Sweet Mountain

[busy doin nothin]

I have been listening repeatedly to this song and am continually blown away by it.  Unlike the largely "girl group" (though still excellent) feel of the rest of the Spring album, "Sweet Mountain" has a really eerie, beautiful vibe and unique production sound.  It is the only truly new (at the time) Brian Wilson song on the Spring album -- Thinking Bout You Baby, Good Time, and This Whole World had all been recorded and/or released in some form previously.

"Sweet Mountain" seems to me a precursor of a lot of what Brian would be doing in the next five years or so -- I hear suggestions of Funky Pretty, Mount Vernon and Fairway, and much of Love You in the production.  The use of the French lyrics also echoes At My Window.

Does anyone know how extensive Brian's involvement in this song was?  He is credited with co-writing it with David Sandler, but do we know if it's a real Brian Wilson composition or more akin to Deirdre and We're Together Again, where his name just got slapped on a track?  And how involved was he in the production and arrangement?  I've read a post on the Desper search engine in which Mr. Desper says Brian had very little to do with recording the Spring album, but he doesn't specifically discuss Sweet Mountain -- if I had to pick one track that sounds like Brian was really involved Sweet Mountain would be it.

And does anyone know what the lyrics are about?  I hear the chorus as "In care of my sweet mountain of love, au bord de ma chere montagne d'amour."  I'm not sure what "in care of my sweet mountain" means, but I may well be mishearing it.  The French (as I hear it) translates to "on the edge of my dear mountain of love," but I could be mishearing that too, obviously.

[Smilin Ed H]

I was under thge impression that BW was keen to begin with, then he kind of lost interest. I think SD's remarks were pertinent to production rather than writing.  I agree - it's a great track and wouldn't have been out of place on the Sunflower-Holland albums.

[MBE]

Well the way he explained it to me was that Brian wouldn't show up a lot but would be ultra productive when he was. Amazing how good Brian still looked in the 72 Spring promo pic.

[SG7]

Everyone should hear it on 45... pure beauty 

[XY]

I still think it's a rewrite of "My Solution".