Your personal SMiLE mix

[Sheriff John Stone]

....where does the "water chant" go? Do I put it at the start as an intro? Do I stick it somewhere in the middle to "bridge" the two parts?

I usually put "Water Chant" after "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow", the most "popular" way I guess. However, one time I was trying to be different, so I started the CD with "Water Chant" and went immediately into "Do You Like Worms". It sounded awesome! And I thought, wouldn't that be cool to give a SMiLE Sessions CD to a friend who knows nothing about it and start it out like that, with all those voices coming out at you. Mind blowing!

[Jay]

....where does the "water chant" go? Do I put it at the start as an intro? Do I stick it somewhere in the middle to "bridge" the two parts?

I usually put "Water Chant" after "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow", the most "popular" way I guess. However, one time I was trying to be different, so I started the CD with "Water Chant" and went immediately into "Do You Like Worms". It sounded awesome! And I thought, wouldn't that be cool to give a SMiLE Sessions CD to a friend who knows nothing about it and start it out like that, with all those voices coming out at you. Mind blowing!

That's a brilliant way to start the album!  I've always loved the water chant. Who knew that just voices alone could sound so psychedelic?

[Glenn Greenberg]

Submitted for your approval:

1. Our Prayer
2. Heroes and Villains (single version with "cantina" section added, as per BWPS)
3. Do You Like Worms?
4. Barnyard
5. The Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine
6. He Gives Speeches
7. Cabin Essence
8. Wonderful
9. Look
10. Child is Father of the Man
11. Good Vibrations
12. I Wanna Be Around/Workshop
13. Vega-Tables
14. Wind Chimes
15. Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
16. I Love To Say DaDa (with "Water Chant" incorporated at the beginning)
17. You're Welcome
18. Surf's Up (Anne Wallace version--it simply cannot be topped)

I like it, Glenn. Very similar to BWPS, with "Surf's Up" and "Good Vibrations" flip-flopped; but I agree with the change. I'm curious if you ever experimented with flip-flopping "Our Prayer" and "You're Welcome"?

Thanks, Sheriff!

Knowing that "Our Prayer" was always intended to be the album opener, no, I never thought to flip-flop it with "You're Welcome."  In my sequencing, I consider "You're Welcome" to be the lead-in to "Surf's Up," which I see as the end of the journey.  With "Surf's Up," you've reached your destination, and as you're arriving, you're greeted with the message that "you're welcome to come."

[Alex]

....where does the "water chant" go? Do I put it at the start as an intro? Do I stick it somewhere in the middle to "bridge" the two parts?

I usually put "Water Chant" after "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow", the most "popular" way I guess.

I usually put I Wanna Be Around and Workshop after Fire...makes a nice segue into Cool Cool Water.

[Sheriff John Stone]

....where does the "water chant" go? Do I put it at the start as an intro? Do I stick it somewhere in the middle to "bridge" the two parts?

I usually put "Water Chant" after "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow", the most "popular" way I guess.

I usually put I Wanna Be Around and Workshop after Fire...makes a nice segue into Cool Cool Water.

"Cool Cool Water" from Sunflower? Is that where your "Water Chant" is included?

[Alex]

....where does the "water chant" go? Do I put it at the start as an intro? Do I stick it somewhere in the middle to "bridge" the two parts?

I usually put "Water Chant" after "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow", the most "popular" way I guess.

I usually put I Wanna Be Around and Workshop after Fire...makes a nice segue into Cool Cool Water.

"Cool Cool Water" from Sunflower? Is that where your "Water Chant" is included?

YES!! Though I've also done one where it goes from the Wild Honey-era Cool Cool Water into the Water Chant into Love To Say Da Da.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I've also done one where it goes from the Wild Honey-era Cool Cool Water into the Water Chant into Love To Say Da Da.

I once did one very similar. It went "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" into "Water Chant" directly into the Wild Honey "Cool Cool Water", and then it went directly into "I Love To Say Dada". Same concept, slightly different order....

[Sheriff John Stone]

After being dormant for awhile, Jay, Glenn, and Jeff got me going again....

I'm constantly looking for a song to follow "Do You Like Worms". I gotta land that ship! It's rolling over the waves, off into the horizon, but it's gotta land. I need a song to get me to "lost and found you still remain there" and "I'll build you a home on the range" in "Cabinessence". I need a linking song; I've tried "Holidays" and even "Tones". "Tones" kinda sounds like a ship coming into the shore, doesn't it? I suppose I could play it safe and go with "TOMP/YAMS", and utilize the line "please don't take my sunshine away", and go right into "Cabinessence".

