The Smiley Smile Message Board

I used to blow my mind sky high
Searching for the lost elation
Little did I know the joy I was to find
In knowing I am only me

Although many people don't like Dennis' songs on Sunflower, I like them, and I find this lyric tremendously meaningful.

What are your favorites? First that come to mind. Go!

That's hard. I really like, "Late at night when the whole world's sleeping, I dream of you...close to you I feel your sweet heart beating, I dream of you," from Baby Blue, and the line, "And if you knew how much I loved you, baby, nothing could go wrong with you," from Don't Worry Baby.  And all of God Only Knows. There are so many, though.

I like all of the words to Wild Honey. It could very well be taken as an analogy to eating p*ssy.

Isn't that well-known? I don't like eating kitty that much, but I like the song.

What? Who are these people?

I've heard people deride "Got To Know The Woman", but I don't think I've ever heard any words against his other three songs. I mean, "Forever" is beloved.

My Peace Solution!!

A song about how he tested his peace solution on his dog. At first his dog was very calm, but eventually it died. Very funny lyrics. Brian even gives an evil laugh at the end. :)

I once had a dream so I packed up and split for the city.

Melekalikimaka, that's Merry Christmas in Hawaii-talka

The she-eagle is older than I, she was here when the fires of eighty-five raged on these ridges. She was lately fledged and dared not hunt ahead of them but ate scorched meat.

I talked your folks out of making you cut off your hair.

Cyclamates, juicy steaks, sweet things too! aren't always good as they seem. Doughy lumps, stomach pumps, enemas too! that's what you get when you eat that way.

My take home comes to 'bout ninety-five and my boss is giving me some praise. If it weren't for me the place would fall apart I think I'll hit him up for a raise.

Lox and cream cheese, can you break a hundred please? LOX AND CREAM CHEESE, MELTING ALL OVER!

Thank you Aegir! I laughed the hardest I have all day upon seeing that in your post. Ha! As soon as my eyes caught the first few words I heard the voice in my head...

Serious: I Once Had A Dream So I Packed Up And Split For The City (for numerous reasons, very personal to me)

Funny and/or dumb:

Mona, Disco Disco Discotheque Mama, Coma Coma Coma Come To Me (etc.)

If Mars Had Life On It, I Might Find A Wife On It

Honkin', Honkin' On That Gosh Darn Highway, Tryin' To Get Past The Cars

C'est Trés Jolee En Paree In Da Spring

...and many more...

To get you baby went through the wringaargghh

When I laid down on my bed, I heard voices in my head

"¿Cuando seré? Un día seré"

Ooh let these little words of love, become the lamps that light your way

When I saw the first verse of God Only Knows on a birth card I realized that it's not only the best song ever made, but that it's also the best lyric ever written in a love song.

Oh, and "Oh it's been so long since I have had a woman's breast to lay my head on", of course.

"The queen in Copenhagee
The dream of Amsterdamee
The cream of gay Parisee
The theme of U Say Asee
The scene in Great Britainyee
The meaning in Los Angees
The heat in Tokyosee
The treat in Manhattohsee
Oo,yeah,yeah The Funky Pretty!"

Speaks for itself in it's surrealism.

And of course:
"A diamond necklace played the pawn
Hand in hand some drummed along, oh
To a handsome man and baton
A blind class aristocracy
Back through the op'ra glass you see
The pit and the pendulum drawn
Columnated ruins domino

Canvass the town and brush the backdrop
Are you sleeping?

Hung velvet overtaken me
Dim chandelier awaken me
To a song dissolved in the dawn
The music hall a costly bow
The music all is lost for now
To a muted trumperter swan
Columnated ruins domino"

Doesn't get any better than that!

Bri

The lyrics on Pet Sounds are consistently excellent. I also like the words on things like Fun, Fun, Fun, All I Wanna Do and Please Let Me Wonder. And I have a soft spot for the verse that begins, `Cupid dear...` in Mike`s Glow Crescent Glow as it describes his life so well.

'TIL I DIE !

You must be real lonely

"Taint" nothin' wrong with "eating" a little "kitty" every so often......... Hee,hee

Why is that? I just don't enjoy it very much. My mouth doesn't feel drawn to that area of a woman. In truth I'm not a very sexual person on the whole. Not repressed, just died out.

