Following up on my prior post it's notable that Jules Siegel was under the impression that Brian had destroyed the Fire master. As Siegel reported "Brian destroyed the master."

Obviously the truth is that Brian had not destroyed the master and this reinforces my prior claim that the whole Fire thing was possibly a fabrication to get out of a situation Brian wanted to get out of.

David Anderle said the point at which he knew they were going to have trouble with SMiLE was Brian's reaction to the "Fire" music, and things did seems to gradually go downhill from there.

Brian's idea that the Fire music could somehow mystically cause an increase of fires in the area is an outward manifestation of some underlying factors.

In my view---SMiLE was about communicating the spiritual/LSD experience to the consumer of the album/art. "Fire" communicated a negative aspect of the spiritual/LSD experience and Brian's sensitivity to this, along with the double bind that he couldn't disclose what he was really working on (for to do so would rob it of its power in the same way something is lost when a joke has to be explained), left Brian in a bind that he needed a way out of. I think the fire paranoia served that purpose and it also led Brian to question his direction and the appropriateness of the project as a whole.

“We went shopping one day and we brought home some wind chimes. We hung them outside the house and then one day, while Brian was sitting around he sort of watched them out the window and then he wrote the song. I think that’s how it happened. Simple. He does a lot of things that way.”
-Marilyn Wilson (“The Beach Boys” by Byron Preiss. 1979)

I said:

Yeah, if my memory serves me well VDP was uncomfortable with the "I'm in the great shape of the agriculture" line.

SweetdudeJim said:

Really? Where did VDP say this? I've never heard of this.

I was given that impression from a November 2004 Endless Summer Quarterly interview with Van Dyke Parks. Now I reread the piece it may be that VDP wasn't comfortable with the sequencing of that section. Here's the part of the interview.

ESQ: Were you involved in the sequencing decisions?
VDP: No. I thought that it was important for Brian to make the decision. I don't take any credit at all for the big picture. I'm not saying that I approve of all the results. When I heard "I'm in the great shape of the agriculture . . . " I wasn't so sure I was going for it.

Al is great. But there is a great disconnect between those who know what's going on and those who don't when we speak about the psychedelic experience. From Al's point of view he's accurate and we all should respect such honesty. No one could ask for anything more. Al is great.

The viewpoint of the album's 3 creative artists is different from Al's in a creative sense. They were more experimental and were privy to an alternate state of consciousness, reality, or what have you.

By virtue of that their art, reflective of that insight, is not easily recognizable to those who have no such experience.

Runnersdialzero said:

I think the BWPS credits are a case of incorrectly thinking they were Van Dyke Parks' work because he was so involved with the original project. A lot of things like this were glossed over for BWPS, and it was to be expected, I guess. Still, in this case, all they had to do was take a look at a copy of Smiley Smile. "Wind Chimes" feels nothing like anything else Van Dyke wrote around this time period and has Brian's name attached to it.

I agree with you. If Van Dyke had a hand in the "Wind Chimes" lyrics it sort of shows that SMiLE wasn't the all about Americana thing it became.

Puggal suggested that Brian had lyrical input & I agree with Puggal.

Bossaro asked what lyric on BWPS didn't agree with Van Dyke Parks.

Yeah, if my memory serves me well VDP was uncomfortable with the "I'm in the great shape of the agriculture" line.

One thing that's cool about SMiLE is that all 3 of the project's creators never have a single problem with any of the other creator's output. Brian has never spoken a bad word regarding Van Dyke's lyrics (tough I will give you that Van Dyke was a bit taken aback by at least one BWPS lyrical choice). Van Dyke never questioned Brian's music and neither Brian nor Van Dyke had any issue with Frank Holmes' art. Brian may question the scope or advanced nature of the project but never does he explain flawed thinking or thematic confusion or anything along these lines.

Basically all three creators have no qualms with the material that was created. SMiLE makes sense to the album's 3 artists.

Fans and basically all of those apart from the 3 creators, on the other hand, have loads of problems with SMiLE. What does this mean? What does that mean? How does this fit with that?

More often than not the fan perspective seems to disintegrate into Brian was doing this stuff that NOBODY understands. Van Dyke added his American viewpoint to the project and Frank was just somebody they found to illustrate Van Dyke's lyrics. Frank basically did his own thing. So it was just 3 guys doing their own thing and that's why Smile is the way it is.