But, I keep going back to "Look". Does anybody else think that "Look" sounds like a sailing/boat song? With the "Sloop John B" flutes? The driving beat is the boat chugging along, then one of the mates spots the land and says "Look!" Then the driving beat again, until it finally lands....

I was surprised when "Look" turned out to be a children's song.

[hypehat]

After being dormant for awhile, Jay, Glenn, and Jeff got me going again....

I'm constantly looking for a song to follow "Do You Like Worms". I gotta land that ship! It's rolling over the waves, off into the horizon, but it's gotta land. I need a song to get me to "lost and found you still remain there" and "I'll build you a home on the range" in "Cabinessence". I need a linking song; I've tried "Holidays" and even "Tones". "Tones" kinda sounds like a ship coming into the shore, doesn't it? I suppose I could play it safe and go with "TOMP/YAMS", and utilize the line "please don't take my sunshine away", and go right into "Cabinessence".

But, I keep going back to "Look". Does anybody else think that "Look" sounds like a sailing/boat song? With the "Sloop John B" flutes? The driving beat is the boat chugging along, then one of the mates spots the land and says "Look!" Then the driving beat again, until it finally lands....

I was surprised when "Look" turned out to be a children's song.

Depends how 'Smile' you want it to be, but 'Mona Kani' seems pretty nautical to me

[Alex]

I want Dennis' I Don't Know and the Jasper Dailey tracks to surface so I can stick them in a SMiLE mix!!

Depends how 'Smile' you want it to be, but 'Mona Kani' seems pretty nautical to me

Hell, I've stuck Cool Cool Water, Three Blind Mice, My Little Red Book, and Doves of Free/Indian Wisdom in my SMiLE mixes!!!

[Sheriff John Stone]

Depends how 'Smile' you want it to be, but 'Mona Kani' seems pretty nautical to me

Hell, I've stuck Cool Cool Water....

Do you choose "Cool Cool Water" over "I Love To Say Dada"? While I know "Dada" was composed and recorded during the "SMiLE sessions", "Cool Cool Water" works better in some configurations. It depends if I want to be a purist or not....

[ESQ Editor]

This is one of the best threads online right now. "Cabin Essence" is my #1 favorite Beach Boys recording… Always has been. What's really amazing is there's STILL so much dedication to figuring it out. Ideally, what works for you as a SMiLE lineup, is your SMiLE. That's the beauty of Brian's disjointedness at the time. "Diamond Head" (from Friends) is certainly part of the picture.  Why didn't SMiLE come out in 1966 or 1967? One answer: Chemicals. Debate all you want about Mike Love not liking it, etc., but it was Brian's choices to take chemicals that altered his perception, and it was Brian's choice to shelve it.



BWPS is a finished vision that works. I'm thankful it's out there. But it's a far cry from everything that happened in the 1960s.

[The Song Of The Grange]

I have finally sliced my Smile mix down to a length that would (kind of sort of) fit on an LP in 1967.  It could happen so many ways and I am not completely happy with this order, but when will I ever be completely satisfied with a Smile mix?  Never!  I split the elements up into two.  I go back and forth between GV starting side 2 or ending side 2.  I think it kind of works as the last track, with Surf's Up being Smile's dark night of the soul, and then GV ending on a note of levity.

Side A
Prayer/You're Welcome (they are in the same key and run together well.  I put manic laughing from Brian's skit tapes fading up along with You're Welcome
Heroes and Villains (long version including Great Shape, Barn Yard and Old Master Painter, plus every available H&V section from 1967 versions, also I use the version of the first verse with Mike and Brian trading lead vocals, ends with prelude to the fade and the H&V horn with the descending strings, then barnshine)
Do You Like Worms? (I put the H&V chorus at the end instead of the harpsichord fade)
Cabinessence
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow (Fire, I wanna be around, friday night, 3:03 in length, I cut down the length main fire music just a bit, I used the chimes version of the H&V/Fire intro as the intro)
Vega-Tables (4:50 minute version using cornucopia version as first two verses, with music from Do A Lot run underneath, then I make use of the box set version for the second half, and run an edit of the Vegie arguments over the top of the box set version fade.  Also I use a few chants from the spoken word/skit tapes)

Side B
Wonderful (including He Gives Speeches and parts of the Rock with me Henry version)
Look (edited down to 1 and a half minutes with Gee tacked on to the end.)
Child Is Father Of The Man (including CIFOTM piano version, the isolated backing vox from the end of the 1971 Surf's Up recording and the "boys and girls" H&V backing vocals from Hawthorn CD.)
Wind Chimes (with an intro of a small clip from the "birds" version of Da Da, then box set version, I put heavy breathing from one of Brian's skit tapes over the end))
Water (including pieces of Water Chant and Holidays with lots of water sound effects including the ones on the Bob Gordon's Trip tape.  I open the track with the thunder from Diamond Head--I know this is cheating but it works real well as a link between Windchimes and Water)
Surf's Up
Good Vibrations (with the ending extended using the full backing track without the fade.)