We'll make sweet lovin' 'til the sun goes down. We'll even do more when her mama's not around.

Over and over the crow cries uncover the cornfield.

Doughy lumps, stomach pumps, enemas too, are what you get when you eat that way.

Forget about the plot, it'll do very well. Just make sure you've seen enough so you're prepared to tell about the drive-in.

On and on you go dum be do da.

I'd love just once to see you in the nude.

I threw away my candy bar and I ate the wrapper.

Sherry don't hate her guts...

We dance around to a rockin' band, we even ate at a hot dog stand.

Oo let these little words of love
Become the lamps that light your way
My love is burnin' brightly
My moon and stars shine nightly
All I wanna do (lonely in the night I feel)
All I wanna do
All I wanna do
My love is burnin' brightly
All I wanna do
Doo doo doo doo doo
My moon and stars shine brightly
All I wanna do
My love is burnin' brightly
All I wanna do
Doo doo doo doo doo
My moon and stars shine brightly


And Also,

Till I Die, just because it's Brian being so honest.
Baby Blue
Feel Flows.

I could go on and on.

Hey, little tomboy, I've had my eyes on you
Thinkin' what a girl you could be
Mmm, I smell perfume, let's try some cut-off jeans
Look at all the changes I see
 
I'm gonna teach you to kiss
You're gonna feel just like bliss
They're doin' it all over the world
 
Hey little hey little hey little tomboy
Time to turn into a girl

Come on - someone just HAD to do it. :3d

Raunchy  >:D

Top 3

Well since she put me down, I been outdoing in my head

It's automatic when I talked with old friends conversation turns to girls we knew when their hair was soft and long and the beach was  place to go

I been in this town so long that back in the city I've been taken for lost and gone and unknown for a long, long time

Close
Round Round  Get Around I Get Around

Wouldn't It Be Nice if we could wake up in the morning when the day is new and after having spent the day together, hold each close the whole night through.  ( I always liked the way Al sang this line)

and for comedy sake.... I do em when I down in the tub, with avocado cream they'll take a rub

Well since she put me down, boo ba dab a do ba dab ba dy ba dy ba

Seriously, mine would be Til I Die.

The Trader---the first half

Classic, good choice.

Such a well written song.

Oh, Murry...  :-D

I might actually prefer the 2nd half. That song is all good, though. It's a shame Carl didn't write more like that, he obivously liked Reily as a partner.


I wonder why Carl didn't find an ally in The BB's to write with like that? He might have been a more celebrated songwriter if that had been the case.



And for my personal best songwriting bet.... 'I don't know where but she sends me there'....

- "I could try to big in the eyes of the world, what matters to me is how I could be to just one girl"

- "It's three o'clock I go to my sink, I pour some milk and I start to think..."

- "You open up my wallet and dust falls out that's alright with me, because the song that I'll sing won't be blue...."

- "I'm the kinda guy who loves to mess around, know a lot of women, but they don't fill my heart with love, completely free...." 

In my opinion, the whole of Surf's Up is the single best written song in the entire history of songwriting. As far as single lyrics go, my favorites are "I don't know where, but she send me there" and "Young and beautiful, like a tree that's just been planted I found life today". So simple, yet so thought provoking and complex at the same time.

Dennis' songs on Sunflower are four of my favorite songs period and generally they are well received critically.

My favorite lyrics would have to be Break Away because they are so important to who Brian and Murry both were. I don't buy Leaf's theory on them being a decloration to be apart from the Beach Boys. He would say that!

Though it's hard, I try not to look at my wind chimes
now and then, a tear rolls off my cheek

The best lyrics in a Dennis song, IMO.  That song always gets me, it is so honest.

The Lyrics to:  You Still Believe In Me.. Could be singin to a girl or GOD....The Lyrics to: Forever...Wish id written both of these songs.

-Passing By
-Metal Beach
-One For the Boys
-We Gotta Groove
-Fall Breaks

I built all my goals around you
That some day my love would surround you
You'll never know what we've been through

All lyrics written by Van Dyke Parks or Jack Reiley.

