TSS - All things "Barnyard Suite"

[Wrightfan]

Think the lyrics are:
Sunnnnnnnnshine
My only...sunnnnshine
When skies are gray
How much I love...

[P.J.]

2/10/67 - My Only Sunshine: Part 2 (Brian vocals "When The Skies Are Blue")

This is the buried vocal now on the fade correct? It's not Mike? I thought for sure it is.

Well, the Sessionography doesn't mention Mike. Only Dennis and Brian and then the girls.

Oh yeah, I think it might be "gray" instead of "blue".

[Reverend Rock]

Now that I've been living with TSS for a few weeks, I really must say that the one thing I'm not crazy about is the way "I'm In Great Shape" was handled.  It's just too damn busy for me.  I would actually prefer them crossfading Brian's original piano demo into the piano-and-sax-only studio session with the genuine tape-delay overload kept in.  That with just a little reverb added would be just perfect, I think (and since I have that exact thing on my latest fan-mix using TSS tracks with a few other items, no problem!)...

[runnersdialzero]

Now that I've been living with TSS for a few weeks, I really must say that the one thing I'm not crazy about is the way "I'm In Great Shape" was handled.  It's just too damn busy for me.  I would actually prefer them crossfading Brian's original piano demo into the piano-and-sax-only studio session with the genuine tape-delay overload kept in.  That with just a little reverb added would be just perfect, I think (and since I have that exact thing on my latest fan-mix using TSS tracks with a few other items, no problem!)...

Countless folks here have proved the piano demo and the backing track are easily well-synced, it's just NOT well-synced on the box set.

[sly74]

Now that I've been living with TSS for a few weeks, I really must say that the one thing I'm not crazy about is the way "I'm In Great Shape" was handled.  It's just too damn busy for me.  I would actually prefer them crossfading Brian's original piano demo into the piano-and-sax-only studio session with the genuine tape-delay overload kept in.  That with just a little reverb added would be just perfect, I think (and since I have that exact thing on my latest fan-mix using TSS tracks with a few other items, no problem!)...

Countless folks here have proved the piano demo and the backing track are easily well-synced, it's just NOT well-synced on the box set.

Someone else on here said the person who mixed the boxset, while doing the absolute best they could do, "don't have musical ears". I would agree completely. It's no surprise when listening to the 2001 remasters and was unfortunately expected to a degree with this. That said it is, with the "album" aside, worth it. It's too bad a new listener has to hear it this way. Kind of hard to plead the case of it being brilliant. The most I've been able to make convincing is with the H&V sections on disc 1. I hear a lot of "why didn't they use that part?"

[Reverend Rock]

Well, one thing I can say is that the final version of "I'm In Great Shape" on BWPS is absolutely unbeatable to my ears.

[Jeff]

Despite the questionable use of the fly-ins, I love that we now have a "Barnyard Suite" that runs just over three minutes. "I'm In Great Shape" worked fine on BWPS, but placed in front of "Barnyard" feels right. The first movement now has a nice little "day at the farm" section before the sun sets and "Cabin Essence" takes over.

I agree.  The only thing I would like even more is if "Barnyard Suite" followed "Heroes and Villains" and preceded "Do You Like Worms" (thus matching Brian's first thoughts when he was demoing "Heroes and Villains" with Van Dyke early on).  And of course, on my latest fan-mix, that's precisely what happens.

I also think that having Gee, H&V, Great Shape, Barnyard and OMP together is the way to go.  In addition to all originating from the same song, they're all first person narratives, and ending that group with the Barnshine fade is perfect.

I wish that Brian had not vetoed Speeches.  It fits nicely after the Barnshine fade and before Worms.

[Reverend Rock]

Despite the questionable use of the fly-ins, I love that we now have a "Barnyard Suite" that runs just over three minutes. "I'm In Great Shape" worked fine on BWPS, but placed in front of "Barnyard" feels right. The first movement now has a nice little "day at the farm" section before the sun sets and "Cabin Essence" takes over.

I agree.  The only thing I would like even more is if "Barnyard Suite" followed "Heroes and Villains" and preceded "Do You Like Worms" (thus matching Brian's first thoughts when he was demoing "Heroes and Villains" with Van Dyke early on).  And of course, on my latest fan-mix, that's precisely what happens.

I also think that having Gee, H&V, Great Shape, Barnyard and OMP together is the way to go.  In addition to all originating from the same song, they're all first person narratives, and ending that group with the Barnshine fade is perfect.