[Sheriff John Stone]

"Diamond Head" (from Friends) is certainly part of the picture.

Gee, thanks, Dave. Now I have to re-think an entire section.

Just kidding....Any thoughts you have regarding your own personal SMiLE mix would be appreciated.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I never used "He Gives Speeches" in a SMiLE mix, mainly because I never knew where to use it? Anybody out there (still) using it, and, where in your mix are you putting it?

[Jay]

Don't Back Down, I really like your mix; I'd like to post an alternate SMiLE mix, using "Heroes And Villains" as the closer:

1. You're Welcome (to come on the SMiLE trip)
2. Do You Like Worms? (we're off!)
3. I Love To Say Dada (keeping the sailing going)
4. The Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine (landing)
5. Cabinessence (I'll give you a home on the range)
6. I Wanna Be Around/Workshop (building the home/barn)
7. Vegetables (cart off and sell my vegetables to pay for the home on the range)
8. "I got a big bag of vegetables" (from Hawthorne - mixed into the end of Vegetables)
9. Holidays (off selling the vegetables)
10. Wind Chimes (resting in the late afternoon)
11. Whispering Winds (mixed into the end of Wind Chimes)
12. Good Vibration (on the WIND that lifts her perfume through the AIR)
13. Look (a continuation of the Good Vibrations riff)
14. With Me Tonight (from Hawthorne; it's now night time)
15. Child Is Father Of The Man (mixed onto the last note of With Me Tonight)
16. Wonderful (farther down the path was a mystery)
17. Mama, Mama, Mama
18. Barnyard (the child wanders down the path to the barnyard)
19. Spanish Guitar snippet (that's the cow kicking over the lamp)
20. Fire
21, Water Chant (taken from Sunflower for the thunder/wind effects)
22. Surf's Up (Intro/Track only)
23. Surf's Up
24. Our Prayer
25. Heroes And Villains Suite (10 minutes long, a review/recap of the SMiLE trip)
26. Boys/Girls (a hidden track - 30 second snippet from Hawthorne)

Note: I love how "Surf's Up" follows the "Water Chant"; it sounds cool, we're still in the night time, and it ties in with the water theme. Also, does anybody see a connection between the barn (and parts of Chicago) burning down and "columnated ruins domino"? 

I like your idea of a "recap", with a H&V Suite.  Dumb question: What's "Mama Mama Mama"?

[Jay]

I've never been 100% satisfied with all of the Vega-Tables edits I've heard. So, I'm making my own version, piece by piece. Let's hope that I am able to hold on to my sanity. 

[runnersdialzero]

"Diamond Head" (from Friends) is certainly part of the picture.  Why didn't SMiLE come out in 1966 or 1967? One answer: Chemicals. Debate all you want about Mike Love not liking it, etc., but it was Brian's choices to take chemicals that altered his perception, and it was Brian's choice to shelve it.

Or he's mentally ill and these things mentioned affected him differently than they would you. There is no single, simple reason it wasn't completed back then.

Also, wut @ "Diamond Head" 'certainly' being part of the picture.

[Wrightfan]

Don't Back Down, I really like your mix; I'd like to post an alternate SMiLE mix, using "Heroes And Villains" as the closer:

1. You're Welcome (to come on the SMiLE trip)
2. Do You Like Worms? (we're off!)
3. I Love To Say Dada (keeping the sailing going)
4. The Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine (landing)
5. Cabinessence (I'll give you a home on the range)
6. I Wanna Be Around/Workshop (building the home/barn)
7. Vegetables (cart off and sell my vegetables to pay for the home on the range)
8. "I got a big bag of vegetables" (from Hawthorne - mixed into the end of Vegetables)
9. Holidays (off selling the vegetables)
10. Wind Chimes (resting in the late afternoon)
11. Whispering Winds (mixed into the end of Wind Chimes)
12. Good Vibration (on the WIND that lifts her perfume through the AIR)
13. Look (a continuation of the Good Vibrations riff)
14. With Me Tonight (from Hawthorne; it's now night time)
15. Child Is Father Of The Man (mixed onto the last note of With Me Tonight)
16. Wonderful (farther down the path was a mystery)
17. Mama, Mama, Mama
18. Barnyard (the child wanders down the path to the barnyard)
19. Spanish Guitar snippet (that's the cow kicking over the lamp)
20. Fire
21, Water Chant (taken from Sunflower for the thunder/wind effects)
22. Surf's Up (Intro/Track only)
23. Surf's Up
24. Our Prayer
25. Heroes And Villains Suite (10 minutes long, a review/recap of the SMiLE trip)
26. Boys/Girls (a hidden track - 30 second snippet from Hawthorne)

