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Sometimes I wonder if this song was excluded from Gettin In Over My Head/generally forgotten about because it was about a person who became very prominent in the Brian WifeandManagers organization.  It has to be one of my favorite BW songs ever. Thoughts?

??

Yes, the song is indeed about David Leaf.

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...  ::)

Yeah I love this but always confused as to where to place it. Is it from the Paley sessions? But that's the Beach Boys singing on it, right? And how come the song is about David Leaf? Any info much appreciated.

I was wondering if it's anything like the Lovin' Spoonful song She's Still A Mystery to Me.

Or even better, the Roy Orbison song, "Mystery Girl" has that line in it.  Of cousre though Bono was involved with that, so it's really hard to forget about him and enjoy the song. 

Comes from the mid-90s Paley collaborations. As did Soul Searchin.

Both were re-recorded with the Boys and Don Was in hopes of a reunion album.

Sessions didn't work out, and at some point the vocals were re-synced with the original Paley backing tracks -- those are what's commonly heard. The Soul Searchin' track then had the Boys' backing vocals wiped and Brian's put in (and a Mertens sax solo played over the original organ solo) for release on GIOMH.

And the Leaf thing was a joke.

Does that mean one of the last Boys group vocals was wiped, forever lost to time, in favor of a stack-o-Brian's?

A good joke nonetheless.....

Thanks, Peter.  ;D

Drew, I would assume that a copy of the BB version remains in the vault.

And the official BW camp story is that they re-recorded the backing track, keeping only Carl's lead, but anyone with ears can tell that's not the case. (I suspect the story was used to avoid paying Paley extra producer/musician royalties.)

Same thing happened with Saturday Morning in the City -- it's the Paley track and backing vocals, with a new Brian lead, but it was supposedly re-recorded. Riiight. You can still hear Paley's voice on the bridge!

The Lovin' Spoonful track is stupendous but totally unrelated...

Their version IS about Leaf...

I was wondering if it was about Melinda. Sorry for being so oblique.

Never heard that notion proposed before, but who knows. Given when it was written and recorded, probably not though.

I always hoped that these two songs (that is, the Beach Boys version of "Soul Searchin'") would see some sort of official release.  C'mon, those on the "inside"...make it so!

Which was a big mistake imo. The organ solo was/is so cool but the sax just isn't very exciting

Many thanks for the info.

Actually, the song referenced Brian's befuddlement about the inordinate popularity of Wishbone Ash....  ???

I think that Wishbone Ash, and Wishbone Ash solely, is responsible for all of Brian's mental problems and drug ingestion.

Murry was the father of dreams, full of care and empathy. He's soooo vilified. Whereas the real problem is that Brit gang of inept plank spankers. Boo.

These two are indeed the Last Gasp, denny talked about. Awesome truely.