The Smiley Smile Message Board

The chorus lyrics can be divided into:

1. Sometimes I feel very sad. (Brian) - double tracked right channel
2. Cuando sere? Un dia sere. (In English: When will it be? One day it will be.)(group)
3. Ain't found the right thing I can put my heart and soul into. (Mike)
4. People I know don't wanna be where I'm at. (Brian, falsetto)

4 is almost impossible to pick out. At the end of disc 2 of PSS one can find the 1 and 2 acapella (left and right channels respectively) as a hidden bonus track at the end of Here Today - Stereo Backing Track (after the "top please" spoken part which was included in the mono released version of HT and also included as a scene in the "Love And Mercy" biopic.)

However, and this is where it gets more confusing, if one listens very closely to 3, that which is credited to Mike sounds awfully like Brian. What's more, the 2 sounds more like a stack of Brians doing the Spanish lyrics. Is it the case that the BGVs might be only Brian and that he did them alone because either the BBs were not present or because it was a very personal song? Also, anyone have a mix which makes 4 more audible?

All the voices are Brian.

In this 2012 interview, the group is asked about IJWMFTT. Bruce claims they all were on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaFsqQqvwuo&feature=youtu.be&t=14m10s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaFsqQqvwuo&feature=youtu.be&t=14m10s)

I've long been under the impression that this song was the source of the famous story of Brian erasing all the groups vocals and replacing them with himself because the group hadn't been able to get it right. Is there any truth to that?

I think that's I'm Waiting for the Day.

Another interesting point is that during the C50 press junket, they discuss this song and the Spanish part and Al says he has absolutely zero recollection of it, even accusing the group of putting him on right there about it.  After pledging their honesty, he still doesn't remember anything about it.

I remembered the same thing when I saw the thread-title. And that after Al already toured the Pet Sounds album with Brian....  ;D





I'm pretty sure 3) is also Brian.

Positive that number 3 is Brian and not Mike.

Not so - according to the Columbia track cards, two of the eight tracks are "vocal group".

"Cuando sere? Un dia sere." I can kinda hear it being a group vocal, with Brian pretty high in the mix. But number 3 I've always heard as Brian.

Then again for the longest time I thought 'Meant For You' was sung by Brian, so I'm probably not the best judge of these things.

Yes, the Spanish lyrics. But everything else is Brian in that tag.

From my notes on the Pet Sounds sessions:

The Alternate Mix from the Capitol box set is a rough mix minus the group vocals that come in during the latter half of the verses, but with the Spanish bit, and with Brian's tape reverb "echo" vocal part at the end (which were not used on the final version). This is likely how the song stood on or shortly after the March 10th vocal session, and possibly when the first album master was assembled April 4th.

It would seem that Vocal Group No. 1 and Vocal Group No. 2 (the group's main backgrounds) were the parts added on April 13th, prior to the first reassembly of the album on April 16th.

Some punch-ins on Brian's verse lead - in fact, there's an obvious punch-in (or punch-out) at the end of the last line of both verses that sounds exactly like Dennis.

Vocal group part is double-tracked except on the Spanish bit

Brian's main chorus lead ("Sometimes I feel very sad") exists on the main lead tracks (the verses), and is double-tracked (a voice is heard just prior to the start of the first chorus lead, indicating a punch-out, and the first syllable of the second chorus ("Some-") is chopped off by a late punch-out...also, at the end of this track, Brian can be heard saying "It's over...OK...put it on 5 now" (meaning this was obviously Track 2),  after which the tail-end from a previous take remains: Brian demonstrating the title line to Dennis, who then sings it through).

Brian's two counterpoints are not doubled ("Ain't found the right thing I can put my heart and sou-l into" and the high "People I know don't wanna be / where I'm at").

Brian reportedly said something similar in '96, when the Spanish part was discovered. Something like, "No, we never did that."

That would be the same Alan Jardine who, during an interview about his solo album, not only insisted "Highway" was unreleased but also denied singing the lead vocal ?

'kay...

Just to clarify, I wasn't using that as any kind of "evidence".  I'm well aware that Al's memory isn't exactly elephantine.  ;)

¿Cuando sere? Un dia sere. (In English would be: When will I be? One day I will be)

On that song, I think Mike and Marilyn sing parts along with Brian.
I think Brian redoing vocals by others on the album mostly involved leads: the bridge of WIBN (although he ultimately reversed his decision there), IWFTD, SLOOP, IJWMFTT.

Slightly off topic but has anyone ever listed all the backing vocal lyrics? I don't want every doo-dit-doo-waah-ey or repeats of the main lyric but where, as here, the background lyrics add new vocals to the song I'd be very interested in reading about them.

When it comes to "I'm waiting for the day" I think Mike's leadvocal (to be heard on the boxset) is fantastic! Would've loved if that one was used on the album

Yeah, Al’s been doing this for decades. I recall a fan story from the 70s or 80s where someone asked Al to sign a copy of “Smiley Smile”, and when Al saw the album, he seemed fascinated and asked where the fan got it, as if it was some long-lost, obscure thing that never got released. Yet, in other interviews, he has specifically talked about the “Smiley Smile” album. I think a lot of cool info can actually be pried out of Al, but sometimes it’s probably helpful to have visual or audio aids. Show him an album, hum him the song, play him the song, and that probably helps for him and probably a lot of the guys in the band.

'Twould make sense; I mean, these guys recorded hundreds upon hundreds of song -- including a vast deal that never saw the light of day -- it's hard to keep things straight. It's easy for us because we listen to this stuff intensely, but I really don't picture any Beach Boys listening to themselves (except maybe Bruce!) and studying their own history...

It's an eye-opener when listeners getting into Pet Sounds realize just how many of those voices on the tracks were Brian's.

Perhaps Al was asked to sign this version of Smiley Smile:

(http://i351.photobucket.com/albums/q476/marcus1970/smiley.jpg) (http://s351.photobucket.com/user/marcus1970/media/smiley.jpg.html)

Man, don't dismiss everything the guy says based on one thing he got wrong. You record like 50,000 songs in the span of 15 years in the middle of touring and writing and trying not to strangle your bandmates etc. etc. etc. and try to keep it all straight. :'(

He didn't originally sing the lead. Billy Hinsche did. There's a lot that anyone whos 72 years old won't remember.