The Smiley Smile Message Board

This song was recorded over a two day span (June 25th & 26th, 1967) during sessions for Smiley Smile. Has anybody ever heard it? I'm very curious about this supposedly finished song.....

Oh my god, I must hear this.

How I would love to be a fly on the wall in Brian's house during the making of SMiLEY SMiLE.

Reckon I'd get pretty high too with all the smoke billowing around...

I always assumed that this song was cannibalized by the band to create the end of "She's Going Bald"
the "Too late mama,  there's nothing growing outside your head part..."

but I'm just guessing..
 :) 

This thread seems like the appropriate place to ask - does anyone have that "Indian song" or whatever it's called? I heard it years ago and it sounded like it was from 67-68.

yeah, it's an instrumental, right? I heard it on the Smile CD-ROM...everytime I bring it up everyone overracts exclaiming that Indian Wisdom was on the back of the SS album cover...I know I know, but there's a song with that label!  ;)

Yeah instrumental

It had an ambiguous feel, like Mike Love on acid in India or something

Proper title is "New Song" (as per tape box), recorded March 26th 1968... and no, there is no song called "Indian Wisdom": that whole Smiley Smile back cover, illustration, verse and title, was lifted (without credit) from a Hallmark booklet. There's a scan here somewhere.

Ah, here it is:

(http://i43.tinypic.com/11825ad.jpg)

Thank you, Andrew, but I was wondering if you had ever heard "Good Time Mama"? I was just curious what that song was.

Also, who played guitar on "New Song"? I imagine that it's Brian on the organ.....

Best of my knowledge, no-one's heard "GTM" since 1967. "New Song" was recorded at the same session as "Even Steven" (aka "Busy Doin' Nothin'") so I'm assuming the same musicians. Don't have that info to hand right now, but I'll dig it out later today.

I know that "Busy Doin' Nothin'" was recorded twice with the remake being the final version. It will be interesting to see what the line-up was. Thanks, Andrew. I always learn something new from you.  ;D

"Be Here In The Mornin'" was the remake, not "BDN".

I'm looking at Badman's book right now (not always correct but a great starting point). According to his information, "Busy Doin' Nothin'" was tracked on March 26th with Alan Estes (percussion) and Gene Pello (drums). To quote Mr. Badman: "Today's recording of the song is faster than the released version which is made on April 11th".  April 11th's entry states that 27 new takes were recorded with the last marked as master. Musicians include James Ackley (probably keyboards), Lyle Ritz (bass), Al Vescovo (guitar) plus one unknown.

Now I am confused. Also no mention of "New Song". According to his book the remake was done the same night that Dennis met Manson for the first time.

The Manson meeting claim on April 11th is demonstrably wrong as the band were on tour at the time on the east coast (check 10452). Dennis was a remarkable man, but I don't think he'd mastered the art of being in two places at the same time.  ;D  April 11th was a vocal session (Brian only, of course).

Notice Badman has Dennis playing in FL on the 10th, in Malibu on the 11th and back in FL on the 12th. Badman similarly has Dennis in SC on the 5th, in CA on the 6th meeting the Manson girls for the first time, and back in SC on the 7th. Newspaper reports confirm that the band just stayed in their hotel rooms until the tour resumed - it wasn't anything like as disrupted as Nik Venet later claimed (he was confusing it with the Maharishi tour)

The true identity of "New Song" wasn't discovered until very recently.

or are you .... those smileys are devilishly ambiguous. Yours looks like it knows something nobody else here does. Plus your 'theory' seems feasible beyond measure. C'mon, Doc Smiley - You've heard Good Time Mama, haven't you!!!!?????

Edit: Hey, weird, I didn't put that bewildered Smiley in my post. These Smileys are messin' with my merda now!

Do you mean, it's locked in the vaults? Or has the tape been wiped/stolen?

I know "New Song" was something recorded during the Friends sessions, then passed off as a SMiLE piece. Similar to Three Blind Mice/My Little Red Book, methinks.

Brian & Marilyn   ;)

But according to c-man´s fine article in ESQ # 79 the session on April 11 at I.D. Sound was for additional instrumental overdubs.

If you type in 3 ?'s in a row it looks like ???. I found that out too.

Who did the Smiley Smile front cover?  Is is possible it's the same person who did the Indian Wisdom artwork in the Hallmark booklet, and that person was reusing their Indian Wisdom work on the back of the Smiley Smile album?  (Even though Hallmark may have held the copyright.)  Thanks for posting that scan again, Andrew.  Do you have the entire booklet?  If so, what's it like?  Is it all by the same artist?  Do we know when the Hallmark booklet was copyrighted?

Sorry, I don't have the booklet, just reposted the image - check the thread concerning that, the guy who has it (who I should have credited, apologies) explains where he bought it and when.

No-one seems to know who did the Smiley Smile front cover but judging from the differing styles, it wasn't the same guy as did the booklet (which knowing Hallmark was probably in house).

The AFM contract dated March 26, 1968 bears the song title "Even Steven", which we know was a working title (along with "Even Time") for "Busy Doin' Nothin'".  The basic track for that included:
Acoustic guitars: Jim Ackley and Al Vescovo
Upright bass: Lyle Ritz
Vibraphone: Alan Estes
Wood blocks: Alan Estes
Drums: Gene Pello
Oboe: David Sherr
Tenor flute: Tom Scott
Clarinets: Jay Migliori and Don Englert
and probably Brian on the electric keyboard

Neither this contract, nor the others from the "Friends" sessions, mention "New Song", but that certainly doesn't mean it wasn't also taped at the same session as "Even Steven". 

On April 11th, there was a session for "Busy Doin' Nothing", which Badman apparently took as a complete remake, but my sources tell me the March 26th track was simply slowed down & edited somewhat, and the April 11th session was merely for adding overdubs to the original track (additional guitars, bass, and maybe percussion, from the looks of things). 

Given a little artistic range, I think it's entirely possible that the both the front and back covers of Smiley Smile were done by the same person. 

I do find the saying on the back cover, "'The smile that you send out returns to you' - Indian Wisdom" to be especially interesting in that in 1967 I assumed that Brian and the Beach Boys had specifically chosen this statement for the back cover not only because it was a cool saying but because it tied together the album titles Smile, Smiley Smile, and the Brother Records Indian logo.  But, we now know the Beach Boys may have had nothing to do with it.  Or maybe one of them saw the Hallmark booklet and suggested, it.  It's even possible (but seems unlikely) that the SS back cover predated the Hallmark booklet. 

And, speaking of choosing an American Indian for the Brother Records logo, rather than being a hip representation of the late sixties, as we had assumed all these years, it turns out that it was actually a deft business decision on the part of an insistent and very forward thinking Mike Love.  Yes, it was Mike who insisted on using that logo, realizing that 35 years later "The Beach Boys" would be performing a very large number of their concerts at Indian casinos.