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SMiLE is the title of a Beach Boys album that was supposed to be released in '67 but was abandoned when almost completed due to several problems, including the growing alienation of the leader and composer Brian Wilson, his issues with LSD, and his incredible obsessions. The album was meant to be the ultimate masterpiece of the Beach Boys but also to represent a great turn for pop/rock music, a turn that unfortunately, and this was probably the last straw, was anticipated by Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles. As Socrates wonderfully recounted in his review, Wilson realized that they had beaten him to it, and so that album, which had required months of hard work and the use of innovative recording techniques, was forgotten, and from then on, the band began a rapid artistic decline, leaving Pet Sounds to mark the group's compositional peak. The album that was supposed to be, as the subtitle stated, a "teenage symphony to God" was lost forever.
Or at least until 2004, when Wilson alone, with a new group, resurrected SMiLE in all its magnificence and presented it to the world. The album is truly structured like a true classical symphony, divided into three movements: musical themes recur, and the tracks blend into each other. The beautiful chromaticism and Gershwin influences take SMiLE far from those early surf songs for which, especially in Italy, the Beach Boys are always identified. In terms of lyrics, crafted by Van Dike Parks, we are presented with a concept that proposes an epic of America from east to west. The album's title evokes the playfulness of the lyrics, full of inter and intra-linguistic wordplay, and of the music, full of everyday sounds, as in the song "Vega-Tables." Compared to the various recordings of the old abandoned project circulating online, this official edition is extremely faithful to the original intent and sounds. The only drawback of the album is perhaps Wilson's own voice, no longer as young and fresh as in the surf days.
In the album, we can also listen to the original version of "Good Vibrations," a song that was conceived during the Pet Sounds recordings, meant to be part of the abandoned album, and which was eventually slightly simplified in arrangement and altered in lyrics and used for another album in its more well-known version. The work should truly be attentively listened to as a symphony; all movements are beautiful, although personally, I would say that the middle movement is the most successful. In any case, if this album had indeed been released 40 years ago, it probably would have revolutionized music at least as much, and perhaps more, than what Sergeant Pepper and his band did.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Barnyard (00:58)
Out in the barnyard, the chickens do their number,
Out in the barnyard, the cook is chopping lumber
Jump in the pigpen, next time I'll take my shoes off
Hit the dirt doing two-and-a-half, next time I'll leave my hat on...
06 Cabin Essence (03:29)
Light the lamp and fire mellow,
Cabin essence timely hello,
Welcomes the time for a change.
Lost and found, you still remain there.
You'll find a meadow filled with grain there.
I'll give you a home on the range.
Who ran the iron horse?
Who ran the iron horse?
Who ran the iron horse?
Who ran the iron horse?
Who ran the iron horse?
Who ran the iron horse?
Who ran the iron horse?
Who ran the iron horse?
Who ran the iron horse?
Who ran the iron horse?
I want to watch you windblown facing
Waves of wheat for your embracing.
Folks sing a song of the grange.
Nestle in a kiss below there.
The constellations ebb and flow there.
And witness our home on the range.
Who ran the iron horse?
(Truck driving man do what you can)
Who ran the iron horse?
(High-tail your load off the road)
Who ran the iron horse?
(Out of night-life-it's a gas man)
Who ran the iron horse?
(I don't believe I gotta grieve)
Who ran the iron horse?
(In and out of luck)
Who ran the iron horse?
(With a buck and a booth)
Who ran the iron horse?
(Catchin' on to the truth)
Who ran the iron horse?
(In the vast past, the last gasp)
Who ran the iron horse?
(In the land, in the dust, trust that you must)
Who ran the iron horse?
(Catch as catch can)
Have you seen the grand coolie workin' on the railroad?
Have you seen the grand coolie workin' on the railroad?
Have you seen the grand coolie workin' on the railroad?
Over and over,
The crow cries uncover the cornfield.
Over and over,
The thresher and hover the wheat field.
Over and over,
The crow cries uncover the cornfield.
Over and over,
The thresher and hover the wheat field.
Over and over,
The crow cries uncover the cornfield.
Over and over,
The thresher and hover the wheat field.
07 Wonderful (02:06)
Time: 2:13 Irving Music, Inc. BMI
Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks
She belongs there left with her liberty
Never known as a non-believer
She laughs and stays in the one-one-one-wonderful
She knew how to gather the forest when
God reached softly and moved her body
One golden locket
Quite young and loving her mother and father
Farther down the path was a mystery
Through the recess the chalk and numbers
A boy bumped into her one-one-one-wonderful
All fall down and lost in the mystery
Lost it all to a non-believer
And all that's left is a girl
Who's loved by her mother and father
She'll return in love with her liberty
Chased away from the non believer
She'll sigh and thank God for one- one- one- wonderful
10 Surf's Up (04:08)
A diamond necklace played the pawn
Hand in hand some drummed along, oh
To a handsome man and baton
A blind class aristocracy
Back through the opera glass you see
The pit and the pendulum drawn
Columnated ruins domino
Canvass the town and brush the backdrop
Are you sleeping?