Note: I love how "Surf's Up" follows the "Water Chant"; it sounds cool, we're still in the night time, and it ties in with the water theme. Also, does anybody see a connection between the barn (and parts of Chicago) burning down and "columnated ruins domino"? 

I like your idea of a "recap", with a H&V Suite.  Dumb question: What's "Mama Mama Mama"?

I believe it was an insert that was going to be used in the January version of Wonderful. There's 3 parts I believe:
1. Someone going mama mama mama (Mike I believe)
2. Brian (or others) on nose kazoo
3. 1-3 members shouting "we ooh!"

I remember I tacked it onto the original construction of Wonderful once...didn't sound good AT ALL!

[Sheriff John Stone]

Regarding "Mama Mama Mama", what he said^

However, I still use it. I feel like I have to put something after "Wonderful" because of the abrupt ending. I'm still not 100% sure that "Look" (or "Song For Children") was intended to be grafted onto "Wonderful", even though it works well on BWPS.

Because of the lyrics on "Wonderful", I think "Mama Mama Mama" does sound related.

Finally, I use it because I think it sounds cool, and I try to include as much legitimate SMiLE recordings as I can, without it getting too out there.

[Roger Ryan]

Regarding "Mama Mama Mama", what he said^

However, I still use it. I feel like I have to put something after "Wonderful" because of the abrupt ending. I'm still not 100% sure that "Look" (or "Song For Children") was intended to be grafted onto "Wonderful", even though it works well on BWPS.

Because of the lyrics on "Wonderful", I think "Mama Mama Mama" does sound related.

Finally, I use it because I think it sounds cool, and I try to include as much legitimate SMiLE recordings as I can, without it getting too out there.

"Mama Mama Mama" sounds a bit better being grafted on the end of "He Gives Speeches".

[Sheriff John Stone]

"Mama Mama Mama" sounds a bit better being grafted on the end of "He Gives Speeches".

Roger, do you have a personal SMiLE mix and do you use "He Gives Speeches"? If yes, where?

[Roger Ryan]

"Mama Mama Mama" sounds a bit better being grafted on the end of "He Gives Speeches".

Roger, do you have a personal SMiLE mix and do you use "He Gives Speeches"? If yes, where?

The last time I put one together was 1999. I liked BWPS enough that I never bothered doing another one after its release (although I pieced the original recordings together according to the BWPS sequencing just to hear how it sounded).

Here's my 1999 rundown:

1) Prayer (leading into "Gee" and "How I Love My Girl" - yep, just like the official one would do five years later)

2) Heroes & Villains (The string section, clip-clop and flutter horn lead into the "Cantina" mix with the various "Sections" chants interpolated in place of the eventual "Bicycle Rider" chorus. I also worked in the "peace in the valley" verse and the acapella final verse from the single release; the latter featured the "Swedish Frog" grunting section blended underneath so the laughter would breakout prior to Brian's "...by the Heroes and...").

3) Do You Like Worms? ("Bicycle Rider" chorus edited in place)

4) Old Master Painter/You Were My Sunshine

5) Wonderful (just like on BWPS, it transitioned into...)

6) Look (hard edit after the "12th Street Rag" vamp to...)

7) He Gives Speeches (hard edit to "Mama Mama Mama" with unused portion of "Swedish Frog" blended in as couterpoint. Hard edit to...)

The Child Is Father Of The Man (rearranged to include only the early version sessions documented on SOT as well as vocal round and piano. Crossfade into...)

9) Cabin Essence (instrumental chorus track leads into first verse - train effects added. Coda extended instrumentally)

10) Good Vibrations (various sessions act as an extended introduction. Choruses replaced by alternate take choruses. Additional "Hum-de-hum" vocals added from alternate take as well. Ending extended ala Steve Hoffman mix).