Another fan favorite is to collect reference after reference disclosed by the 3 artists. Eventually they end up with a basket full of references that they cannot connect in any all encompassing sense. This seems to satisfy most fans likely because they believe the artists were all doing their own things.

But based upon the comments of the albums 3 main guys----SMiLE makes sense.

Brian said "I cannot teach you or tell you what I learned from taking it" to Tom Nolan. This is in keeping with the typical ineffability of the spiritual LSD experience.

So when the SMilE creators speak of 'visual' references it is because there is no accurate verbal reference available for the ineffable spiritual experience professed by Brian Wilson to be the basis of SMiLE.

Al Jardine approaches the project from the opposite angle (as do most "experts") by giving tantamount importance to the verbal aspects of the work.

Some have suggested that the Plymouth Rock is a type of chicken that feeds on worms.

The shapes in Lava Lamps can look like worms. I like the idea of the Lava Lamp LSD experience in Brian's totally irresponsible and unreliable bio. When you start such a lamp up the mass eventually rolls over & becomes more like worms. On a Beach Boys LP these things might better be made into something one could relate to their all American image.

Thanks for posting this link.

Outsiders (outside of the basic 3 creative smile people) never seem to get it right, but Al is both honest & diplomatic which is always a welcome commodity in Beach Boys land.

"That's symbolism right? God cannot be conceived of so we therefore give him a literal meaning and he's in the sky so people can understand what is being said." - Brian Wilson from the bonus track 'Brian on "Rio Grande"'

http://www.goodhumorsmile.com/page22.htm


That's the link.

SMiLE artist Frank Holmes was very positive and in support of this essay. He thought it should come out & that's why it is presented in it's original form.

Thank you both for your thoughts and suggestions.

Thank you for the candid response filledeplage.

In order for one to be accurate about the SMiLE era one has to include LSD in the discussion. The way this is done in the essay is through statements made by LSD study volunteers. Their insights further the discussion of SMiLE by adding the drug perspective without having to resort to actual drug taking. It is hoped that people interested in such matters will follow the example set in the article and use the accounts of other's people's to inform and educate.

Arthur Koestler was no fan of psychedelics. His book is a fine example of the possibilities of original thought. Koestler's 'dream' therefore, is not a drug induced one. It is hoped that people further interested in the possibilities of dreams use their own sleep induced dreams for reference.

The new essay is up. Much of it has to do with ideas in the book The Act Of Creation by Arthur Koestler.

It's not perfect but is more accurate than my last go-round. It's likely not for everybody but I'm fairly sure some of you will like it.

http://www.goodhumorsmile.com/page22.htm

Should have posted the actual link. New essay up in a couple of days. It has some first time round stuff.

http://www.goodhumorsmile.com/

Hi folks, my old webpage is back online if anyone is interested.

goodhumorsmile.com

First time I encountered Derek Bill he was answering the phone for Brad Elliot. Later on he was battling with Brad over money or something. Then Derek was having lunch with Frank Holmes. Then Derek was getting into Nick Lowe's music & digging some stuff Lowe said about Brian Wilson in BOMP.

Didn't know him very well but every encounter with him was very positive. I liked him.

Fill me in.

The LSD related experiences depicted in the book have always been my favorite passages.

Studies have shown that LSD experiences can be vividly & emotionally recalled 40 years after they originally occurred (my source for this is a book about Oscar Janiger's LSD studies). If someone invented these accounts for WIBN they did a great job of faking things.

Sorry. Meant to say "three levels."

The idea of themes reappearing in SMiLE matches the Frank Holmes' artwork for the album. As Andrew G.Doe pointed out many of the visual images are "quoted" in other SMiLE images made by Frank.

The idea that the lyrics of "Surf's Up" have something to do with the "Song For Children" displays a similar relationship.

Musically, David Beard of ESQ made the case for the Rondo as being much the basis for SMILE.

What's cool about this is that there's thematic congruence on there levels---music, lyrics, and art.

When cutting the track, Brian can very faintly be heard singing something while playing the song on piano. It's not the "Plymouth Rock" chant (some people thought it was, but most didn't), nor is it really anything anyone else can recognize and may not even be worth reading into much. 'tis indeed on TSS, though.

Is this the short bit that can be found at the 1:20 mark of the "Holidays" sessions track on TSS?