The Smiley Smile Message Board

I found something very interesting on e-bay today. It seems to be hand written sheet music for "It's Just A Matter Of Time". I'm hoping that maybe Andrew G Doe or somebody could take a look at this. If it's the "real deal", is it worth bidding on?  http://cgi.ebay.com/BRIAN-WILSON-BEACH-BOYS-1983-Sheet-Music-Score-8J07_W0QQitemZ350100020839QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item350100020839&_trkparms=72%3A1156%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

That's a fake, and a rather obvious one.

The song was copywritten in 1983....and it's in the wrong key!

I don't think it's the seller trying to scam anybody...rather, I think they were taken also and may not even know about it.

I dunno...there were several others like this posted on ebay the other day.  I saved the scans that were posted.  There was an earlier manuscript for this song (a typed one) with the copyright date of 1983.  No major differences in the lyrics, but the music was just the melody and chord symbols (in the key of Ab).  Who's to say the key didn't get changed when they recorded it.

What's really interesting is the change in lyrics for "Crack At Your Love":  the original, copyrighted 1984 and credited to just Brian and Landy, is hysterical in its stupidity.  The revised version, copyrighted '85 and with Al listed as a cowriter, is a definite improvement.

Also on there were "Male Ego" (1985), "Water Builds Up" (1984), and two versions of "I'm So Lonely" (1984 & 1985).  It's too bad the original "Male Ego" (from 1983) wasn't included, 'cause it'd be interesting to see the changes that Mike made.

As the seller is apparently connected with the highly reputable Rockaway Records, I'd have to say that would argue strongly for the item being genuine.

Thanks for the info c-man. By what you and Andrew have said, maybe I was wrong. It just, I dunno, looked fake. But since you have seen the original 1983 sheet music and can vouch for its authenticity, then I guess that proves this one.


Dare I ask...how bad were the original lyrics?

I view it as a genuine lead sheet rendered by a professional copyist. It looks generic, in that sense. Rockaway knows what they're doing. If it were in Brian's hand, Mr. Johnson would have kept it for his collection.

That's what I figured.

If it were in Brian's hand, we'd have no idea what the title was..  :)

:lol

True, true.

A few years ago, I won an auction (from Heritage Galleries, I think) of an acetate of "The Warmth of the Sun", along with sheet music that looked very similar to what is being offered in this auction.  The items were dated 1974, and the presence of "Almo Music" on the label seems to indicate this.  What exactly were these acetates and lead sheets used for?  Reference copies to send to copyright offices?

See for yourself...but don't say I didn't warn ya...!

I'm headed for something big
I feel it building up inside
I've been trying to let you know
That I feel that I love you so
Wondering why it feels like this
Wishing I could get a kiss
And you know, I'd like to get a
CRACK AT YOUR LOVE

You make life sunny
Your sense of humor is funny
Who taught you how to walk that way?
When you smile I know the world's okay
When I see a twinkle in your eye
It sends my heart all the way to the sky
And you know, I'd like to get a
CRACK AT YOUR LOVE

Lonely nights, lonely days
Lonely nights, lonely days
I'm reaching out for you;
In my mind, in my mind

Sweetheart, baby
Don't say maybe
I can't hide the way I feel
I can't hide that it feels so real
I don't want to get hurt again
Like the time a-way back when
But you know, I'd like to get a crack at your
And you know, I'd like to get a crack at your
And you know, I'd like to get a
CRACK AT YOUR LOVE

That's right up there with "sometimes I treat her like dirt / She still comforts me when I'm hurt."

*deleted message*

Is that the same Crack At Your Love that is posted on e-bay? I can see Al's name credited, but I can't make out the words.

Oh wow...that's laughably bad.

That one even makes "My friend Bob, he has a job" seem like great poetry.  :lol

It's on a par with: 'I went to a disco/ on the outskirts of Frisco' (which was the '80s disco rhyme I guess.

This is the Brian/Landy credited version, copyrighted 1984, that was on eBay a few days ago.
The Brian/Alan/Landy credited version from 1985 is still on eBay.

i think so - publishers (rather than record companies) used to file them, so songs could be confirmed as copyrighted before they were released, in case of legal disputes. 

the practice all but died out in the early 1990s.  although i once had to join page and plant in the studio to write out lead sheets for all the tracks on 'walking into clarksdale'.  (this isn't name-dropping, by the way: it illustrates a point.)  they hadn't finished the album at the time, so jimmy sat and played them to me on the guitar.  they were near PARANOID about being bootlegged before release (or, more accurately, before delivery), and wanted to get everything watertight and watermarked - so they bothered to file recorded and written copies of their new material.  belt and braces, i suppose.

there's a cabin essence lead sheet in LLVS.  with a spelling error on it.  (that's the other, usual, advantage of publishing company lead sheets: official lyrics.  it's astonishing how many artists have the wrong lyrics in print; even more astonishing how often this is because they've long forgotten what they sang.)

And another thing: if you'd produce fake hand written Beach Boys sheet music, wouldn't you rather go for a Pet Sounds or Smile track than for "It's Just a Matter of Time"?

Make it at least two spelling errors:

"Light the camp and fire mellow..."

"Constellations evan flow there..."

There are some typos in the TLOS printed lyrics, btw....and apparently a huge deal of the printed lyrics in Smile are wrong...

"Light the camp and fire mellow" sounds like a cool line anyway.

I thought that was the lyric, all this time...

Not really :lol