11) Vegetables ("Tag To Vegetables" used as an intro. Hard edit on beat to "I wanna be 'round my..." Sections tightened through editing much like BWPS would do)

12) Wind Chimes (just like BWPS, my mix was a blending of the original complete backing track with the marimba-based verse section. Again like BWPS, this led directly into...)

13) Mrs. O'Leary's Cow ("Heroes & Villains Intro" section first followed by string section as BWPS would do. Hard edit after final percussion crash to "I Wanna Be Around". Hard edit on hammer hit to lightning strike effect followed by thunder and rain crossfading into...)

14) I Love To Say Dada (The "Water Chant" was interpolated in the middle of this during the second rest. The unused "My children were raised" section from the H & V single served as an intro to...)

15) Surf's Up ('71 version but crossfaded to Brian's solo version after the "Children's song..." round to extend the outro).

[Sheriff John Stone]

OK, I'm stating the obvious here, but, did you ever notice the similarities between "Do You Like Worms" and "I Love To Say Dada", specifically the nautical theme, the Hawaiian/water chants, and the bass.

I'm always looking for that follow up song to "Do You Like Worms", preferably another "water/ship" song. What about "I Love To Say Dada" following "Do You Like Worms"? It kind of keeps the ship chugging along until it lands.

Then I have to find a follow up song to graft onto "The Water Chant" after "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow". I've been toying with mixing "Diamond Head" into "The Water Chant"; those sparks/ping pings and thunder that begin "Diamond Head" sound cool following "The "Water Chant", and then you're really into the water. The only thing is, "Diamond Head" is a very questionable song for a SMiLE mix - if you're a purist. Anybody?

[Meade]

Mine is composed mostly of the PC mix with a few additions because the mono on some tracks is actually vastly superior in sound to PC's forced stereo (particularly on Wind Chimes), and I subtract "Holidays" because I'm sure that would have stayed an outtake or would have been used on the SMiLE follow up, and it doesn't really fit in the middle of the Elements suite, as BWPS has it, even with the Wind Chimes coda attached.

1. Our Prayer/ Gee
2. Heroes and Villains -- the long version with the linking segments in the end and the Cantina sequence.
3. Do You Dig Worms? -- original title, version where the piano seamlessly segues into the Bicycle Rider sequence, I also added in the vocal overdub version of the opening on it's second appearance in the track.
4. Barnyard/ The Older Master Painter/ You Are My Sunshine
5. Cabinessence
6. Wonderful - mix fades into Song for Children
7. Song for Children
8. Child Is Father of the Man
9. Surf's Up - not the 70's version, original demo with the added instruments and other overdubs.

10. I'm in Great Shape/ I Wanna Be Around
11. Workshop/ Vegetables
12. Wind Chimes -- mono mix, added the "whispering winds" chant at the beginning that fades into the track, and an additional "booming chorus" after the bridge, then it fades out with the "wind chime" piano sequence
13. Cool Cool Water -- mix puts I Love to Say Dada at the end, added echo effect on the chanting middle part (sounds awesome)
14. Mrs. O'Leary's Cow -- added an additional two rounds from another take, no fire effects, but PC added the "Fall Breaks" chants, which sounds good. I put it after Cool Cool Water (although Brian probably would have done it the other way for thematic purposes), I find the track rather climactic, so I put it last in the elements suite.
15. Heroes and Villains --  this is the minute long piano sequence found as a part of the H&V sessions which fades into the "Bicycle Rider" instrumental, quickly segueing out to...
16. Good Vibrations -- PC's "creative liberty" mix with added session vocal overdubs at the end and the extended coda that halts rather than fades out.
17. You're Welcome  (as a hidden track)

Then I also include the tracks "He Give Speeches" (the longer version with the overdubs, and an additional instrumental section I compiled from the first 30 seconds or so that fades out at the end) "Tones" and "Holidays" as bonus tracks. I used to include "Tones" in right between "Do You Dig Worms?" and "Barnyard" but I found it really dragged the album out too long.  

Alternatively, I think if Smile had been released by the rest of the Beach Boys after Brian canceled his involvement, they would have just treated the tracks as more or less like any other album, and it could have looked something like this:

1. Our Prayer/ Gee
2. Heroes and Villains (single)
3. Do You Like Worms?
4. Barnyard/ You Are My Sunshine
5. Cabinessence
6. Wonderful

7. Good Vibrations (single)
8. Child Is Father of the Man
9. Vegetables
10. Wind Chimes
11. Cool Cool Water
12. Fire
13. Surf's Up (piano version)