Hung velvet overtaken me
Dim chandelier awaken me
To a song dissolved in the dawn
The music hall a costly bow
The music all is lost for now
To a muted trumperter swan
Columnated ruins domino
Canvass the town and brush the backdrop
Are you sleeping, Brother John?
Dove nested towers the hour was
Strike the street quicksilver moon
Carriage across the fog
Two-Step to lamp lights cellar tune
The laughs come hard in Auld Lang Syne
The glass was raised, the fired rose
The fullness of the wine, the dim last toasting
While at port adieu or die
A choke of grief heart hardened I
Beyond belief a broken man too tough to cry
Surf's Up
Aboard a tidal wave
Come about hard and join
The young and often spring you gave
I heard the word
Wonderful thing
A children's song
Child, child, child, child, child
A child is the father of the man
Child, child, child, child, child
A child is the father of the man
A children's song
Have you listened as they played
Their song is love
And the children know the way
That's why the child is the father to the man
Child, child, child, child, child
Child, child, child, child, child
Na na na na na na na na
Child, child, child, child, child
That's why the child is the father to the man
Child, child, child, child, child
12 Vega-Tables (02:19)
I'm gonna be round my vegetables
I'm gonna chow down my vegetables
I love you most of all
My favorite vege-table
If you brought a big brown bag of them home
I'd jump up and down and hope you'd toss me a carrot
I'm gonna keep well my vegetables
Cart off and sell my vegetables
I love you most of all
My favorite vege-table
Oh oh taba vega vegel
I tried to kick the ball but my tenny flew right off
I'm red as a beet 'cause I'm so embarassed
Sleep a lot eat a lot brush em like crazy
Run a lot do a lot never be lazy
Sleep a lot eat a lot brush em like crazy
Run a lot do a lot never be lazy
Oh oh dum do dum de dooby do
Oh oh dum do dum de dooby do
Oh oh dum do dum de dooby do
oh yeah
Oh badumday oh dum do dum de dooby do
Oh badumday oh dum do dum de dooby do
I throw away my candy bar and I ate the wrapper
And when they told me what I did I burst into laughter
I know that you'll feel better
When you send us in
Your letter an'
Tell us the name of your
Your favorite vege-table
13 On a Holiday (02:36)
A pirate with a tune on a holiday
A lazy Mr. Moon on a getaway
And isn't that a mood for a milky way
A ukelele lady around a lei
Rock, rock, roll
Rock, rock, roll Plymouth Rock, roll over
For a holiday
Abash and forth a starboard course
With north abeam, sherry of course
The men will share some sport and now me hearty
Not the rum of Carib' scum
It's port tonight - drink up and come
Un-weigh the anchor Yank and we will party!
A shanty town, a shanty in Waikiki
And juxtapose a man with a mystery
A blue Hawaiian captures his melody
Pauahi O Kalani is what he sings to me
Rock, rock, roll
Rock, rock, roll Plymouth Rock, roll over
For a holiday
Long, long ago, long ago
Whisperin' wind sent my wind chimes a-tinklin'
Whisperin' wind sent my wind chimes a-tinklin'
Whisperin' wind sent my wind chimes a-tinklin'
17 Good Vibrations (04:36)
I, I love the colorful clothes she wears
And she's already working on my brain
I, I only looked in her eyes
But I think of something I just can't explain.
I'm pickin' up good vibrations
She's giving me excitations
I'm pickin' up good vibrations
(Oom bop bop good vibrations)
She's giving me excitations
(Oom bop bop excitations)
Good good good good vibrations
(Oom bop bop)
She's giving me excitations
(Oom bop bop excitations)
Good good good good vibrations
(Oom bop bop)
She's giving me excitations
(Oom bop bop excitations)
I bet I know what she's like
And I can feel how right she'd be for me
It's weird, how she comes in so strong
And I wonder what she's pickin up from me?
I'm pickin' up good vibrations
She's giving me excitations
I'm pickin' up good vibrations
(Oom bop bop good vibrations)
She's giving me excitations
(Oom bop bop excitations)
Good good good good vibrations
(Oom bop bop)
She's giving me excitations
(Oom bop bop excitations)
Good good good good vibrations
(Oom bop bop)
She's giving me excitations
(Oom bop bop excitations)
(Ahhhhhhh)
(Ah my my what elation)
I don't know where but she sends me there
(Ah my my what a sensation)
(Ah my my what elations)
(Ah my my what)
Gotta keep those lovin' good vibrations
A happenin' with her
Gotta keep those lovin' good vibrations
A happenin' with her
Gotta keep those lovin' good vibrations
A happenin'
Ahhhhhhhh
Good good good good vibrations
(Oom bop bop)
(I'm pickin' up good vibrations)
She's giving me excitations
(Oom bop bop)
(Excitations)
Good good good good vibrations
(Oom bop bop)
Na na na na na
Na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na
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Other reviews
By Socrates
After a wait of 37 years, the mythical "teenage symphony to God" would finally see the light again: a smile lit up his pale, wrinkled face.
No, he couldn’t accept it... to hell with all the time and dollars spent on that album that was supposed to represent his personal revenge.
