"Cindy, Oh Cindy"

This afternoon, I figured out the chords for "Cindy, Oh Cindy" (a bonus track on the Surfin' Safari/Surfin' U.S.A. reissue) and noticed a couple things about it.

First, here are the chords (with the disclaimer that I might have something wrong):

Introduction
|: C# major | A# minor :|

Verses
|: C# major | A# minor | F# major | C# major :|
C# major | A# minor | F# major | A# minor

Choruses
C# major | G# major | C# major

Coda
C# major

I noticed three small features in the song:

The line "Cindy, don't let me down" in the chorus is sung to a descending phrase (G# G# E# F# E# D#), so while it's negated, there's a musical representation of "let[ting] me down."

At the end of the chorus, the chord progression goes to the tonic (C# major), and there's a tonic note (C#) at the end of the vocal melody for that section (the second syllable of the melisma'd "bound").  The tonic is the musical "home," so there's a musical representation of "And I'll be homeward bound."

The same feature is in the third verse.  The chord progression moves to the tonic, and there's a tonic note (the second syllable of the melisma'd "home"), both of which musically represent the home in the line "Soon I'll be headin' home."

"Heroes and Villains"

Specifically, this is "Heroes and Villains: Part 1 Tag" (disc 2, track 11 of The SMiLE Sessions [Deluxe Edition Box Set]).  I learned the clavinet part back in May, and yester-day I learned one of the two piano parts.  Here's the notation, with - as always - the disclaimer that I might have something wrong.

Clavinet (notated an octave higher than it's played):

Piano (the last half note is held longer; I just didn't want to have to include any more measures):

"Surf's Up"

I never got around to writing about it, but years ago (10 April 2015, according to my records), I noticed that the end of "domino" in "columnated ruins domino" in "Surf's Up" descends, musically illustrating that falling.  After I listened to The SMiLE Sessions box set recently, I started thinking about this again and realized that there's more to it than that.  "Domino" is sung to the notes A F E D, and I think "Surf's Up" is in D minor, so these last three notes are a diatonic descent (they fall downward in the scale without skipping any notes).  One note falls into the next in the same way that one domino falls into an-other, so it's not just the descent that's musically significant here; it's also the intervals.

I also noticed that there's painting imagery in the line "Canvas the town and brush the backdrop."  This might connect with the short quotation of "The Old Master Painter."

"Heroes and Villains"

When I listened to The SMiLE Sessions box set last month, I noticed a couple things about the way some vocals are articulated.  I wanted to wait to write about these until I'd listened to the whole box set, but then I never got around to doing it.

I noticed two small things about "Heroes and Villains."  The line "Once at night, cotillion squared the fight, and she was right in the rain of the bullets that eventually brought her down" is sung to a descending melody, starting at F# and descending diatonically (in C# major) for more than an octave to D#.  This descent seems to represent that bringing "down" in a musical way.

In the cantina section, "margaritas keep the spirit high" is sung to an ascending phrase (B# C# C# D# D# E# E# G# G#), so there's something of a musical representation of that "high."

"God Only Knows"

I recently found some notation I wrote out a couple years ago of the first half of the bass part for "God Only Knows."  This reminded me that I'd learned the chords and French horn for the introduction back in October.  I don't know why I didn't record it then; maybe I intended to look for the bass part but then forgot about it.

"I'm Waiting for the Day"

I just figured out some flute parts in "I'm Waiting for the Day," and I discovered that a couple sections in the flute part have the same rhythm as some sections of the timpani.  Here's the flute part at the beginning (~0:05), which is also repeated over and over again in the coda:

Here's the flute part at ~1:09:

I might be missing some sections, but the timpani follow this same rhythm at the very beginning, throughout the second verse, and in the coda.

"The Girl from New York City"

Yester-day I listened to Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) and noticed a small thing about "The Girl from New York City."  The "every-" part of "every day" in the line "They took a small apartment down on the beach where you find them every day" is sung with three syllables rather than the usual two.  This pronunciation gives a sense of the frequency of how often the titular girl and her friend are on the beach.

"Wind Chimes"

I've been listening to The SMiLE Sessions box set again, and when I listened to disc four a couple days ago, the clarinet and saxophone parts in "Wind Chimes (Version 1)" (track 4) sounded (and were) easy to figure out.  When I referenced the recording on disc 1 (track 16), I discovered that the clarinet and saxophone parts are present there too, although the marimba in the first half of the track isn't present in disc 4, track 4.  Like I mentioned last time I recorded "Wind Chimes," I think there's an edit there.  It seems that disc 1, track 16 is comprised of disc 4, track 5 (first half) and disc 4, track 4 (second half) and maybe even some others.  In any case, I followed disc 1, track 16 for my recording.

Since I recorded this last time, I got a new keyboard, and the marimba voice on it sounds a lot better.  I also used keyboard voices for clarinet and saxophone because I don't (yet!) know how to play those.  Like last time, I used electric bass in place of upright bass (because I don't have one).

"California Girls"

Last week, I was thinking about "California Girls," and I realized something about the second verse.  The "girls" in the line "I've been all around this great big world, and I've seen all kind of girls" is sung with a melisma (A G# F#, I think).  Because "girls" is sung to more than one note, there's something of a musical representation of that wide variety.

"Little Pad"

After I learned the organ part for "Here Comes the Night," I remembered that (back in October) I'd learned the organ part and (I think) marimba for one section of "Little Pad."  So here's that.  It doesn't last very long.

"Here Comes the Night"

Last week, I learned the organ part for "Here Comes the Night" (it's only three notes and two chords).  I learned the bass part last August, and since I now have two parts, I thought it worth it to make a recording (although there's quite a bit of unaccompanied bass and the bottom register of the organ part simply doubles what the bass is playing [just with a different rhythm], so I'm not sure this is very interesting to listen to).  While I was recording this, I also discovered that the piano part at the beginning is the same as one section of the organ part, so I included that too.  I think I have the right notes for the bass riff, but something about it still sounds off to me, so I think I might have the wrong articulation.

"Can't Wait Too Long"

Recently, I was thinking about "Can't Wait Too Long," and then I listened to the version on 1967: Sunshine tomorrow.  I found two small things to write about.

"Forever" in the first line ("Baby, you know that I can't wait forever") is sung with a melisma (E D B C# B), giving a musical sense of that long period of time.  Similarly, the "long" in the backing vocal phrase ("Been way too long") is sung with a melisma (alternately G# F# E and F# E D), also giving a musical sense of duration.

Both of these features are also in the version that's included as a bonus track on the Smiley Smile/Wild Honey re-issue (although, as the liner notes mention, that version is "made up of several different takes").