Plus "Baby Blue", "That's Not Me", "Til I Die", "Tears In The Morning", "Disney Girls", "Wake The World", "Leaving This Town", "Let The Wind Blow", "Hold On Dear Brother" and some others.

Seriously, why not start a thread with the worst lyrics? "Good Time" and "Solar System" could start such a list.

idk, i find myself singing Solar System everynow and then

I love the song "Solar System" very much (as well as all of Love You). I just think the lyrics are a bit too childish to compare say with Reiley's work with Carl for instance. (If Mars had life on it I might find my wife on it, etc.)

Now I'm really looking for bad lyrics for BB songs. How about "She's Got Rhythm"? Truth is I still like all of these songs. There just seems to be a big contrast say from original Smile lyrics to what followed on Smiley & WH.

"Let The Wind Blow"  espescially the "In Concert '73" version:

Let The Wind Blow
Let the wind blow
Let the grass grow
But don't let her go

Don't take her out of my life
Don't take her out of my life

Let the moon glow
(let the moon glow)
(on the fallen snow)
On the fallen snow
(let the moon glow)
(on the fallen snow)

But i just got to know
(let me please know oh oh oh)
Know she'll be a part of my life
Know she'll be a part of my life
Forever


Let the bees make honey
Let the poor find money
Take away their sorrows
Give them sunshine tomorrow

But don't take her out of my life
Don't take her out of my life
What would i do without her tell me now

Let the bird sing
With the coming spring
Let the church bells ring
Let the rain fall
Let the grass grow
Let the moon glow
On the fallen snow

But don't take her out of my life
Please keep her a part of my life

Big Bri

My favorite BB lyricists were Gene Landy and Alexandra Morgan!!  :lol :lol :lol

Big Bri - totally agree about "Let The Wind Blow", easily one of the most beautiful and desperate lyrics ever set to a pop tune. Carl indeed gave it an incredible reading on that early seventies version and I think that in general Mike wrote some pretty good lyrics around that time.

I wouldn`t agree with that. Just because lyrics are pretentious doesn`t always make them good. VDP obviously wrote some excellent lyrics but there is some dire stuff there too. Rieley`s lyrics work with the songs but on their own not always.

I don't know where but she sends me there.

I'm glad I went, now I that much more sure that we're ready.

Then I wondered as it got light
Were you still awake like me?

Lots of people with no place to go
I know a place where you can go

joking aside, i love the lyrics to:

Time to Get Alone
That's Not Me
Please Let Me Wonder
You're So Good To Me
Aren't You Glad

I don't believe the words to "Feel Flows" are pretentious. Those lyrics are way beyond Mr. Love's scope for sure. Love "The Trader" as well.

Van Dyke beyond being a great composer is not a very bad lyricist. Some of us may not like say "The Waltz" or whatever but surely we all agree on "Surf's Up". I really enjoy all of his albums (I'm missing one of them) and I wrote him an e-mail once about a song of his ("Wall Street") and he took the time to write me back. Cool guy!

I'll learn to talk-a like a local I'll betcha...

The spinning stopped and the world stood still

I broke her fall and I always will

Strung out in no man's land

Somewhere near Japan


This has become one of my favorite Beach Boys songs. For personal reasons and just because its a damn fine song that stands well above any song they released in the previous 15 years.

Not so sure Carl always agreed, I have heard a couple late 70's concerts where he is apologizing for the "bad" lyrics to Feel Flows.  In my opinion, the lyrics are what detract from Feel Flows and Trader and would keep them from being hits. (The fact that Trader lasts forever is another reason) They don't make much sense, aren't really relatable and are just about impossible to sing along to. Van Dyke's have a theme at least, Reilly's to me are all over the place.

Encasing all embracing wreath of repose
Engulfs all the senses
Imposing, unclosing thoughts that compose
Retire the fences
Whether wholly heartened life fades away

................................WTF?    This stuff makes uncover the cornfield sound simple and concrete! :lol

oh, I forgot Melt Away!

Agreed,,The Trader is too long..Reilly"s best lyrics..??..Long Promised Road....FF + Trader to me in that day were like acid lyrics..Bunch of pretty mumbo jumbo..They were all great to hear in concert tho..!

I don't believe the words to "Feel Flows" are pretentious. Those lyrics are way beyond Mr. Love's scope for sure. Love "The Trader" as well.

