One of my
favorite Beach Boys compositions, Brian Wilson’s most creative work, done when
he was all of 24. I have three versions on the Zune. One is the original
version, the second a re-working by Brian in 2004 for his recreation of the
“Smile” album, and the third an instrumental version from the “Pet Sounds
Sessions” CD set.
I received
the 45 of this song for my birthday in 1966 (my 12th) and played it
over and over, I loved all the changes that took place during its 3 ½ minutes.
I
particularly enjoy listening to the version from the “Pet Sounds Sessions” CD,
because it strips the vocals from the track and illustrates how beautifully
Brian Wilson built the song.
You hear
the guitar, Hammond Organ, tamborine, then the drums come in, along with the
Theremin and bass, and finally, the sleigh bells!!
As the
Wikipedia entry so eloquently describes it, the song was put together by
“…recording and re-recording…specific sections of music, followed by rough
mixes of the sections edited together, further recording as required, and the
construction of the final mix from the component elements…The various sections
of the song were edited together by Wilson into an innumerable amount of sound
collages, and its production spanned 17 recording sessions at four different
recording studios. The recording is reported to have used over 90 hours of
magnetic recording tape, with an eventual budget estimated between $50,000 and
$75,000 ($360,000 - $ 550,000 today).”
“Pet Sounds”,
the whole album, had cost $70,000.
Hearing the
45 version, I am reminded of the one birthday party I had growing up.
Birthday’s weren’t the event, in my circle of friends (or anywhere back then),
like they are today when you and your kid are judged by the party you put on
for them.
It was
probably my 11th birthday, 1965, I had invited 3-4 guys over to go to see the
latest Jerry Lewis movie, “The Disorderly Orderly,” at the Dundee Main Street
Theater, the closest to Algonquin back then.
We piled
into our Dodge Valiant station wagon and my mom drove us to the theater and
when we got there we found that the movie had changed and so we saw “King Kong
vs Godzilla.”
Quite the disappointment as I
recall.
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