The Smiley Smile Message Board

Been listening to a lot of mid 70's stuff lately and continue to find much of it very creative and entertaining.

Listening to the Box set the other day I rediscovered this and also got out some demos that included this song.

When was it written?  According  to credits, this is a 100% Brian song, tune and lyrics.   

Personally, I think it is an exceptional song and can't believe it went unreleased for so long.    The only explanaton I can think of is that it is a very sad song.  Mature and blue.

And with incredible chord changes and chord structures. On surfermoon.com, there's a chord transcript of the song that breaks it down to the exact fingerings on the piano. Well worth seeking out.

We, the Beach Boys, are a fun group. We like good feelings, positive feelings, good vibrations!  We like sending a positive message out into the world, inspired by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. "It's Over Now" is one of Brian's downers.

- the spirit of Mike Love, contacted through seance (...his soul is already dead and wandering the bardo...).

It's Over Now was supposed to be part of the shelved Adult/Child album that could've been released in '78 instead of the mediocre MIU.

heck, the thing that really got me obsessed with BW/BB is the downer tunes: Please let me Wonder, Pet Sounds album, Let the Wind Blow, Kiss Me Baby, Let Him Run Wild, Til I die, It's Over Now, Still I dream of it (especially the demo!)

It's among the best slow songs Brian's ever written...in my opinion.

Ha! Me too. Well those +I get around.

This is a wonderful song.  I like to speed it up a bit to the original key every once in awhile, but it sounds great no matter how you take it.  It would have been great if Adult/Child had came out.  You never what it would have done for the Boys credibility.  What an odd band.

How much is it slowed down?

I can't recall, it is discussed somewhere else on the board, but if you have something like Audacity you can play around with it.  I think it's a whole key, somewhere around there? 

I like the slowed down feel of it as it is.

I just did exactly that, and woah, what a difference.

It gets me wondering how different M.I.U. and L.A. would have been if they had used some of the Adult/Child tracks in place of their weaker ones. I can see these fitting in on L.A. very nicely with the Dennis songs.

Yeah, both versions are good, but I think it's interesting to hear the difference.  The post Love You albums could have been really great, but oh well.  At least we have the tracks at all.  :)

The master mix is slowed to the point that the first time I heard it, I thought it was Carl singing the bridge as well as the verses...had no idea it was Marilyn.

THAT"S why it's on the GV box set at that speed. I was surprised when that (master mix) version
was put out officially in that form, but now it makes sense. I first heard it on an Adult Child boot,
speeded up so that Carl's voice sounds normal instead of sickeningly lugubrious, and IMO it was
100% superior. Great companion song to Still I Dream of It and Deep Purple.

muted, I'm confused by your post. When you say "....but now it makes sense", are you saying that you agree with the boxed set speed? Because, later in your post you stated that the boot version was "100% superior."

Personally, I can't listen to the officially released boxed set version. It's too slow, and I don't believe it's mastered at the correct speed. What's really frustrating is that, of all the old Beach Boys' songs Brian re-recorded over the last twenty-some years, he didn't re-record "It's Over Now". That's one he might've been able to add something to....

Sheriff, I just meant that it makes some sense that they released that version because it was
the master mix, not a mistakenly slowed-down version found in the vaults and haphazardly
thrown on without researching whether a faster, and seemingly preferable, version could be found with a little more effort.

The compilers certainly could have tried to alter the speed of the "master mix" to achieve a better result before putting it on the set, but maybe other voices had a say, or it just didn't occur to them (hard to believe). I hope they at least considered "correcting" the speed before
putting it out into the world officially for the first time.  Some here prefer the slow version so I guess it's a matter of taste, although it seems clear to me that Carl's vocal is like molasses and
the faster speed is preferable.

They messed up With A Little Help From My Friends too. I speeded it up and it sounds terrific.

Bruce explained to me what happened there - when they added the bvs, they slowed down the track so's they wouldn't have to sing quite so high... but when it was mastered for the 1983 Rarities set, no-one knew to speed it up. Hence Bruce sounding stoned.

It does give it the back up a tweaked effect when sped up so the lead sounds normal. It's kind of cool really.

The first time I heard Its Over Now, I thought it was the same singer throughout. But at times I thought it was Brian, others Carl. Then when I noticed it was 3 people, it amazed me how similar Brian, Carl and Marilyn's voices come together. A trick Brian often used on Smiley or Friends.

Well... maybe it's me... but I'm finding it just totally staggering that anyone couldn't hear that the middle-eight voice is female. And I first heard "ION" in the 70s on a dodgy cassette dub that was Hiss Central.

Agreed, AGD. Seems absurd to me, but I notice people listen and follow completely different aspects of songs, just as two people watching the same movie might not even be aware of what the other is seeing, or something like that.
That's why we need threads like the definitive vocal credit thread!

I understand your point now. Thanks.

