A few years back Wirestone posted this.
I have to say, I don't know of any band that has songs that literally go through generations before being released. I mean, look at the saga of Sandy / Sherry / Terri / She Says That She Needs Me. That's something like 33 years from first version to last. Smile Era improv / Thankful We Are to Little Children / Saturday Morning in the City 88 / Saturday Morning in the City 95 / Saturday Morning in the City 04 -- some 35 years from first to last. And even the band's last album has a Mike song that was 34 years old on it!
I remember reading about this connection in the Badman book, which does have some inaccuracies as we know. However, the SMITC demo does utilize that left hand melody style that Brian was fond of during the Smile period, and that melody is quite Smile-esque. I have always wondered as to the truth of this connection, and Wirestone's post re-piqued this question as to SMITC's origins
There is a similarity between it and
H&V Part 1 Tag, but not close enough to warrant it being thought of as the same piece.
I would be very interested to know if there is a specific 'Smile era improv' that is circulated which was later worked into SMITC?