"Please Let Me Wonder"

I figured out the organ part in the instrumental section of "Please Let Me Wonder" nearly ten years ago (4 October 2016).  Yester-day, I heard a clip of the song, started thinking about the part again, and then figured out how to notate it.  As always, there's the disclaimer that I may have something wrong:

"Time to Get Alone" [Alternate Early Version]

I recently listened to 1967: Sunshine tomorrow and had a few realizations about the alternate early version of "Time to Get Alone."

In the line "It's so quiet, we can hear for a country mile" (which isn't in the version on 20/20), the phrase "country mile" is sung to notes of all different pitches (F A C), giving a sense of this breadth.  The rather large interval (a fifth) also contributes to the sense of distance.

The instrumental section (also absent from the 20/20 version) seems to borrow a musical figure from the SMiLE sessions.  What I think is trombone plays something like this (the eighth notes are played more loosely than indicated):

(If I'm not mistaken, the song is in D major, but this whole section drops to C major.)

Excepting the A in the sixth measure, the intervals in the last four measures match those in the glockenspiel part in "Look (Song for Children)," which is something like this (again with the eighth notes played more loosely than indicated):

While the meters of the two songs are different, the rhythms of the two figures are also roughly the same:  a pair of eighth notes followed by a note with a longer value to fill out the remainder of the measure.

"Surfers Rule"

I listened to The Very Best of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons yester-day and was finally able to investigate and confirm something I'd suspected about "Surfers Rule" after listening to Surfer Girl in July last year.

In the coda, over the repeated line "Four Seasons, you'd better believe it," Brian sings a wordless falsetto part, something like this:

This is taken almost directly from the Four Seasons' "Walk Like a Man."  At the beginning, Frankie Valli sings his own falsetto part, something like this:

(With some small variation, these phrases also appear in the middle of the song and again in the coda.)

There's a slight difference in the rhythm in the second measure, but the intervals are exactly the same (in the top line, at least).

"Surfin' U.S.A."

I made a video demonstrating the organ solo in "Surfin' U.S.A."  I learned it by ear, so there's the disclaimer that I may have something wrong.

Played with the "mellow" drawbar organ sound on my Hammond SKX, with the Leslie on the fast setting.  I set the drawbars at 60 8878 224.

"Palisades Park"

Last week, I figured out the chords for "Palisades Park" (on 15 Big Ones).  While doing so, I sort of accidentally learned the organ solo, too, and I realized something interesting about it.

I'm missing a few subtleties, but it's basically:

Except for two measures, the solo is entirely chromatic phrases, and I think this is significant.  There's a piece of classical music called Einzug der Gladiatoren, Op. 68 by Czech composer Julius Fučík.  It's often used in conjunction with circuses, and the well-known section is also mostly chromatic.  Here's an excerpt:

The solo in "Palisades Park" uses the same musical vocabulary, and I think the intent is to suggest the carnival atmosphere with which Einzug der Gladiatoren is often associated.  This is similar to the type of environment that the lyrics of "Palisades Park" describe.

I also referenced the version of "Palisades Park" by Freddy Cannon, which I think is the original and which the liner notes of my edition of 15 Big Ones mention specifically.  This feature is there too, but in the Beach Boys' version, it's used to a greater extent and is much more prominent.

"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):

"Stoked"

I've been going through the parts I learned last year and making sure that I actually wrote them down.  In April, I learned one of the guitar parts and the bass part for "Stoked," but I notated only the guitar part.  I vaguely remembered that the bass part just doubles that guitar part (an octave lower), but I had to reference the recording to make sure.

In doing so, I discovered that my notation of the guitar part (which I did in June) is off by a half-step.  I don't understand how I messed this up, but I notated it in Bb major where it's actually in A major.  Like I mentioned in my post from June, the tuning in the recording seems off, so maybe that's how I got confused.

In any case, here's the updated notation.

Repeating guitar phrases:

Bass:

I'm a little unsure of the accuracy of the last measure in each of these.  Additionally, in one iteration of the bass part, it seems that the E quarter note in the second to last measure is replaced by two eighth notes (an E and an A, at about 0:40).  It's a bit difficult to distinguish the parts under the lead guitar though.