I wish that Brian had not vetoed Speeches.  It fits nicely after the Barnshine fade and before Worms.

I think "He Gives Speeches" belongs right before "Wonderful".  On all my fan mixes, no matter what else happens, that's always been where it ends up.

[superunison]

I just wonder if the vocals were meant to go on top of the sax line or somewhere else. It's a damn shame we don't have any official vocals for IIGS, Look, etc.

FWIW the lost I'm In Great Shape vocal session was recorded 10 days *before* the short 'eggs & grits' backing track takes. Whatever was recorded at that vocal session it most likely it wasn't intended to go on top of the 'eggs & grits' instrumental.

Wow, didn't know that...... Surprised this hasn't been brought up more. Also, does it drive anyone else crazy that they looped that first phrase on the saxophone before the vocal fly-ins on Great Shape???

[runnersdialzero]

Yes and no. By itself, it's a totally cold intro and almost sounds strange. As we know, it was written as part of "Heroes And Villains", but without knowing *where*, I guess they had to do something or other about it. Not the approach I would have taken, but hay.

[Roger Ryan]

Yes and no. By itself, it's a totally cold intro and almost sounds strange. As we know, it was written as part of "Heroes And Villains", but without knowing *where*, I guess they had to do something or other about it. Not the approach I would have taken, but hay.

For my mix, I chose to lay in the full instrumental run-through of the previous take (no bass overdub) and "splice in" the isolated vocal over the proper take on the beat during the high point of the tape explosion. Obviously extends the track longer than originally intended, but it prepares you for the vocal section without having to repeat the first phrase.

[TheManchesterMan]

Sounds interesting. One thing I've never understood is why the bass just drops out all of a sudden towards the end of the track while the other instruments are still playing.

[krabklaw]

I think "He Gives Speeches" belongs right before "Wonderful".  On all my fan mixes, no matter what else happens, that's always been where it ends up.

Agree 100% with you on that! Not sure why but it just sounds so right there- something similar about their melodies I think. Speeches and Wonderful just sound right together.

[Paul2010]

Sounds interesting. One thing I've never understood is why the bass just drops out all of a sudden towards the end of the track while the other instruments are still playing.

Are we talking about the final, last take of IIGS? I think the instruments continue longer than the bass because the bass was overdubbed. The instrumental take was played a little longer, and the bass probably stops at the point the edit would come or the track would end.

[Reverend Rock]

I think "He Gives Speeches" belongs right before "Wonderful".  On all my fan mixes, no matter what else happens, that's always been where it ends up.

Agree 100% with you on that! Not sure why but it just sounds so right there- something similar about their melodies I think. Speeches and Wonderful just sound right together.

Yes, the melodies both begin with rising quarter-note patterns, but there's a direct lyrical relationship going on too.  "He gives speeches, always reaches out a lot..."  "She belongs there, left with her liberty..."  I've felt for years that the songs are different perspectives on the same relationship.

[krabklaw]

I think "He Gives Speeches" belongs right before "Wonderful".  On all my fan mixes, no matter what else happens, that's always been where it ends up.

Agree 100% with you on that! Not sure why but it just sounds so right there- something similar about their melodies I think. Speeches and Wonderful just sound right together.

Yes, the melodies both begin with rising quarter-note patterns, but there's a direct lyrical relationship going on too.  "He gives speeches, always reaches out a lot..."  "She belongs there, left with her liberty..."  I've felt for years that the songs are different perspectives on the same relationship.

Like the best poetry, both songs are open to interpretation as to their full meaning. I will agree with you that the lyrics to He Gives Speeches and Wonderful feel connected. The "left with her liberty" line I feel is a clue that Parks is referring to all of America, as in "my country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty". That would bring the song back to the whole "see what you've done to the church of the American Indian" theme. "A boy" is not just a boy but the totality of the European invasion of America. The yodeling in the background could represent the cowboys taking the land and fencing off the country into property. Maybe the "chalk and numbers" refers to this division of America's landscape. He Gives Speeches  refers to "silken hair fell on his face and no wind was blowing"- perhaps a callback to Cabinessence line about uncovering the corn field: The corn crops of the Indians are being cut down by the European man to make way for their colonization.  I'm tired now.

[Reverend Rock]

I think "He Gives Speeches" belongs right before "Wonderful".  On all my fan mixes, no matter what else happens, that's always been where it ends up.