Van Dyke beyond being a great composer is not a very bad lyricist. Some of us may not like say "The Waltz" or whatever but surely we all agree on "Surf's Up". I really enjoy all of his albums (I'm missing one of them) and I wrote him an e-mail once about a song of his ("Wall Street") and he took the time to write me back. Cool guy!
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It`s not about scope tough is it. I would take Mike`s Warmth of the Sun lyrics over the words to Feel Flows any day of the week (and I`m not saying that Mike was a better or worse lyricist because he has written some dire stuff obviously). Rieley`s lyrics to Steamboat aren`t great either and nor are tose to some other songs.

I agree that Surf`s Up is excellent and Heroes and Villains too but Vegetables is the sort of drivel that any stoner could come up with. The Waltz is also abysmal.

Me.

Lines. Lines around the block, oh, lines. Now the clock is striking seven-thirty. Ooooh, lines. Lines around the block. Lines. Now the clock is striking eight! Walk in, sit down. Previews from the coming show. Now the movie's starting ... oh: the movie's startin' kind of slow, but it'll get better. Oh! There's a scene with these two, oh, he's gonna get her love.

I was just listening to this the other day. That is quite possibly the weirdest song The Beach Boys ever recorded.  ;D

I think it is great. There isn't any sarcasm or irony in my choice of it as a favorite lyric, and the chord progression and melody are also fantastic. Frankly, I don't even think it's among their weirder stuff. Rough, maybe.

This is not necessarily my favorite but I've always considered this a great lyric from the early years.  Shut Down

Pedals to the floor hear his duel quads drink
And now the 413's lead is starting to shrink
He's hot with RAM induction but it's understood
I've got a fuel-injected engine sittin' under my hood

...

Sounds like rap lyrics. Incredibly naughty rap lyrics.

The first two verses of Heroes and Villains has awesome wordplay.

It`s not about scope tough is it. I would take Mike`s Warmth of the Sun lyrics over the words to Feel Flows any day of the week (and I`m not saying that Mike was a better or worse lyricist because he has written some dire stuff obviously). Rieley`s lyrics to Steamboat aren`t great either and nor are tose to some other songs.

I agree that Surf`s Up is excellent and Heroes and Villains too but Vegetables is the sort of drivel that any stoner could come up with. The Waltz is also abysmal.
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It is totally up to the perception of each individuality. I like Reiley's ramblings personally over songs about cars or surfing. Remember the band YES? I have friends who actually writers that hate them because of their lyrics. I dig them! I also like that line in "Cabinessence".

A choke of grief heart hardened I
Beyond belief a broken man too tough to cry

These things i'll be until i die..

Very moving.

Do many people really not like Dennis' songs on Sunflower? Which people - the deaf? Anyway, totally agree with you, the above lyrics great. However my favourite has always been:

'I threw away my candy bar and i ate the wrapper/
And when she told me what i did i burst into laughter'.

I also like:

'When I look at other girls it must kill her inside/
But it'd be another story if she looked at the guys'.

Also it's far from my favourite Surf's Up song but I love the 'toothpaste and soap turning our oceans to bubblebath' rhyme in the middle of Dont Go Near...

(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk318/jamsvet/IMG_1182.jpg)

I know you cried, and you felt blue
But when I could I gave strength to you
I'm waiting for the day when you can love again

He hurt you then, but that's all done
I guess I'm saying you're the only one
I'm waiting for the day when you can love again

deep heart touching lyrics :)

"I need the warmth of your smile
To heat my frostbitten sorrow
I need your hand on my shoulder
To lead todays to tomorrows."

"So hard to laugh a child-like giggle
When the tears start to torture my mind."

And all of 'Surf's Up' and 'Cabin Essence'

+1

My top 3:
I Just Wasn't Made For These Times
Surf's Up
'Til I Die


Other notable mentions:
Please Let Me Wonder
In My Room
We'll Run Away
Kiss Me, Baby
God Only Knows
Forever
That's Not Me
From There to Back Again
Pacific Coast Highway
Summer's Gone
Caroline, No
Cabinessence
Good Vibrations
Lonely Sea
Keep An Eye on Summer
The Warmth of the Sun
The Night Was So Young