The Smiley Smile Message Board

I have always seen these songs associated with the Heroes and Villains sessions.  Anyone have a notion how they might have fit into the grand plan for H&V? 

Both ended up being considered for Vegetables, Do A Lot being the only one that made it.  Is this just another case of early 67' recycling by Brian, or is there evidence that the two songs always had some relation to Do A Lot?

I read someplace that Do A Lot was once associated with I'm In Great Shape.  Any substance to that, or yet another myth?

That was a myth perpetuated by a number of bootleggers.  They listed the version of Vega-Tables with the "eat a lot / sleep a lot" lyrics as "Vega-Tables / I'm in Great  Shape."

Shouldn't this be in the "If You Could Ask Brian ONE Question" thread? :)

Do A lot sounds like a development of the piano motif that is called Tag to Heroes (IIRC), and that is also spliced onto the beginning of With Me Tonight on some boots, so I would argue that Do A Lot was (in the piano only incarnation) at some point the tag to Heroes - whether it was the Tag to Part 1 or the alledged Part 2 of Heroes I can't remember.

A poster here (sorry can't remeber who) mentioned that somebody described hearing a Brian edit of H&V that contained With Me Tonight. I would dearly love to hear that version! I can only guess where With Me Tonight would fit within the structure of H&V though.

I don't believe anyone has reported a version of Heroes with with Me tonight in it - what Andrew Doe has reported is hearing a version of With Me Tonight with whistles and bells like Bag of Tricks or Heroes Intro.

Oh, and that Do a Lot tag to Heroes was tag to Part 1.

I was reading Prokopy's notes last night and he stated that "With Me Tonight" had been placed as an intro for "Do You Like Worms" on a bootleg, but that doesn't show any intent on Brian's part.

To (very) slightly refine that, I was listening to some "H&V" stuff for the first time - many, many years ago - when suddenly, up pops a "bells & whistles" version of "WMT".

That's quite the odd combination...the keys match, but I can't imagine Brian putting those two together.  I don't see it fitting with Heroes either, so Andrew's recollections surprised me.

I know it's been awhile Andrew, but can you describe what you heard in any more detail?  And do you know if what you heard was a Brian edit?

You're misreading me - or I'm being opaque: what I meant was that, in the middle of a series of "H&V" sequences, suddenly there was this fully realised 'bells & whistles' version of "WMT" - on its own, not edited into anything.

My bad Andrew, I misunderstood.

So what did the "bells and whistles" sound like?  Was it something like the "H&V Intro" (aka "Fire Intro")?

I feel pretty much the same way. I played around with it, and, musically, some of the "With Me Tonight" versions could lead into "Do You Like Worms". However, if you just look lyrically or sequential, it doesn't work. In most opinions, isn't "Do You Like Worms" near the beginning of SMiLE, and wouldn't you think that "With Me TONIGHT" would be a later song, or a "night" song. But, as we know, anything was possible with SMiLE. If you could ask Brian just one question....

I could see Brian back in '66 or '67 experimenting occasionally with the idea of SMiLE not making any sense, all the fragments just juxtaposed in odd ways, like commercials on late night television. I think he even said himself that television was part of the inspiration behind his modular recording style. It's kind of like how a commercial about world hunger might be followed by a commercial about dish soap. There's no logic to it.

Is it just a fan edit that places that tag before With Me Tonight, or is that a Brian mix? I think it's on the Odeon boot.

Can't remember hearing this version at all, but I do know of a WMT-version without bells and all, but does sound like a more up tempo, "happier" version, not as laid back as the SmileySmile-version that can be found on the Heroes And Villains Sessions Part 1&2 boot. (was added to the Endless Harmony comp as well btw.). Does it sound like that one? I remember being very surprised that WMT popped up on that boot (also in the middle of H&V-sessions).

Fan or bootlegger edit.

It is interesting that short With Me Tonight that ended up on Hawthorne is in the middle of the Heroes and Villains comp tape.  But remember that tape was put together by Desper and Carl in 71-72, transferring whatever Smile tapes they could find to 8 track for possible overdubs.  Doesn't mean Brian's intention was to put it into Heroes, but perhaps it was on the same original session tape as a Heroes fragment, so both were transferred together.

It's been speculated that the short With Me Tonight, which uses some identical bass lines from Vegetables, was recorded as a section of the April 67 Vegetables.

I agree about WMT and Vegetables.  The Hawthorn version of With Me Tonight sounds just like the part in box set version of Vegetables right after the first Do-A-Lot section.  The vocals sound like a modified version of With Me Tonight with a bit of the lyrical content of Do A Lot mixed in at the ends of lines.

Other versions seem to (both a slow and fast version) seem more akin to the Cantina section of H&V.

Dada--I would love to be able to track down the source for that Brian comment about TV.  Any recollection as to where it comes from???

Just did a quick edit on garageband with WMT from H&V session cd directly after the 1st do a lot and it sounds great. You've got some sharp ears. i can never place all the inter-related parts across SMiLE, I just know it seems to be a couple of ideas constantly rearranged.