The Smiley Smile Message Board

with all the 'fire intro' talk lately, and with 'bag o'tricks' and other versions hanging in the air, i thought i'd start a thread for FBABTW.  apart from the obvious similiarities (it's DEFINITELY a cousin of MOLC and the 'fire intro' - BWPS acknowledges that), it remains, for me, one of the BB's biggest mysteries.  i've got a gut feeling that it's a tangle of clues that have yet to yield all their solutions.

FBABTW seems to be a casserole made of SMiLE leftovers.  for instance:

• in the A section, the lower of the two melodica lines under the ooh vocals is playing a version of the 'dit dit dit' backing vocals from the H&V chorus.

• also in the A section, there's mike's (?) bullfrog 'wow-wow' backing vocals - a back ref to the 'bicycle rider' bvs.  or perhaps the 'barnyard' animal noise session.

• the clangs and metallic noises seem to back ref 'vega-tables', or even, perhaps the 'woodshop'.

other references invite questions.

• in the B section, there's the woody woodpecker melodica line - a back reference to the trumpet part in 'surf's up'.  now, why back-ref that?  it's not even brian's tune.  and for that matter, what was it doing in 'surf's up'?  was it just to glue in with the 'muted trumpeter' line?  (it's not muted, by the way, trivia buffs.)

• then there's the other short melodica tune in the B section - the F-d-db-c-F-A lick (echoed in the bass line).  the three falling semitones in the middle are a motif from all over SMiLE - the backing vocals in the H&V verse; the top line of the bvs from the H&V chorus; the barnshine harmonica line; the wind chimes bass line and piano outro - but was this six-note theme itself once part of something else which is being referred to here?

• for me, the harmony is the biggest tangle.  it's easily the most avant-garde (for want of a less pejorative term) stuff brian ever attempted.  it's bizarre, illogical, dizzyingly complex, yet it sort of makes sense.  it presages the sort of thing that miles davis ended up doing on bitches brew - combining several tonal centres at the same time - and is the sort of thing charles ives would have been proud of.  (as for the bass line - C F E Eb D Eb Ab Db - god knows where that came from.)  but here's the thing: brian never did anything as far-out harmonically as this before or after.  apart from MOLC, which FBABTW resembles (and with which BW combined it for BWPS).  so what exactly is the relationship between the two pieces?

a handful of other questions, in case any wilsonheads out there can wade into the mire with answers:

• have the sessions ever been booted?
• was there an intro?  FBABTW starts with a heck of a tape edit.
• what the blazes does the title mean?
• what the blazes does the subtitle mean?
• was any of this worth asking - or is the answer to all these question, 'drugs, buddy'?

help me wonder...

Lovely post, although I do not have any answers. You are right: this music is so bizarre: when I heard it first, it reminded me of, don't panic, the feeling of having the flu. Weird, eccentric. Might be the music they play on Uranus.

Our keepers of the chronicles will no doubt weigh in, but for now:  clearly "Fall Breaks" is a somewhat toned-down rewrite of "Fire".   Somewhat busy and dissonant, but it is more mysterious than frightening, and always resolves to a major chord at the end of each cycle, unlike "Fire".  The Woody Woodpecker riff (hence the subtitle) is obviously a motif which resonated with Brian, so he used it again here as in Surf's Up, which at the time was no big deal because no one outside the band had heard the orchestrated version of SU.  (The king of the repeated riff quote in the rock world was Frank Zappa, for whom the "Louie Louie" riff became a decades-long running gag/totem).  The "Woodpecker" meme is of course echoed in the three wood block hits every couple of measures.

I remember reading how Darian, of all people, only spotted the resemblance between the two pieces when Brian started humming the vocal part of "Fall Breaks" over the "Fire" music and he realized how one begat the other.  This is interesting when you hear bootlegs of the "Fire" session, the fuzz bass part (even more prominently featured in BWPS) clearly plays what would become the "Fall Breaks" melody line.  The other harmonies are largely flatted thirds and tritones, sung in parallel motion, with the bass pedal pattern providing the counterpoint.

The low "waa waa" noise is not necessarily a vocal: it sounds to me like a large gourd rhythmically scratched (or the sound of a smaller one slowed down).  Still a very inventive move.  The bells, etc. are in keeping with the "humorous" percussion elements we hear in the Smile sessions and other BB music from this period.  I would love to hear this track in stereo so all the elements can be picked apart.

I have no knowledge of the origin of the title, again the historians* can advise us, though my educated guess would be someone asked Brian the title and wrote down whatever answer he blurted out.

*That's not snark - we do have real historians/chroniclers here, which is the main reason I check in.
 

At a guess would the title have anything to do with the changing of the seasons?  I'm thinking of the old "Fall back, spring forward" saying that is used as a reminder for daylight savings time.

Does 'Breaks' refer to a vacation week? Like in: Spring Break?

