Dennis' fascination with the "Child is Father of the Man" melody

[CenturyDeprived]

Just gave a spin to Pacific Ocean Blue in honor of Denny's bday... and man, "Time" just kills me. It's so hauntingly good. I've always recognized the "Child is Father of the Man" melody which comes in around the middle of the song, but interesting how he already had used that (as of then unreleased) CIFOTM melody of Brian's, on his own "Little Bird" 9 years earlier.

I wonder if this haunting melody just touched him so much and left so big an impact when he first heard it in '66 when recording CIFOTM (as it did to me when I first heard it) that he felt compelled to return to it twice in his own work. Maybe it was Denny's way of keeping some piece of SMiLE alive, since at the time of POB, there seemed to be no reason to think it would ever actually be finished or come out. Denny knew that the melody was just too good to let slip away. I've always felt the CIFOTM melody was one of the most heartbreaking and memorable parts of the SMiLE saga, even going back to the days when all we had was scraps on Vigotone boots...

[Orange Crate Art]

Child Is Father Of Man is one of my favorite SMiLE songs. I love the haunting sound to it. I'm constantly adding it to mix cds. Love that spooky piano bit.

[Slow In Brain]

Thanks for pointing out the other song that contains CIFOM. Brian also returned the favour by incorporating Dennis songs into his own. Pity that they both weren't in better condition during the period when they were writing and recording together...City Blues should have been worked on more.

[buddhahat]

Which part in Time sounds like CIFOTM? I'm really not hearing it!

I always found it fascinating that Dennis claimed to have written, or co-written Child. There's that quote in LLVS where he talks about the cowboy song he's working on or something. Then the child riff shows up in Little bird. Why would Dennis so obviously reference one if his brother's songs in that way? Did he really love it that much? Makes more sense if he actually co-wrote it. And the slow part to Child sounds really Dennis to my ears. I occasionally wonder if there's any truth to that quote ...

[CenturyDeprived]

Which part in Time sounds like CIFOTM? I'm really not hearing it!

I always found it fascinating that Dennis claimed to have written, or co-written Child. There's that quote in LLVS where he talks about the cowboy song he's working on or something. Then the child riff shows up in Little bird. Why would Dennis so obviously reference one if his brother's songs in that way? Did he really love it that much? Makes more sense if he actually co-wrote it. And the slow part to Child sounds really Dennis to my ears. I occasionally wonder if there's any truth to that quote ...

Compare the piano melody in "Time" starting at 1:25-ish to the creepy piano melody starting at 0:27 in TSS version of "CIFOTM".
Granted, the part in "Little Bird" that shares a bit of "CIFOTM" is a different part (chorus) of "CIFOTM".

That would be fascinating if Denny had a hand in some aspect of the original "CIFOTM" SMiLE melody.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Um...

A confirmed DW composition from the Smile era is "I Don't Know" which is, to be polite about it, simplistic (and a nascent "Mona Kana", fwiw). Anyone here really, seriously, think that someone who wrote that also composed the sublime "Child" riff we're talking about ?

[c-man]

Brian is credited as arranger on the "Little Bird" 45 label, and he definitely co-produced the track with Dennis, so it could very well have been his idea to use that "CIFOTM" riff.