"Surfin' Safari"

Earlier this month (the 6th) I figured out the bass part for "Surfin' Safari."  Like the other parts I know from the Surfin' Safari album so far, it's actually pretty simple.  Over the last few weeks, I notated it piecemeal.  Of course, there's the usual disclaimer that I might have something wrong.  I extended the bar lines past the staff in a few places to distinguish some sections (the guitar solo, for example).

As with "County Fair" (the next track on Surfin' Safari), the bass part resembles waves when it's notated.  Because "Surfin' Safari" is about surfing (which involves waves), I'm wondering if this is something of a musical joke.

"Country Air"

Last month, I learned the bass part for "Country Air" from Wild Honey.  Intermittently over the last few weeks, I wrote out the notation.  As always, there's the disclaimer that I might have something wrong:

In some instances, there are glissandi in the transitions from one four-note group to the next, but I didn't include those in my notation.

"Wind Chimes"

Last week I listened to the fourth disc of The SMiLE Sessions, and over the next few days, I learned the bass part and some of the marimba for "Wind Chimes."  (A couple years ago, I thought "Wind Chimes" had xylophone, but it's marimba.)

Here's the first section.  The original track has upright bass, but since I have only electric bass, I used that instead:

I also wrote out the notation for the parts I learned (as always, there's the disclaimer that I might have something wrong).  Here's the marimba:

When I lookt at the sessionography later, I learned that there are four marimba tracks, all played by Van Dyke Parks.  I inadvertently combined two parts in my notation.  In track 5 of disc 4 of The SMiLE Sessions, Brian Wilson tells Parks to "hit 'em both at the same time" and later mentions "D and F#."  There are half as many notes for the first two thirds of the track, so it seems that Parks played two notes simultaneously (on beats one and three) on one pass, and played single notes (beats two and four) as an overdub, aside from the few measures where there are two notes on each beat (the beginning of line five in my notation).  I haven't figured out the other two marimba tracks yet.

I figured out the bass part for the entire track (as it appears on disc 1), but I played only the section for which I also know marimba.  It seems that there's an edit at the end of that section anyway.

I referenced the 2004 SMiLE too and noted a few differences in the bass parts.  Mostly, I was pretty impressed by how closely the 2004 SMiLE matches the track from 1966, but the difference in line 6 bothers me a bit.  In track 5 of disc 4 of The SMiLE Sessions - at about 3:17 - Brian Wilson tells the bassist (Chuck Berghofer), "the pick-up is da da da da da," giving him the pitches for that part.  I'm assuming that the musicians who put together the 2004 SMiLE had access to these tapes, so I can't understand why that's different if Wilson draws specific attention to it on the tape.

"You Still Believe in Me"

I thought I should do something on this blog because to-day's Brian Wilson's birthday, so here's the notation of the opening piano figure for "You Still Believe in Me."  As always, though, there's the disclaimer that I might have something wrong:

"County Fair"

Earlier this month, I finally decided to widen my scope with this project.  Initially, I was looking into only Pet Sounds and SMiLE (with occasional diversions now and then), but now I'm including all of the Beach Boys albums I have.

After deciding this, I listened to the Surfin' Safari/Surfin' U.S.A. re-issue (the first Beach Boys albums seemed like the place to go), and I figured out a few parts in the following days.  One of the parts I figured out was the bass part for "County Fair," and since it was really easy, I even notated it:

Of course, there's the disclaimer that I might be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure that what I have is accurate.

If I'm not mistaken, the guitar part consists of only one phrase:

When I notated the bass part, I noticed that one section has ascending phrases for almost every measure (arpeggiating G6 and D6 chords).  Like I mentioned in this post, the organ part there quotes "Over the Waves."  Since the bass part beneath that quotation looks like waves when notated, I'm wondering if it's meant to be something of a musical joke.

"Cool, Cool Water"

Last month, I learned the bass part for the first section of the version of "Cool, Cool Water" that's on the Sunflower album.  Recently, I notated it (after re-learning what I'd forgotten and discovering that I'd been playing some notes in the wrong octave), and then I compared it to the version from The SMiLE Sessions (the one labelled "version 2").  It's pretty much the same.  The SMiLE Sessions version alternates between Bb and F for a few more measures, and a G note that's a single half note in the Sunflower version is two notes in The SMiLE Sessions version:  a dotted quarter note and an eighth note.

Since it's just one part, I'm not going to record a version (I decided it's not worth it unless I know two simultaneous parts), so here's the notation: