The Smiley Smile Message Board

So I have the new song, which seems pretty great to me. Brian sounds genuinely enthused. But perhaps most interesting is a new set of Van Dyke Parks lyrics. Remember, these are for a film that deals with global warming. Some good stuff.

"Live Let Live"

Oooh
Oooh

Are the we enemy living the memory
Grandly gambling
With our hand on the lifeline
Ghost of coastlines
You are hanging on time

Every last breath that you have left
Touched by the hand of the man
Brave riding the wave
Those we can save

Live let live
Not die

You think our tears are the only ones here
And its plain you see through
All my self expectation
Host (?) like Moses when he parted the sea

There is a roar coming from shore
Cracking a glacier no more
When there was life
They would implore

Live let live
Not die

My heart beats so fast
(Heart beat, heart beat, heart beat)
My heart beats so fast
(Heart beat, heart beat, heart beat)
Makes one wonder all right
Breaking of ice at such a price
Time for some kindly advice

Polarization the talk of the nation
Explain to me why
Hearts are turning to warming
Painful games with thunder raining a warning

There is a roar coming from shore
Fussing and fighting and war
We have so much peace we should explore

Live let live let
Love is what living is for

Your heart beats with mine
(Heart beat, heart beat, heart bear)
Our hearts beat in time
(Heart beat, heart beat, heart beat)
Be true creatures of grace
Need over ice their paradise
Let them survive our embrace

Oooh
Oooh

That's SO Van Dyke-esque. I love it! I've only heard a small excerpt from the song, I can't wait to hear the whole thing!

Cheapest way may be iTunes -- although you have to buy the whole album to get it. That's only 9.99 though -- cheaper than the CD.

Also made a couple of edits to the lyrics.

You have to buy the whole album to get it off iTunes?  That's nuts.

Well, the other option is to pay 18 bucks for the physical album. iTunes does force one to buy the album sometimes.

Mind you, this is only if you want to get the song legally. I'm sure there will be other options to hear it. But then, I paid real money for the Target and Hallmark CDs too. It's a sickness.

Paying real money for those CDs allowed me to have the credits for the tracks...well worth it, IMO!  Although for the songs on the Target CD, EDQ provided more detail with their interviews of Gary, Scott, Nik, and Paul.

C-Man: You've piqued my curiousity. Anything of interest there about the recording of the Target tracks? Brian sounds quite amazing vocally on it.

I was totally unaware that he had recorded a new song.  I heard a snippet from it off of iTunes.  It's interesting but I don't think I want to purchase an entire album for it. 

The good news is that Brian is in better company than usual on this new soundtrack. Aimee Mann has a couple of tracks as does Grant Lee Phillips and those sound really good if one can judge from the 30 sec. samples. The Pearl Jam track is previously released, but it's a good one. Anyway, it's a better line-up than the Target album which featured a number of artists way below Brian's caliber (or formerly good artists performing mediocre material).

I love the fact that Brian is writing, recording and releasing a  new song that has Van Dyke Parks involvement as well as putting together a new high concept piece with the lyricist behind "SMiLE". That's about as much as most of us could hope for at this point.

That is a beautiful song!! Great hooks, fabulous arrangement, wonderful lyrics(by VDP) and fantastic vocal from Brian-I wouldn't be surprised if it gets some airplay-

I've only heard the snippet so far, but Brian sounds like he's shouting--I wouldn't call it a great vocal based on that. As for airplay...I wouldn't bet on that, either. Actually, I will bet against it if you want to.

 :lol :lol :lol :lol

I concur. 

Some of Brian's best vocals are when he is shouting IMO.

I'd agree...on some of his '70s (Love You) tunes. But it sure doesn't fit on this one.

yeah, I kinda thought that after listening to the snippet , he was shouting, too-but after hearing the entire song a few times, he didn't  do a bad job with it. Airplay? It's got the potential for AOR playlists IMHO-don't be too hasty with your opinion till you've heard the whole thing-give it a chance. By the way, what's all this crap about betting-are you still in high school or what?

Last I saw, casinos were loaded with the elderly, not high schoolers. And I'm neither. A middling 31.

Oh, and I probably ought to add, "all this crap about betting" was a joke.

Uh, you better check your info on casinos, pal-the boomers are the ones with all the money-so, Mom and Dad brought you home from the hospital just as the boys were releasing 15 Big Ones-Wow!

We're not pals.

I didn't say who was spending the most, I was referring to who was filling them. Feel free to check out the casinos around here (Minneapolis) and see who's filling them.

And yes, I was born in 1976. Whoopee. The Beach Boys overwhelmingly sucked from the day I was born onward.

Fortunately, their good years weren't wasted on the likes of someone like you. Eat you heart out-

No offense taken, oldsurferdude. This 31-year-old, non-gambling Beach Boys fan (who recognizes their general shittiness post-'73) holds no grudge against you for whatever you have against him.

(I have a feeling this is one of those things where the moderators will give me a stern warning. "We've had complaints" and so on. Ruler on the knuckles. It's a hard knock life for us.)

I took a listen to the iTunes snippet of this song again.  It sounds an awful lot like Queen's "Somebody To Love".  Even in the same key!

Sounds good to me! I can't get hold of the damn thing, it's not on my itunes (UK)?
Have itunes changed their format yet so you can play their downloads on anything?

I think it is one of the more interesting songs in Brian's solo career. Many changes, several hooks, catchy.  But I also think Van Dyke may have contributed more than lyrics. Some of the music  sounds as if it could be Van Dyke's and not Brian's.

Is this song only available if you buy the whole soundtrack (not available via individual download), and if so, is it worth it?

