The Smiley Smile Message Board

Why did Dennis have Carl sing most of his songs? Did he have Carl in mind when he wrote them? or was he just being modest towards his own work?

I do love that he uses Carl on It's Not Too Late (which should have been on LA danget!)
I'm surprised he didn't have Carl sing a lead on POB, I know he has some backing vocals on River Song and other things.

This also brings another question about Dennis to mind; who would have thought him and Mike would write good songs too? Was Mike lonely without Brian to write with? shame more of their work hasn't seen the light of day

I think More than enough of Mike's non-Brian writings have seen the light of day, and in fact, maybe some of them could be sent back into the darkness? 
Now, if there are any unlighted Dennis and Mike Co-writes, that's different.

I was thinking there were a couple from 73-77...anyways, 10,000 Years would be nice if it were cohesive with each other...like Mike's version and Denny's instrumental cut

Most of Dennis's songs? Dennis sang on a lot more of his own songs than Carl did.

Maybe he just gave some of the leads on his songs away because that's what his big brother had always done as well.

I remember asking Jon Stebbings this question in relation to Holland a few weeks ago and he guessed that Dennis just really dug Carl's voice. Carl is by far my favourite singer but I really wish Dennis had a vocal spotlight on Holland somewhere.

Carl returned the favor by having Dennis sing lead on his "Angel Come Home". I'm sure they all have cracks at the lead vocal before deciding which one sounds best for release. Didn't just about the whole band take a run at "Sail On Sailor" before finally going with Blondie?

By my count Carl sang lead on about seven of Dennis' songs (San Miguel, Its About Time, 4th of July, Steamboat, Only With You, Baby Blue-co-lead w/Dennis, Its Not Too Late co-lead w/Dennis)...I think Dennis sang lead on over 40 of his own songs between BB's, solo and known unreleased recordings. But yeah, he liked Carl's voice.

Nope, just Dennis and Blondie.

I think Carl tried it too.  Didn't Blondie quote Carl as saying something like, "I think my voice sounds OK on it, but do you want to have a bash?"

Another one that's interesting is "Celebrate the News" because it's a Dennis/Carl duet all the way through. Hardly anybody notices.

You, sir, are correct.  :)

I thought I remember reading that Billy had a shot at it too.

Billy sang on an alternate take of Honkin' Down The Highway.

I did!  There was quite a long discussion about that in the "ultimate vocal credit" board, with me advocating a credit as a Carl/Dennis duet.  (I lost, but hey)