"Pet Sounds"

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A few days ago, I listened to the last disc of The Pet Sounds Sessions, and I noticed a phrase in the bass part of "Pet Sounds."  I started figuring it out, but I don't have much more than the first phrase.

What I found interesting is that - when notated - that phrase forms a cross:

I should note that this phrase doesn't occur on the first beat as my notation would seem to suggest; it actually occurs on the third beat of the first measure the bass is in.  I'm not sure of the key, but based on what I know of the guitar part, I think it's Bb major.

I first ran across this idea of inscribing crosses in music while reading John Eliot Gardiner's Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven.  He illustrates how Bach does this in Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4:

I'm not sure if Brian Wilson was aware of this sort of thing, but I've read a few things where he talks about how he wanted the music on Pet Sounds to be spiritual.  In the liner notes to the 1990 CD re-issue, he says, "Carl and I were into prayer.  We'd pray together, and we prayed for light and guidance through the album."  That quote is included in the comments about "God Only Knows," but it seems that it could apply to the title track and its inscription of the cross too.

"Pet Sounds"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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I listened to Pet Sounds last week, and I learned some of the guitar parts for the title track.

I think the second phrase should be an octave higher than I've played it, but I haven't found a good way to play it that high yet.  Also, it might be on twelve-string in the original; I just played it on six-string because on twelve-string it becomes really obvious when you shift from the strings that are the same note in different octaves to the strings that are the same pitch.  I still find glissandi on twelve-string difficult too, and this requires a few of them.