I have, in lack of a better explanation, thought of the title as fall, after a long and struggling fight, finally loses its hold and we are back in winter, the default season... although I find it hard to believe that a southern Californian can look at winter as a 'default' season.

This could have been the Earth music in some form manifested. Why not? Brian took a theme, (Fire melody), did a variation- and created the Earth element. It sounds Earthy. Likewise, Da Da kind of has two versions...one with the flutes which has been indicated as Air on some boots...and the released version which is considered Water. In that way The Elements could have consisted of two themes...each one with a variation.

Is Fall Breaks the candle instead of the fire? Who knows. When I hear Fall Breaks, I think of the Earth, I see the colors green and brown...and the album cover with all of the vegetation on the front seems to fit well.

Personally, I LOVE Fall Breaks and am currently creating a work of art partly inspired by this song.

I think this is one of their most underrated songs. In fact, not just them, but in all of Rock and popular music. It is a real art song and as BOiled Egg put it- it was ahead of Bitches Brew and Charles Ives would have truly been proud.

There is a boot out there (I forget which one, but it's not the SOTs) that has a stereo mix of this song.  It is frustratingly short, and carries very little clues.  From what is on that album, it seems that the sections were played once through, and then looped to extend it to the length that it is on the album... typical Smiley Smile type recording technique.

Boiled Egg, very interesting post, I find your dissection very much.  I too have tried to ring clues out of Fall Breaks.  It is a track you don't hear talked about too much.  It seems to be some sort of catch-all repository for the more experimental side of Smile.  Smiley Smile is Smile seen through the carnival fun house mirror--everything bends and distorts from its original form.  It makes sense as a Smiley Smile re-working of Mrs O'Leary's Cow, getting the treatment that the other Smile songs received, a treatment I can't really explain other than to say it is more home spun, more goofy, Brain's crazy idea of a more "appropriate" sounding music (as apposed to formula-destroying of Smile). 

It was apparently recorded in one day on July, 29th 1967.  They were cranking out a song a day pretty much.  It is clearly very connected to Smile, but like others I continue to be baffled by the track.  I would love to get historical clearance to use it as my Earth section in my inevitable next Smile mix.

Fall Breaks is an interesting piece, isn't it?

As far as sessions, none are booted, although there are some alternate mixes booted with some studio chatter at the beginning and a melodica line that leads into the main section we know. The chatter is over it, though. Note - both of the circulating alternate mixes are STEREO.

There are also both a stereo mix and reduction from the first vocal overdub mix of Smiley-era Wonderful that circulate, too. Not constructed from the SOTs; but rather, I believe, taken from possibly a reference reel or well-kept acetate. Organ lower in the mix, vocals louder on the stereo mix. The reduction mix seems to have been a test mix of the work done at the time, as the organ was added later.

That's the problem with so much of the sessions for Smiley Smile: due to the way they were recorded, there is very little studio discussion and chatter on the tapes.  Gone were the days of instrumental and vocal sessions where the tape was kept rolling the entire time.  It makes it harder to get into where Brian was "at" during the creation of this album when all you hear is him saying "One two three four" and then the song starts.

I've never ever understood the talks of the "Woody Woodpecker" trumpet part in "Surf's Up".

It has the same rhythm, but the melody isn't the same at all - I'm sure it was coincidental that the trumpet melody just happened to have the same rhythm. Or am I totally wrong, here?

runners, you're quite right.  the rhythm is the same, the melody different.  my (and others') bad.

Not your fault at all - I've seen this mentioned dozens of places and it always made me scratch my head a bit.

I was just wondering if it was indeed a coincidence that was stated as fact in a book somewhere by accident or if it was something Brian did intentionally.

It's fun to try to read into this song, either way.

good question - the thing is, the preconception that it is intentionally something to do with woody woodpecker is hard to shake once it's in your head.  (like knowing where the edit is in 'strawberry fields', or where the arrow is in the fed ex logo.) 

it certainly could be a take-off of the theme - especially since the french horn version is so deliberately bonk - but the notes (in the trumpet verse) are just spelt out versions of the chords in the right hand of the piano part, so, any resemblance to actual persons or woodpeckers living or dead may be entirely coincidental.

if anyone mooching around the 7½th floor of an office block ever finds a portal to brian's brain behind the filing cabinets, i hope they'll bring some answers back from the new jersey turnpike...

I always thought it was the woody woodpecker title because remember at the beginning of woody woodpecker, didn't he do some kind of funny laugh like 'ahh ha ha HA HA!', and there's an instrument they use (a harmonica?) that sort of mimicks that laugh. This is so hard to describe here.

according to wikipedia, mel blanc recorded woody's trademark laugh and 'guess who?' pay-off for the first film in 1940.  the song - which adapted blanc's voicing and gave it a tune (played on sax) arrived later, in 1947.  so the 'surf's up' trumpet/french horn lick could be based on woody's laugh (in the same way that woody's theme is based on his laugh).

did brian have much of a thing for cartoons, do we know?  stoners (to generalise) often do...

