The Smiley Smile Message Board

I've been a big BB fan since 1991, and I am STILL finding new things in the music that I hadn't noticed before.  "All This Is That" has been in my top 3 favorites for much of the past decade, yet it wasn't until about 5 years ago that I noticed that Carl was singing "Jai Guru Dev" on the outro.  Well, TONIGHT, on what must have been my 3500th listen, I noticed that Mike is singing in a whispering voice, "Jai Guru Dev" as well during that last 30-45 seconds or so!  I had heard the voice but had never thought to listen to what it was saying...I had always assumed it was Mike singing more "I am that"s and "thou art that"s.  Wow...

Another one that comes to mind...I had always thought that the lyric was "to the rhythm of a steel drum PAN"...until I heard Mike sing "steel drum BAND" at a concert in Newport Beach around 2005 or so!

Another one...In Concert has always been in my top 3 BB albums; I've listened to it hundreds and hundreds of times.  But it wasn't until probably the mid to late 2000's that I suddenly realized that Carl was singing "Sloop John B".  I had always thought that it was Al for some reason.

Were there any things that you discovered after you were years or decades into your fandom?  I'm sure this has been brought up before, but I thought it would be fun to allow some people who might have missed those threads to contribute.

That recording of Sloop John B had the tape sped up so it sounds faster and higher pitched than was actually performed. I figure they were trying to make it sound more exciting, but Carl's voice sounds really weird there!  :)

Think I've mentioned this before here, but having my attention drawn to the buried "Truck Driving Man" lyric in Cabinessence - I think by John on the old Smileshop board - opened my eyes as well as my ears. I'd only been listening to the sing for maybe 20 or 30 years at that time!

That Carl, and not Al, sings "How She Boogaloed It". Really weird how much the liner notes to the two-fers influenced my hearing.

I always thought that Al sings "Heroes And Villains" on Smiley Smile, until i read that it's Brian :D
They sound very similar in that time though.

So many new things each listen. For years I would play the music through a speaker system but now with a family its on my ipod. You can just pick up so much more detail with a headset or earphones.

I liked the 74 concert CD issue a few years back. More onstage chatter over the 4 side album. you almost feel like you are onstage listening.

I've heard In Concert countless times since I first bought a copy in '06, but it was only a couple months ago I noticed either Carl or Al says "Shut up, you guys" before Caroline No.

What!?!?!?!? :o :o :o :o

Until I read it somewhere (here?), I never realized that Brian and Carl traded lead vocals on "Good Vibrations"; my ears never would've picked that up.

You haven't read the Definitive Lead Vocal Credits Thread and/or List, I take it. Do it. That wasn't the only surprise I got. Funny how it works. First, I read that, as in this case, Carl sing HSBI. I think, 'no way', then I listen to it, imagining Carl singing it, and it's stands so clear. Then I read more people confirming that it is Carl, and I get even more convinced. (Another giveaway was the late '67 live versions which Carl clearly sang...)

Slightly on a tangent, it always amazed me when people went nutso over how seamless George Martin's edit in "Strawberry Fields Forever" was. I was about 11 when I first heard it (on the radio) and even back then I recall thinking "jeez, what happened there ?"

I agree with you, Andrew.  That edit ALWAYS stuck out to me.

On that matter, as a kid in elementary school, all of the edits in the live version of "In A Gadda Da Vida" (which is very obviously shortened in spots, and spliced together from different venues) bugged the hell out of me.

Love You had been on constant repeat for several weeks when recently I first realized (after years of it being among my very favourite records by anyone) that there's a brilliant vocal arrangement at the end of "I'll Bet He's Nice" that makes the song really take off (it's the one that has Mike singing "You, my darling"), while some of the synth touches going on in the background are highly reminiscent of "Mt. Vernon and Fairway" (in terms of sound, that is).

