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| May 23, 2024, 11:01:23 PM |
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Did Van Dyke Parks write all of the lyrics on Smile?
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on: December 29, 2016, 07:50:42 AM
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Respectfully, this is where I miss most the old Smile Shop. I remember some stellar threads with in-depth analysis of the Smile lyrics. That was when nobody would have considered "Surf's Up" too obscure (it's called poetry, folks; when everybody can understand all of it at first read, it's usually called prose). It was brilliant stuff, and I wish I had saved it somewhere.
Sorry, and back on topic. My take is that in this case the credits are correct. For all songs where VDP's name appears, lyrics are typical of his style, stratified, rich in wordplay and cultural references (though I'm sure that Brian had significant input on the subject matter). For Wind Chimes, I agree with Sound of Free that lyrics are typically "Brian", emotional and to the point, with no wordplay but effective imagery. Brian is a much better lyricist than he gets credit for.
I think "Mahalo lu lei" (which, by the way, is not gibberish: it was actually translated) was a Brian/VDP collaboration.
I was recently taken to task about that lyric myself. It is clearly pronounced "wahala" and not "mahalo" on both BWPS and the 1966 sessions. As to any proper translation of either phrase, I challenge anyone to do it. I searched the internet and did not come with anything satisfying. I've read that Parks claims no responsibility for the Hawaiian chant at all. It really does just seem to be something that Brian thought sounded good. Interestingly, if you have a copy of the original BWPS London concerts, you can hear that they use the word "mahalo", but it was changed or corrupted in the recording process for the BWPS album. Apparently it was a case of "As we returned to the studio to record "Mahalo" or "Wahala", we always got them confused." |
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Should the Beach Boys play the Trump inauguration?
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on: December 01, 2016, 10:44:57 PM
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The vast majority of people consider The Beach Boys as white bread, conservative, and out-of-touch with modern-day standards of political correctness as any band can be. As much as I loathe the idea of a President Tic-Tac administration, I believe the Beach Boys participation in a dance held in his honor would mean nothing and change nothing. I would even daresay that the large majority of people in a typical Beach Boys audience nowadays are Trump supporters.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Do You Like Worms? A New Slideshow Video
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on: November 24, 2016, 08:52:10 AM
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Nicely done indeed, although the historical pedant in me shifts uncomfortably in my chair at "British discovery of Australia - 1770".
Thanks! Not really a history buff myself, but I tried my best. What would you change? With some cursory reading, my understanding of things is that the world was aware of this land mass in the South Pacific for a long time through exploration by countries other than England. It wasn't until Capt. Cook was assigned by England to find and map the mysterious land mass that it was clearly defined as the Australia we know today. It wasn't my intention to say that England was the first country to discover any of Australia, although I see how it could be interpreted that way. I can only use a very limited number of words obviously. |
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: SMiLE Mysteries Continued (or, Heaven Preserve Us, Bee's Back)
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on: September 23, 2016, 07:25:37 AM
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Hi all, nice to be back. Sorry for creating yet another Smile thread in the context of the recent chats on various aspects of the album. I lurked back in a few days ago and, having had a read or two, had a question and a few consolidated thoughts on ideas I've previously posted about.
The question: I've seen in several recent threads the mention of a newly documented 'I'm in Great Shape' session from - I think - December '66. I can't find my copy of the Smile Sessions book with c-man's excellent Sessionography, but I don't recall this being included. Can anyone please elucidate in terms of musicians/BBs involved etc? This sounds like an an intriguing little window snapping open.
And now, the suppositions:
Wilson's Razor, or, If the simplest answers were the correct ones, we'd all have world peace:
1. What was the original (post-May) 1966 structure of 'Heroes and Villains'?
From the hands and mouth of BW himself, in mid-Nov '66: H&V Verse (up to 'she's still dancing... and hook) /I'm in Great Shape/(something else, possibly, then 'another section now': /'Barnyard'
2. What was 'I'm in Great Shape'?
The section containing the lyrics 'I'm in Great Shape', tracked under at least one session logged as 'I'm in Great Shape'. The IIGS tracking being a 40 second snippet, it almost certainly would not have been a named track on the Capitol memo/cover listing if it remained that one short section. Logic suggests, then, that it stayed connected to its fellow orphaned H&V section demoed for 'Humble Harv', 'Barnyard'. ('Barnyard' being tracked as an H&V session, as well as being connected to IIGS in that runthrough). Going by the surviving documentation, 'Workshop/I Wanna Be Around', the notation for which includes the parenthetical (Great Shape), might well have been a late-Nov attempt to fill out the song - which, by December, had become a full track according to the cover slicks and 'Capitol Memo'.
