SMiLE -- My Trip To England
From The Smile Shop
This post is put together from various posts I made to other forums. I hope there is some new info here, and that the topics are not too jumbled to make sense! -Dan Lega, March 4, 2004
What did I think of SMiLE? It was wild! It was much more ambitious than I could have ever imagined, with the different movements and the songs blending into each other and the same themes showing up in other songs.
It was really magical that first night. I could hardly wait to hear it! I was a bit tired and hungry from all the sight-seeing I had done in London earlier in the day. The first half of the concert was very good, especially the unplugged segment at the beginning. But I really didn't want to hear it -- I wanted to hear SMiLE!
And then when we got it -- wow -- it was definitely worth the wait. The music just flowed over everyone, coming at us from every which way -- with us not having any idea what was coming next. But it was truly a magical experience, and it felt as if I had stepped out of time into another dimension during the whole performance. It really seemed so timeless, so otherworldly.
I think SMiLE 2004 is an unqualified triumph! I think it is a different animal than what might have appeared back in '67 if the stars had been aligned differently, but it still feels as if it is all of one piece and one time. And the pieces all fit together so well!
Now with that being said, I don't think that means we have to quit 'wishing' about SMiLE. We've lived with it ourselves for many years and have naturally built up our own ideas about the ideal mix. I'll go ahead and say it -- I'm hoping they change it a bit when/if they do present it in the US!
But nothing really drastic. I'd add "He Gives Speeches" as an insert to "Wonderful" for one thing. ("He Gives Speeches" seems to be about the only thing which definitely seems to be a true "SMiLE" artefact that didn't make it into the set.) Also, I'd like to hear the "Cornupia" version of "Vegetables", rather than the latter(?) "SMiLE/Smiley Smile" version they are doing. Another thing I'd like to hear would be the "Rock With Me Henry" version of "Wonderful". Or maybe leave out the "Rock With Me Henry" lyrics, but still do all the backing vocals/(tag vocals) on at least one of the verses. Also, Tony Asher's lyrics to Good Vibrations are not as good as Mike Love's. Go back to Mike's -- or have Van Dyke write some new lyrics for the song, as he was asked to (and declined to do) so long ago. Or, if they're going to keep Tony's lyrics, then ask Tony to write a new first line! (Or at the very least change them to... "I love the colorful clothes she wears, Yeah, she's already working on my brain." The way Brian sings it, it sounds like, "I love the colorful clothes YOU wear, And she's already working on my brain," and that doesn't make any sense!) And if you're going to do the 'early' version of "GV", then do more of the early backing harmonies than just the hum-dum-be-do-be-do's. So those are "changes" I'd love to see if and when they do SMiLE in the US!
I think these have been pointed out elsewhere, but just in case they havne't...
Lyrics we couldn't understand before -- "Fresh *clean* air around my head... I'm in the great shape of the *agriculture*"!
First lyrics for the new "Child is Father" section is "Child is Father of the sun"! And straight from Darian, it is spelled S-U-N. (Of course, with Van Dyke's wordplay you can guess that probably he meant it ambiguously as sun/son/Son.)
Darian told us that the new title of "Do You Dig Worms", as per Van Dyke, will be...
"Roll Plymouth Rock"
Darian told me that not everything "new" is new. I'm not exactly sure which song he was talking about, but it could have been "Look/Song for Children" in which Darian was able to listen to the original multi-track tapes, and on there he found bleed over from a previously erased track of a clarinet line, and a Carl line (and maybe some harmony stuff, too?)
Brian does play piano at one point! During the piano break in "Wind Chimes" Brian bends over the piano and used both hands to plunk out the chords, while others do other melody and counter-melody lines. Smiley
One disappointing thing has to do with the booklet. There were absolutely no Frank Holmes drawings in it. We were all speculating why, and now Bob Hanes has explained it to us on the PSML. I'm sure he won't mind me reposting it here...
From the pen of Bob Hanes...