But, you know, being the stubborn fan that I am, I STILL don't believe the boxed set has the correct speed for "It's Over Now". As messed up as Brian might've been when he wrote/produced (?) the track, there's no way he would've CHOSEN it to sound that way - so slow. No way. It's unlistenable!

They messed up another song on the boxed set - "Do You Like Worms".  How could that happen? And, it being a SMiLE song that waited 25 years to surface. How could somebody NOT catch that before it came out? Unbelievable....

I also think Carl(and REALLY Marilyn) doesn't sound good at that speed.

But if it is sped up, wouldn't Brian's line(Shades of blue and purple haunt me) sound chipmunk-like?

I really only played the slow version like once because I am more into vinyl. The one I am used to is the right speed. Brian sounds fine on it. It really was a big error.

How is it "messed up" exactly? It's great that on the second verse at least it has the instrumental sectionthat the restored "Sandwich Isle" lyrics on BWPS fit with, so you can get a real glimpse of the finished SMiLE-era product, with only vocals missing. I don't remember any particular problems with it. ???

Was "It's Over Now" actually meant to be heard the way that it was released officially? I'm a little confused with some of the messages here, talking about it being an error. Was it a "creative error"(i.e. somebody's own opinion), or an actual mastering error that somehow ended getting released on the box set. I've never actually heard the sped up version. I sure would like to....

There's a speed problem, i think - it 'wobbles' during the verses, for want of a better word

I know what you mean(DYLW), it sounds like the tape is warped or something for a bare second.

Yeah, that's what I mean. I read an interview (with Mark Linett?), and he explained that something happened with the tape. Why wasn't it caught/corrected BEFORE the boxed set was released?

As would I.  I'd hate to be a Pitiful Mooch, though, so I won't ask...

I like the box set version.  I like the song.  I recognize that it seems to drag a bit but the slowed speed adds to the mood...to these ears and brain anyway....sounds dreamy and sedated...and very sad.     Thats what makes it good!

And I will include myself in the group who initially was unsure of who was singing which part.  But I really like the three voices....just the way they are presented on the box.  Don't change a thing for me.   And it makes me wish there were a few more BB songs where Marilyn had such a prominent part.  Heck, I even like let's put our hearts together..............no. seriously.

I love how that sounds.

Fits the song.

With the talk on the Adult Child thread about It's Over Now, does anyone know the correct settings to make this song sound right?  Most editing software has settings to "raise pitch" or "increase speed" by a certain %.  Anyone know what is necessary for this song?

6% sounds correct to me.

Anyone know if the attempt to re-record the 1967 Hawaii Live album in the studio were possibly intended to be sped up as well in the overdub process? I did the speed up thing to my "Little Help" on rarities, and it makes a world of difference.

Thanks, Ebb
I will try this.

My old-school audio program didn't go by percentage, but I sped it up by a half-step and it did indeed make quite a difference.  Carl, Brian and Marilyn sound more like themselves.  The song does sound good at this speed, although I think the slowed down version fits the song's sad nature quite well.

Either way, still a hell of a song.  It's damn near tragic that this song isn't more widely known and appreciated.

Did you raise the pitch and speed it up, or just raise the pitch?  I want to try this when I get home, and I just want to know exactly what to do to get the thing right.

This slowing down to overdub, then restoring original speed for release ... it's the 1960s/70s version of Auto-Tune isn't it!

Maybe a bit thick here, but am I to understand that the vocals on It's Over Now are Carl and Marilyn slowed down with Brian on the "Shades of Blue" bit? Vocally this song has always been a bit of an enigma for me.

Yes, the song was slowed down when mastered to give it a sadder, drowsier feel...or was it slowed down by mistake? I can't recall, but most fans tend to agree that it sounds better at a faster speed.

By the way, altering the speed of a recorded tape has been done quite often. "Caroline, No" is sped up on PET SOUNDS (the normal speed version can be heard on the PET SOUNDS BOX SET) and I think "How See Boogalooed It" is also sped up. Both "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" and "When I'm 64" on the Beatles' SGT. PEPPER were sped up quite a bit. In fact, when George Martin went back to master the album for CD twenty years later, he was surprised at how sped-up "64" was.

I did not know "Boogalooed It" was sped up but it makes sense, I suppose. What is the correct speed?

I slowed down When I'm 64, sounds much better to my ears.

I didn't realize for a long time either Marilyn sings on Busy Doin' Nothing as well  :o

 :lol

What software are some of you using to change the pitch/speed?

Mine is ancient - Adobe Audition.  It gives you the option to change pitch only, speed only, and both (raising pitch via speeding up the playback).  I'll have to try out "When I'm 64" and "Bugallooed It" - I could be wrong, but given that they were doing it on the actual tapes, they couldn't have safely messed with the speed by more than a step or so either way, right?

Nor did I, until I saw the vocal credits thread here.  Her voice provides some nice texture to Brian's doubled lead on that one.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Thanks Chris and Fishmonk.  8)

That's ancient? I still use Cool Edit Pro ... (which still works fine btw, and has those options you mentioned as well)  :)