" but when you listen to this song you rewind it to see if it sounds better the second time.  Something doesn't quite click fully into that 'wow' mode. 

The "I guess you know I.... " "waaaaited forrrr youuuu girrrrrllllll" is pure heartbreak, sounds incredible.  I call it white soul, the BB's were good at that.  You know, the bridge to Surfer Girl, Surfer Moon, In My Room, etc. 

I never felt that Brian INTENTIONALLY tried to destroy anything, including his voice. Most of the damage to his vocal chords was done by cocaine. But you are right, it was such a tragic waste of God given talent.

As strange as it sounds about 4-5 people who knew Brian then said it was something he did around 1975 when he became self conscious about  his singing.

I've always loved his original vocal...but if I had to choose someone else to sing it...I'd choose Al. I just can't imagine not having Brian's vocals on the song, though...it's always been one of my favorites.

I've read that Brian did try to destroy his voice, and began singing in a gruff way on purpose. He obviously could still sing normally ie: 'Matchpoint..' and in Falsetto, but chose to sing differently. He was also into Frank Sinatra quite a lot at this time (hence the Adult Child album) and was also trying to sing like him.