"Frank Holmes maintains he has never seen a "payday" for his work on the SMiLE art. Frank was asked what he wanted, he asked how many were to be sold and for what price and how many of his pics they intended to use. They asked, without answering his inquiries, how much he wanted. He asked again the same questions. They asked again and again, and so did Frank. Finally they asked "once and for all!" Frank answered $50,000. They said he was crazy and greedy. He thought it was a "jumping off point" because they had not answered his questions and in his opinion these are the questions that an artist asks an "art director. Mark London has never been an art director before that anyone can prove to Frank. "They": are Melinda and Mark and the gang at Lippin btw."
When Jack Rieley was on the PSML he told us the story of doing "Surf's Up" in 1971, and how Brian came down from his room and told them to do the "Child Is The Father Of The Man" part at the end, and even gets Jack to write some new words for it. Then Jack asked Brian where that inspiration came from, and Brian replied that he always planned "Child" to go there. I remember how that just didn't seem quite right to all of us, because we knew there was another track, a different track, that had a version of the "Child" lyrics on it. I figured Brian may have been planning on that for a very long time, in fact, during the SMiLE period -- but it seems that it must have been a second option to the "original" "Child Is Father Of The Man" song... but there was still the thought that Brian may have only come up with idea of tacking "Child" onto "Surf's Up" in 1971. But now that we see that Brian apparently intended "Child" to run through several different songs it makes sense that Brian could have always, (or almost always), have had the intention to put "Child" at the end of "Surf's Up", and that did not clash with one (or more) other versions of "Child" appearing on the original album. So one mystery mostly solved!
And on the same theme, Darian said that the "Plymouth Rock" lyrics had similarly always been in "Holidays" as far as he could tell.
At the third concert, Jeff announced that Van Dyke Parks had interviewed Brian earlier in the day! I'm guessing this interview will show up on the DVD. Can't wait to see that! Smiley
Darian said that two months before the concert, as the inevitability of the concerts drew near, and the requests for interviews started to come in, that Brian started freaking out a bit. Luckily they got him through it!
I do believe most of the new words we hear are really new words. The only "new" words we hear that are really old words are the Plymouth Rock lyrics that Frank Holmes shared with ESQ a few years ago. Then again, I don't think we ever get any of the "disconnected telephone lines" lyrics that Frank mentioned for Cabinessence in this new version. And since it appears that all the lyrics for "Child" are new 2003/2004 lyrics, that means that my old idea that Van Dyke had almost assuredly written lyrics for "Child" way back when is erroneous.
As I told Darian that I thought "SMiLE" was much more ambitous than I ever imagined it would be, he said that he sort of had to coax Brian and Van Dyke a couple of times not to tone it down, but to leave it as wild as they were imagining it.
What were my favorite parts of "SMiLE"? I had two parts that sent shivers through my body. One is the solo piano piece near the end of "Child Is Father Of The Man" (before it goes into "Surf's Up"). That solo piano piece is something I find just devastating emotionally. You know how the first part of "Surf's Up" is supposed to be about the decline of civilation, everything going or gone to ruin -- well, that solo piano piece says all that to me in just its music alone! It is perhaps the most gut-wrenching, saddest piece of music I've ever heard!
My second favorite part, believe it or not, is "Over and over the crow cries uncover the cornfield"! There is something so sublime, so ethereal in that combination of words and music that just sends me onto another plane existence. Amazing that the one of most infamous parts of "SMiLE", the part that Mike Love had so much trouble with, resonates with me so deeply! (And it always has -- I love Mike's vocals on the Boys version!)
(And to show that I'm not all heartless about Mike Love, on the third night, Brian, (or someone else on stage) said something about love during the final ovation, and someone in the audience yelled out, "Fuck Mike Love". I thought that was in the poorest taste possible. Brian doesn't hate Mike as far as I know, and I really doubt that he wanted to hear something like that just as they finished "SMiLE". I hope that nothing similar happened at any of the other concerts.)
And if any of you want to check out the Stockholm Strings n' Horns, their website is "www.sthlmstringsnhorns.com", or email them at "info@sthlmstringsnhorns.com". They were a great group of people -- very friendly!
