The Smiley Smile Message Board

In Brian's Facebook post dedicated to David Cassidy, he mentioned they started writing a song together.  After a quick Google search, I found what I assume was the result of that.  I wonder if Brian doesn't remember finishing the song or if Cassidy finished it without him (Gerry Beckley of America and Beckley Lamm Wilson is credited as a co-writer as well).  It's a charming if not particularly memorable song, definitely sounds like a mid-70s Brian composition, it's got that Shortenin' Bread kind of rhythm and progression that Brian was using all over the place at that time and many times since.  Sounds like Brian might be on backing vocals as well but hard to tell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx4GT92-tSY

Just thought it was something interesting to share in the wake of Cassidy's untimely death.

Link doesn't work for me, so here's another one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQO4CWkFBn4


I see what you mean. Didn't know that song before. Thanks for the heads-up!

Thanks to RR for the information and to Rocker for the link. :)

I don't know anything about the song but that Beckley Lamm Wilson credit suggests Carl had a hand in it and maybe not Brian.  The song Brian and David wrote when David visited Brian may not have gotten as far as being completed.

I have David's "When I'm a Rock and Roll Star.....Collection on CD, and Cruise to Harlem is on it. Always liked it, as well as several other tunes on that collection, including Saying Goodbye, which you can hear on You Tube. Talented guy for sure.

Ahh, the video's been removed. I would have liked to hear that.

This one should still be in place (courtesy of Rocker):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQO4CWkFBn4

Thanks, JK ... : - )

I believe you mis-read Rocky Raccoon's post. It probably should be something like this:

Gerry Beckley (of America and Beckley Lamm Wilson) is credited as a co-writer as well

I did mis-read it!  Thanks for pointing it out Rocker!😄

Definitely a Brian co-write but as noted it was a product of the BW piano-pounding sessions at Danny Hutton's house during 1974-75. I was once played a tape of snippets from this time frame, which had versions of "Ding Dang" and "Proud Mary" and something that sounded like an altered version of the piano track from "Mess of Help" that resembled a piano-based backing track for "It's OK" with only a wordless, screamed-out melody line over the top of it.

Cassidy paid a visit to Rhino Records while I was working there in the fall of '77 at a point when his third RCA LP, "Gettin' It In The Street" was still in limbo. The title cut had been released as a single the previous November, barely grazing the charts (somewhere in the mid-90s). When we asked him what happened to the LP, he said that he'd been promised a chance to tour with the LP but that RCA had reneged on the commitment and that the situation had escalated to the point where the initial pressings of the LP, as he said at the time, were "un-released." In '79 the LP was remaindered by RCA and briefly showed up in cutout bins: it included "Cruise to Harlem," which had been finished by Cassidy and Gerry Beckley.

The tape I was played was dodgy quality, maybe a generation or two from the original source, and did NOT include "Cruise to Harlem." One can surmise that this writing session occurred sometime in 1975, as Cassidy was working with Bruce Johnston on the first of two RCA LPs that Johnston would produce for him, "The Higher They Climb, The Harder They Fall" (which had a cover of "Darlin'") and "Home Is Where The Heart Is". The first did pretty well in the UK, but the second was a commercial dud just about everywhere and likely contributed to RCA's case of cold feet with "Gettin' It In The Street."

That was a good informative read, Don. Thank you ...