[Further: this gives us four individual compositions, including 'Barnyard', running to approx 2.45 - a not unusual track length for the mid-sixties - matching up with the description Brian (allegedly) gave in the Priess 'autobio' as 'a four part Barnyard suite.' In short: IIGS/BY/IWBA/WS (not necessarily in that sequence) constituting, in essence: 'I'm in Great Shape' (from the LP cover), some kind of 'Heroes and Villians (Part Two)' (being an expanded medley based around two original sections of that song), and a four-part 'Barnyard Suite' (from the Priess 'autobiography'.)]
3. What were 'The Elements'?
According to VDP through the auspices of AGD, this was going to be a collection of unbanded tracks linked by crossfades. We have two parts that a fair case can be made for from surviving documentation: 'Fire' (actually logged as 'The Elements (Part One)') and the '66 'cornucopia' version of 'Vega-Tables' (attributed by Frank Holmes, from VDP's lyric sheets, as 'The Elements' in the LP booklet). Which leaves, presumably, 'Air' and 'Water'. (I'd also accept arguments for 'My Vega-Tables' being either of these, considering no direct documented connection to the 'Earth' element exists). Maybe one of the remaining two parts is indeed 'Wind Chimes' (short version) or Mike Vosse's 'water sound' tapes, which he recalls Brian spoke about editing into a full musical composition. Maybe they were never fully conceived or recorded. What we do have are two 90-120 second tracks directly attributed to this suite, which indicate an approach in terms of section length if not overall style. (Note: it's quite possible the April-May 'Dada' sessions were an attempt to add to the track after an overall change in album conception occurred in Dec '66-Jan '67.)
4. Where was 'He Gives Speeches' meant to fit in?
As an insert/middle eight to the first tracked version of 'Wonderful', obviously. We know that at least one version of 'Wonderful' included either a 30-second(ish) insert recorded on a) the same day or b) actually cut into the song. The first version of 'Wonderful' and 'HGS' appear to have been tracked on the same day, have clearly VDP-esque lyrics, [orginally] a Brian-only vocal, and connect with the same themes of man/woman dichotomies and childhood turning into parenthood. My intuition: Brian knew it didn't work as an insert, so HGS was (rightfully) discarded before any rough assemblies were made. Still: later versions of 'Wonderful' - 'Rock Me Henry', certainly, but also possibly the remake recorded on the same day as the 'Child is Father' April piano-and-voice session - had an insert of about the same length, with similarly stripped down instrumentation, at about the same point. (Sidenote: There's an interstitial bass riff, incidentally, that links 'Wonderful', 'CFOTM' and 'He Gives Speeches', very nicely indeed. And OMP, as a matter of fact.)
So. You'll notice I've avoided any conjecture on internal Beach Boys strife (real or retrospectively imagined) or the inner workings of Brian or Van Dyke's psyches at the time. Just wanting to throw the last few month's thoughts on the subject open to argument, expansion, elucidation or inquisition. I don't pretend to be any kind of expert or eye-witness (being born in New Zealand in 1982 doesn't help your chances of being a fly-on-the wall in 1966 LA) but I do believe the above makes some kind of basic logical sense.
Of course, I could be wrong on that - would really love to hear your thoughts if so. And it is, genuinely, nice to be back.
I go along with a lot of what you say. As a 4 part 'day on the farm' barnyard suite my IIGS choices would be: IIGS (sunrise), Barnyard (morning/getting to work), Do A Lot (afternoon), With Me Tonight (sundown/evening). For the Elements I use LTSDD (Second Day) for Air, then Fire, then LTSDD for Water, the IWBA/Workshop for Earth (the rebuidling after the fire). |
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: CALLING ALL CREATIVE MEMBERS ON SMILEY SMILE! Let's write some lyrics!
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on: September 18, 2016, 03:24:14 PM
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In case you may not have been around, I am re-posting these long lost Smile lyrics that I discovered quite a few years back. Their exact origin is unknown even to me, but I can testify that they are 100% legitimate. I'm not at liberty to say who the author is reputed to be, except to say that, in very faint ink, I discovered the initials 'ML', barely legible, down in the right hand corner of the manuscript. Make of this what you will:
THE ELEMENTS
Fire, water, earth, and air,
Elements are everywhere.
On the beach, your car, and pad,
They’re not just a passing fad.
All around the world you see
The Elements in harmony.
The wind blows through her long blonde hair,
I smell her perfume in the AIR.
A girl like her is cool to find-
Mother Nature blows my mind.
Old Yeller is my shovel ride.
We’re tearin’ down the countryside.
Like Mother EARTH, it moves my soul,
When I’m moving the earth, and digging a hole.
FIRE hot as the summer sun,
Makes me think of fun fun fun.
Here comes that shiny red fire truck,
Guess that flame’s run out of luck.
Like waves that come a-crashin’ down,
Near sunny Honolulu town,
WATER’s cooling down the heat,
A glass of it just can’t be beat.
Fire, water, earth, and air,
Elements are every where,
At the local high school hop,
The drive-in and the record shop.
All around the world you see
The Elements in Harmony.
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