Agree 100% with you on that! Not sure why but it just sounds so right there- something similar about their melodies I think. Speeches and Wonderful just sound right together.

Yes, the melodies both begin with rising quarter-note patterns, but there's a direct lyrical relationship going on too.  "He gives speeches, always reaches out a lot..."  "She belongs there, left with her liberty..."  I've felt for years that the songs are different perspectives on the same relationship.

Like the best poetry, both songs are open to interpretation as to their full meaning. I will agree with you that the lyrics to He Gives Speeches and Wonderful feel connected. The "left with her liberty" line I feel is a clue that Parks is referring to all of America, as in "my country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty". That would bring the song back to the whole "see what you've done to the church of the American Indian" theme. "A boy" is not just a boy but the totality of the European invasion of America. The yodeling in the background could represent the cowboys taking the land and fencing off the country into property. Maybe the "chalk and numbers" refers to this division of America's landscape. He Gives Speeches  refers to "silken hair fell on his face and no wind was blowing"- perhaps a callback to Cabinessence line about uncovering the corn field: The corn crops of the Indians are being cut down by the European man to make way for their colonization.  I'm tired now.

Well, you should be tired!  That's quite a bit of brainpower you just used!  How I wish all of these SMiLE discussions probed so deeply into the musical and lyrical riches buried there!

It's very interesting to me to consider the possibility of an "Americana" symbolism beneath the surface romantic/sexual imagery of these two songs.  I think, also, that in a '67 SMiLE, these two songs could have been key to making "Good Vibrations" actually fit the overall sonic and lyrical picture.  On a recent "SMiLE '67" LP-length fan-mix that I did, I placed "He Gives Speeches/Wonderful" as one track in between "Cabin Essence" and "Good Vibrations", with GV closing my "side one" and it made for a very natural progression of musical/lyrical thematics.

[krabklaw]

  On a recent "SMiLE '67" LP-length fan-mix that I did, I placed "He Gives Speeches/Wonderful" as one track in between "Cabin Essence" and "Good Vibrations", with GV closing my "side one" and it made for a very natural progression of musical/lyrical thematics.

That's funny- on my last fan-mix, which I listened to for about 9 years I had Wonderful following Cabinessence also (no He Gives Speeches on that one though).
 The latest mix I've made since TSS came out has He Gives Speches back in there paired with Wonderful. I actually used He Gives Speeches to start off Side 2 as an unlisted track, the same way Our Prayer would have probably led off Side 1 as an unlisted track. I have Cabinessence ending Side 1.

[Disney Boy (1985)]

I'm In Great Shape is the one single track where I prefer the BWPS version to the original BB recordings. I just love the way they really go to town on the crazed reverb at the end. They picked a really boring take for the new SMiLE version, and I don't really undertand why. Listen to the IIGS sessions on disc 2 and you can hear much more exciting takes.

[rab2591]

Does anyone know what the influence for the instrumental of Barnyard was? Like what songs from that era would have been remotely similar to this (in pop culture, western soundtracks, or Disney productions)?

Old McDonald Had A Farm could be an influence, but I can't find a recording from that before that era that sounds like Barnyard.

[Al Jardine: Pick Up Artist]

All the people who were cumming in their pants over Mike's vocals in Barnshine were late to the party -- listen to Old Master Painter - You Are My Sunshine (2) on disc 2 of Secret Smile. It's right there!

[Jim V.]

All the people who were cumming in their pants over Mike's vocals in Barnshine were late to the party -- listen to Old Master Painter - You Are My Sunshine (2) on disc 2 of Secret Smile. It's right there!

Not Mike. It's Brian.

[Al Jardine: Pick Up Artist]

As many times as I'm told that, I find it so hard to believe. Brian on the "Rock With Me Henry"s I'll gladly accept, but this really seems sketchy to me. It sounds *just* like Mike, nasalness and everything.

[Gabo]

I'm In Great Shape is my favorite Smile song. I think the Smile Sessions version turned out beautifully, though Brian Wilson's I'm In Great Shape/I Wanna Be Around/Workshop is more complete and polished.

[IAmTheMilkMan]

I seem to recall people requesting video for when Brian sang a couple lines of Old Master Painter at a Smile show, and I just recently found this on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/d3p6hxoddPs?t=10m39s

Pretty interesting. So is it safe to assume that he intended for there to be lyrics over the Old Master Painter track and he just didn't recall them in time for the recording of the 2004 album? He doesn't seem to remember them all in the video there, either.