I know he liked his fair share of Flipper!   :lol

Wasn't he mad for disney films, or am I just thinking this because he ripped off When You Wish Upon A Star?

It's funny all this talk of Brian and woodpeckers because that wood block instumentation he often uses, most notably in Diamond Head and, I think, Dada, always makes me think of woodpeckers, but somewhat ironically the Surf's Up bit in question just sounds like a trumpet (or whatever) to me! It's only when I consciously try and hear it, that the similarities to the woodpecker theme become apparent.

I coulda swore I read somewhere that Brian said that "Fall Breaks..." was supposed to represent fall transitioning to winter (makes sense when you look at the title), but that it didn't come out that way - it only sounded like winter.

To me it's still a mystery how in the blazes Fall Breaks/vocal parts of MOLC-Fire is a perfect melodic vehicle for the 2 verses from THE classic 150 years old MOLC/Chicago Fire song: Hot Night In The Old Town Tonite. (to hear how well it works, check out DAFTfilms Elemental suite online). I mean how can it not be intended that way?

Just checked that out... just WHAT are the background vox at around 4.20 & 4.43? I know there's a lot of fan dubbed vox on this but those sound different.

That melodic overdub was invented by the singer (and SMiLE-fan)  Lasse Gaarde. Btw: That lyrical overdub the second time is lifted from a 200 years old haiku by Kobyashi Issa:
"Moo-in' moo-in' moo-in' moo-in'
dim the grey cow
comes out of the
morning mist" [now]

we can hear this funny laugh during the "dirty jokes" Brian recorded with Carol Kaye and Diane Rovel...

Check out this song  by Andrews Sisters & Danny Kaye - "The Woody Woodpecker Song"...
sounds very interesting

"Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" and "Fall Breaks And Back To Winter" are more like step-siblings than cousins.

Listen to the baseline.

Who Ran The Iron Horse just has to be related too, if slightly more distantly

this may be a shade of subtlety too far for the Boiled Egg, who has no stepsiblings, but several wildly differing cousins...

(hair-splitting for clarity: the bassline of which?)

I hear a sort of relationship between  all those SMILE songs. Even songs as seemingly different as "wonderful" and "fire" have a clear relation to my ears.  But yeah, with Mrs. O'Leary's Cow, FBABTW and Cabin Essence it's unmissible.

can anyone clue me up as to which boot this is?  indeed, the names of any boots with any scrap of FBABTW would be gratefully received.

by the way, The Guardian (national british newspaper) has a blog about great british tv themes (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2009/feb/17/top-tv-theme-tunes) which says, of the two-piccolos-playing-morse-code theme to 'some mothers do 'ave em' (an inexplicably popular, clodhoppingly awful lump of slapstick) that "no melody has ever captured the concept of deep-rooted mental confusion quite like it (with the possible exception of She's Goin' Bald by The Beach Boys)".

a "complete version in stereo" is on CD 1 of "Harmony Friends"

And on Archaeology, except the intro is cut off (but is found elsewhere on another track).

I've a FBABTW boot with studio chatter rather clumsily pasted onto the beginning (i suspect it's not even from the FBABTW session), however at the end of the track, instead of fading out, whoever is playing the organ (Brian) holds the same note for an age and then it suddenly stops. It makes for a very strange ending, but one which i almost think suits it better, it being a very strange song and all.
Always loved this track! Smiley was the first BB album i ever bought (almost entirely due to its excellent cover art) and i remember the melody of this song absolutely knocked me out, especially the 'de-dee-de-dee-de-dee-de-dee' descending melody at the end of each 'chorus'. Great song!

Am I alone on thinking this is the lesser track of Smiley? It just bores me to death...

No, I'm sure you're not alone.  People like what they like.  Beach Boys fans, especially, can not agree on what the best songs/worst songs are, because the BB catalog is so diverse.  As for me, Smile Smile got me into the Beach Boys in 1988, and this song is one of the reasons why.  I absolutely love it. 


Sounds more like fall (autumn) to me, too.  Of course, winter in Wisconsin is nothing like winter in southern California, so there you go.


Well, I've said this before, and I'll say it again.  The bass lines in these two songs are not similar at all.  The vocal line in Fall Breaks is similar to the bass line in Mrs. O'Leary's Cow.  But that bass line on FBABTW is incredible...the big Baldwin organ at it's best.

Coincidentally, I had this recording on last night and was working out the vocal harmony on the piano. Wow! I was reminded of a whole-tone approach a la Debussy, but it is definitely something else! The three-part harmony on "Transcendental  Meditation" is, I believe, similarly adventurous.

As I wrote in the Friends vs Sunflower thread, I've sometimes wondered if the Residents used Fall Breaks (and Transcendental Meditation) as the foundation of their whole career.