Wow.   :o I'm in shock here...gonna have to re-listen here.  Crazy...I've only heard that song 5000 times! haha

Oh yeah, I heard that!  It's Carl...he does the gentle intro for the song and you can just visualize him then turning around and cussing all the people noodling while he's talking.

My biggest shock was finding out Al sang "Be Here In the Morning."

Again Brian insisted to me that he sang Be Here. I think it's Al doing the call lyrics and Brian and the group doing the responce vocals.

As mentioned above, the GV vocal edits, with Brian and Carl trading lines, really surprised me. I must have head that song a thousand times, closely too, without noticing it.

Also, how's this for cloth-eared, I had Love You for quite a while before I found out Good Time was cut years before the other songs...it was the days before the internet, i'll mind you.

A few of things -

1. Brian's whispered "poof" and "Window" is "At My Window" - truly sublime.

2. Carl's vocal in "I'll Bet He's Nice" ("Baby Don't you ever tell me that you're leaving, Now that you got me to believe in, You are the sunshine and the flower, Come on and make my every hour).  This might be the best post 1974 Beach Boys moment.

3. The part of 'Fairy Tale Music" that starts at 3:36.  This is the best moment on Holland.  I wish there were a song to build around that. 

4. "Aren't you Glad" from "Live in London".  "Wild Honey" was called the Beach Boys R&B album.  This brings that claim to life. 

There's something about At My Window that I find haunting. I might be reading too much into this, (because isn't it mostly Al's song...?), and I'm also basing my interpretation based on a mondegreen, but i picture Brian, or someone, standing at their first floor window on a sunny day, absorbed in dreamlike thought, thinking about whether to jump out of it, and then he sees the little sparrow which distracts him and he doesn't jump. One of Brian's lines (in Spanish?) sounds to me like he's saying "supposing i might go next".

Also, the little musical interlude with the flutes sounds fluttery, like he's imagining losing his balance and falling out of the window.

Slightly off topic, I found that Peter Tork whistles part of Strawberry Fields Forever on the movie Head when he comes in the bathroom

Thought the same myself -  probably cos I'd seen Al sing it in concert...

Interesting.  I always thought Carl sounded kinda drunk there! :lol  I'm more of a fan of Carl's pre-'76 voice because over time he got too heavy on the vibrato for me.

Just so I'm clear, you're referring to Brian singing the high Bb in the verses ("I hear the sound of a..." and "when I look...") right?  Or are there more places where Brian takes over the lead that I've missed hearing/reading about somehow?

Nope - just those bits.

Thanks Andrew, that's what I thought.

I am a fan of Carl's older voice. But on Love You he sounds like he's got a cold or something. Maybe medication, maybe something else.

Am I going crazy or is there a piano at the end of Worms (The Hawaiian chant section)

I know there's a crazy wild guitar that's barely audible but I swear there's some piano in there also.

You could call it medication, I guess...

I continue to hear different things after all these years.  The voices very often sound alike enough to cause confusion for those trying to hear everything exactly.   I remember the first several times I really listened to its over now on my garage "mini" system.   Brian Carl and Marilyn.  And that slow speed recording, or what ever it is.  Makes Marylin sound like one of the guys on first listen..........


and I agree with the comments on I'll Bet he's nice...........that era has some bits worth reexamining.........some fun stuff

There are some things in certain Beach Boys songs I've read about, but have yet to hear. For example, the "funky pretty gone" vocal part in that song. I read about it in the vocal thread, but I STILL can not hear it.

Maybe Brian was more of a genius than we all think. Maybe he programmed all of his productions, in some ahead-of-the-times way, to alter automatically over the years... so that the new thing you hear today, actually wasn't there yesterday.

I think I will get the Nobel Prize for Music for this brilliant idea.

I never noticed the "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" theme in "Fall Breaks Into Winter" until a few months ago.  I must have listened to the latter thousands of times and the former at least hundreds if not thousands.

Don't feel bad - even a Smile scholar like Darian didn't notice it until Brian hummed the "Fall Breaks" theme over the "Fire" music during rehearsals and he realized they were basically the same piece of music.

