"Cabin Essence"

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The same time I learned the opening for "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times," I also figured out the bass part for a section of "Cabin Essence."  It should have been obvious just from listening to it because it's only two notes and a common interval (a fourth).  I think this is the first time I've used fuzz bass.

Since I last recorded this, I haven't acquired any of the actual instruments used in the first section, so that still has substitutions for banjo, clarinet, and harmonica.

"Cabin Essence"

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[link to original on tumblr]

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I've been focused on Pet Sounds lately, so last night I thought I'd try figuring out something from SMiLE.  I figured out three parts from "Cabin Essence," but I don't own any of the instruments that they're actually played on.  Instead of banjo, I used guitar, and instead of clarinet and Eb harmonica, I used melodica (with the clarinet part panned left and the harmonica part panned right).  Eventually, I plan on acquiring the correct instruments and learning how to play the parts on them, but currently I don't have the money to do that.

It sounds a bit weird because I couldn't use the correct instruments, but I'm pretty sure that the parts themselves are correct.

"Cabin Essence"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Every other year, I try to listen to all of my music, and while doing this (successfully!) last year, I started to notice the many different ways in which trains can be musically portrayed.  This included the sweeping vocal parts in "Cabin Essence" (I wrote that post really early in the project and got a lot better at writing things as it went on).  At the time, I didn't have the SMiLE Sessions box set, but once I did get it, I also noticed the dobro in the 1966 version of "Cabin Essence" (in track 9 on disc 3 ["Cabin Essence: Chorus"], Brian Wilson mentions it specifically).  It provides a sound that's apparently meant to reflect the hammering of railroad spikes.

Last month, I got a CD of Die Goldene Sieben - a German big band group from the mid- to late-30s.  One of their songs ("Weil der D-Zug-Führer heute Hochzeit macht" ["Because the Express Train Conductor Is Getting Married Today"] credited to Schröder and Beckmann and from 1938) also has - at the very end - this plinking sound to resemble hammering on railroad spikes.  I'm not sure if it's a dobro, but the same effect is achieved.

I remembered this when I listened to disc one of the SMiLE Sessions a few days ago, so I thought I would mention it here.  I don't think it's likely that Brian Wilson knew about Die Goldene Sieben or even "Weil der D-Zug-Führer heute Hochzeit macht" specifically, but I thought it was interesting that there is historical precedence for that dobro effect.

"Cabin Essence"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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I've switched to the 1966 version (The SMiLE Sessions Box Set) for a while.  I listened to the first disc this morning and noticed a few things I'll be writing about for the next few days.

First: the last lines of the first halves of the verses of "Cabin Essence" are doubled with a flute:

Light the lamp and fire mellow
Cabin essence timely hello
Welcomes the time for a change

And

I want to watch you, windblown, facing
Waves of wheat for your embracing
Folk sing a song of the grange

It's present in both versions - the 1966 one and the 2004 one.  (I took the lyrics from the liner notes of the 2004 version, but I've changed the line breaks so it's easier to see how it's articulated.)

I don't really have anything to say about the vocal/instrumental doubling by itself, but I found it interesting that Wilson re-uses this effect.  It's also present (with viola) during the first verse of "I'm Waiting for the Day" from Pet Sounds.

SMiLE

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Yester-day, I listened to SMiLE (the Brian Wilson version - I think I'm going to use that as a basis at least for now because the 1966 version has a lot of alternate parts), and I discovered something about "Roll Plymouth Rock," "Barnyard," and "Cabin Essence" - they all have two-note bass parts for at least large sections (the ends of "Roll Plymouth Rock" and "Cabin Essence" start to diverge).  They aren't always the same two notes, but they're always the root and either the fourth or fifth.

It's interesting that - for all of the complexity in the songs - the bass parts are just a few notes.

Since I have those notes figured out, hopefully I can make some more progress on learning the parts above them.  I've already gotten a few more parts for "Roll Plymouth Rock," which I plan on posting in a couple of days.