Nah...I'm letting it go for now. Besides, got my hands full with my newborn for now. :)

Got your hands full of what?


Sorry, I couldn't resist  ;D

:lol

Anybody figured out the new lyrics yet????

something like

"I've got a Notion We Come From The Ocean
And... (god up high?) rests his hands on the water

Bluefin?.... (sailboat?)

Perfect for Fish Making a Wish
Just Like A Teardrop cries?

Waves Passing Me By
Wondering Why
Live Let Live Not Die

I am a diver a long long survivor
and this one wears a
body gravity? Zero

Don't need nothing you see?

World passing bye
Catching the eye?

.....

MY heart is so bad
My heart feels at last?
Creature Creature of God

0000000000000000000000000000000

Anyways, it's hard to make out, but inexplicably, Brian changed every lyric Van Dyke wrote, even some of the stuff that had no political connotations.  STRANGE! 

Oh wow, those lyrics are horrible. Perfect for fish making a wish? :lol

I think the last line is something like "Let's get the hell out of here..."

As I've said elsewhere, I bet these are the original lyrics. I suspect they were rewritten specifically for the Arctic Tale movie.

Logically, it makes sense that Brian and Scott would write some sort of general song about the ocean during the summer of 06. Then, this movie project comes up, and the song comes to mind. But it needs a new set of lyrics, and Van Dyke has been roped in to write the LOS narratives. Why not let him have a crack at the words?

That's my entirely speculative chain of events.

Yeah, that's probably how it happened.  My rough attempt at translation was a hatchet job, lol it sounds like on the tapes that the lyrics are actually pretty well done.  I like the song a lot, and it fits the california theme of the piece.  It's like a safer, less political brand of environmentalism that's more accessible to the audience.  The difference between PETA and Jaques Cousteau perhaps.  LOL 

Wow! I just heard the studio recording with the VDP lyrics a couple of days ago on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNPa7BEPN6s) and it is unbelievably good! Out of all of Brian's solo recordings this could be the one that I like best, the arrangement is great, both musically and vocally and it really sounds like there's effort in it. Brian's singing is the best he's capable of, it's very enjoyable, not distracting!

Sorry I've not responded to this until now, but I had overlooked it.  In the Spring 2007 issue of ESQ, we have comments given by some of Brian's band to Dave Beard.  For one thing, it's evident that the credits in the CD booklet don't tell the full story, because Gary said he played piano, vibes, and synth on "What Love Can Do" and piano and accordion on "God Only Knows", as well as overdubbing harpsichord on "God Only Knows" later at Mark Linett's place.  Vocally, he sang Bruce's part (and said 'I hope he's OK with that!").  Gary says they all sang "tons" of harmony parts on both songs.

They used Burt's piano from the original demo as the foundation of "What Love Can Do", then the band played live at Ocean Way for however many takes until it was "just right" (with Phil Ramone co-producing).  Nicky says Jeff may have overdubbed some percussion and guitars, too.  Brian was involved "in every aspect of recording".  Probyn had the idea for the French horn line, which he put on tape, then Paul Mertens took that idea and scored it for four French horns.  During playback, Paul was thinking it would be cool to do a string arrangement, then a few minutes later Brian asked him to do one, telling him "You'll know what to do".

In other words, Brian has a great team working with him!  It's great they all get along so well and there's no apparent clash of personalities there.  Amazing for a band, but fortunate for a change.

Oh, and Brian said he wrote the music for the verses while Burt wrote the music for the choruses (which you can tell upon hearing it), while the lyrics were written by someone named Steven Krikorian. 

Vocally, Nick said "Brian sang with a lot of moxie and subtlety on both lead and all of the background vocal tracks".

Thanks for that, c-man.  It was done pretty much how I figured it was, and I think this is likely indicative of the way Brian and his band work these days.  Brian's not doing everything, but really, he's always worked that way.  Nothing wrong with that, in my book.

I'd not paid much attention to these song credits until just now.  Steve Krikorian wrote some of the lyrics?  Wow.  Assuming this is the same guy - it sounds like it - he used to be a VERY misanthropic metal rocker going by the name of Tonio K.  He bounced from label to label with albums like "Life In The Foodchain" and songs like "The Funky Western Civilization" (how to do the dance:  "Grab your partner by the hair/ Throw her down and leave her there").  Also a devotee of dadaist Curt Schwitters, he wrote a song called "Futt Futt Futt" and did a new Spanish parody lyric about nuclear war called, natch, "La Bomba".  Before being Tonio K. he played in a 70's version of the Crickets.

His producer Rob Fraboni tells a story how an L.A. gun collector let them borrow a machine gun so they could record the sound effect of a real modern machine gun being fired to close the song "H-A-T-R-E-D" on the first LP.  Only problem, they forgot to get permission from the cops, so not long after they got their sound effect most of the City police force converged on their Hollywood hills studio.  To say the least, some explainin' was necessary.

Funny how some of these artsy lyricists take a strange path and find good paying work.  Peter Sinfield, originally King Crimson's impenetrable art-school uber-poetic lyricist, made his fortune (literally) writing a song for Celine Dion sometime in the 80s.  No doubt one of you scholars can track it down for me since I don't have time to look it up now.

EDIT: Found it, the Celine Dion song Sinfield wrote was "Think Twice".

I don't know that I would call Tonio K's music "metal" per se; it was a little more post-punk alternative in style (Gang Of Four, Peter Gabriel, etc.). He co-wrote and performed on a fantastic T-Bone Burnett song in '88 entitled "The Strange Case of Frank Cash and the Morning Paper".

I would look upon his involvement with Bacharach and Wilson as something that demonstrates his versatility.