The following is gleaned from interviews and some talks with Darian...
Apparently the process for putting together these historic concerts went something like this: Darian put everything from the SMiLE era on tape/disc for Brian to listen to and then Brian would pick and choose what he thought of as "SMiLE" songs. And when they started out Darian would gingerly tell Brian that they were not really trying to finish SMiLE, but that they were just going to try and put together a concert of SMiLE pieces -- he did this so as not to put too much pressure on Brian.
Darian said that "Time To Get Alone" made it to the first cut of what might be on the set list of the SMiLE concert! "Your Welcome" and "Can't Wait Too Long" and "He Gives Speeches" were on the tape that Darian gave to Brian to start off with, but apparently none of those ever got serious consideration to be a part of the concert. "Fall Breaks and Back To Winter" and "Diamond Head" did make it to an early version of the set list, Darian told us -- but then didn't make it much further after that, I don't think.
So I think after Brian made his first set list, then Darian constructed a CD from the old tapes, of what it might sound like. Then Darian and Brian would work on it some more, with Darian doing transcriptions, and Brian and Darian talking about what works and what doesn't work so well. Apparently there were three "mixes" that Darian did of a possible SMiLE setlist. Each mix was given to the bandmates to help familiarize them with what might be coming up. When Darian had to put together the last version, the version that Brian and Van Dyke eventually came up with, Darian used old tapes of the songs mixed with new "link" track demos recorded by Darian. And when the band heard that they finally all agreed, "Yes, this is it! This is an album we can really perform!"
(I wrote this originally to the PSML, and someone didn't quite get the point I was trying to make, so I tried to clarify with the following...)
Darian presented EVERYTHING from the SMiLE era to Brian to start off with. Brian then chose from that. (Where did Darian get this "EVERYTHING"? Most likely from his own personal CD collection and from the vaults. Yes, Darian really did get to listen to the tapes in the vaults. That is how he was able to listen to isolated tracks and find leftover bleedthrough on things that had been erased!) And since "Time To Get Alone" made it to that early list (along with Diamond Head), then I think we can safely assume that Brian made the first list, not Darian.
After that, Brian, with suggestions from Darian, started grouping songs and "link" tracks together. Whether they finished this first running order together, or whether Van Dyke came in before the first stab at a running order came in, I don't know. I would guess that the first running order was a Brian and Darian collaboration.
But I think we can assume that once Van Dyke was added to the mix that all bets were thrown out and everything was once again out on the table. Because I think we can be pretty sure that with all the new work Brian and Van Dyke did that they pretty much did it on their own, with Darian just taking down notes and transcribing.
So that's how we got to that third and final set list and the CD with a mixture of old tracks and Darian link track demos. I think we can safely say that Brian (and Van Dyke) are the ones who came up with the link tracks and Darian just worked from what Brian and Van Dyke were doing to construct this "working" CD -- the one that band heard and said, "Okay, now we've really got an album to listen to!"
But now here's a caveat about that "EVERYTHING". Of course there some things missing from the vaults. Also, they were still unable to get to the Durrie Parks acetates -- Darian said that they were still "buried" in her garage and too hard to get at. Now this doesn't sound quite right to me -- most likely Durrie is still holding them out for a big payday from Capital. (And I would bet she's holding them out with an outright or implicit OK from Van Dyke, himself!)
And Darian did mention that some SMiLE tapes were definitely missing from the library, so even if the acetates have nothing new, there might still be tapes floating around. Darian said they have an slight lead on someone who might have some or all of the tapes -- but what they can do with this slight information is a big unknown. (And maybe the info is wrong and the person doesn't have any useful tapes anyway!)
Once again, sorry for the hodge-podge nature of this post. As I said, it was compiled from my many different posts to another forum. I hope there was something worth reading in there! Going to London to see the premiere of SMiLE was a fantastic experience. London is a great city, with lots of nice people, and I got to tour some of the English countryside as well which was equally spectacular. I hope I get myself over there again someday soon!
©2004 Dan Lega, all rights reserved.