Then there are all the dodgy tape splices all over the original mono Pet Sounds...

YES!  In the live version of Marcella, Dennis supposedly goes "one arm, one arm, over my shoulder" in a much loved exuberance, but i just can't hear it!!! 

this is especially true of the mono mix of I Guess I just Wasnt made for these times.  After hearing the isolated vocals/track i try whenever i hear the song to listen for the spanish backing vocals and the honky tonk piano, and I just can't find them, even though I know they're there!

As mentioned above, the GV vocal edits, with Brian and Carl trading lines, really surprised me. I must have head that song a thousand times, closely too, without noticing it.

...I do not have a musician's ear but somehow I picked that out the first time I heard it on the radio (43+ years ago!). My best high school friend happened to be visiting California (we lived in Illinois) at the time of the release and somehow he managed to talk with Brian on the phone who verified the lead vocal trade-off with Carol.

So Carol Kaye is claiming credit for singing lead vocals on Good Vibrations now?  ;D

...just teasing you!

Now, I can hear that quite clearly.  ;D

Put on a decent pair of headphones, and go to about 2:20 in the song. Pay extra close attention to the left channel. It shows up in the left channel after each line of the vocals, thus...

"She said don't worry it's alright" (Funky pretty gone)
"I'm coming back when the aspects are right" (Funky pretty gone)

Alternately, listen to this:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/20/800088/funky%20pretty%20clip.mp3 (http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/20/800088/funky%20pretty%20clip.mp3)

The lead vocals can still be heard back there somewhere, but the background harmonies and Brian's "funky pretty gone" are much more audible.

Hopefully it's okay that I post that - just a modified 18 second clip trying to point out a vocal part.

Thanks a bunch for that!  ;D

You can hear he still had his voice. I also think he was in the surrounding harmonies.

Now that flat-out amazes me - God knows, I'm no muso, but the first time I heard the Fire music, I thought "damn, that's "Fall Breaks" !"

Then again, Darian also missed the France Gall song "Dady da da" being inspired by the chorus of Good Vibrations.  :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc2adMI3LMo

I didn't play it that loudly, but it sounded more like Mike to me.

I'm learning a lot from this thread!  Please keep it coming!  I never knew about that Funky Pretty Gone part...

It's hard to tell. But it could be Blondie. There's a short slide on "gone" that resembles Blondie's style of phrasing.

Here's another example of little "hidden" thing in Beach Boys/related music. On "Album Tag Song" from the POB/Bambu set, there is a background vocal that goes "ba-bah-ha-ha". It's mixed kind of low, but it fits perfectly.  :)

I find some strong resemblance with the Cabinessence chorus too.

To tie this all together...has anyone ever noticed that Bruce sings the melody to "Fall Breaks and Back to Winter" on the tag of Dennis' "The End Of The Show"?

Please elaborate!!  That is very intriguing, and I doubt anyone else has noticed!  Going to listen now.

...it's a very odd melody to bust into, which makes me think it's not a coincidence.

Listen at 2:25.

I'd never heard that before either, but you're right, it's definitely there.  Even if not a coincidence, it's incredibly random.

I read somewhere that there's a different mix of End of the Show (presumably Dennis' remix of the song from his campaign to remix the LP after it was released) that has Bruce very audible in the backups.

It's vaguely similar... but not even close enough for jazz. My money says Bruce was just adlibbing a bv without any intent.

I had to listen 4 times to pick it up...I agree that there is a similarity, but I don't think it was intentional.  Wow, I never even noticed that background vocal at all, let alone what it sounded like.

That may well be true, but I beg to differ on the jazz part...it's the exact same melody if I'm not mistaken.  Granted, for only five or six notes.  But it's a really weird, dissonant melody...not one you'd normally gravitate to.

What say I ask him ?  ;D

Good idea!

It's definitely Brian...the timbre of his voice sounds exactly like his parts in "California".

Correct!