Brian Wilson's "pocket symphony", the first single from the "upcoming"
Smile LP, which never materialized, perhaps due to the drug-induced atmosphere that produced this song. A cello riff stolen from Brahms, a normally-falsetto lead singer struggling to mimic a generic bassline, a day-trip to overdub heaven, and something called a Theremin. And - here and there - the familiar vocal harmonies of the Beach Boys. A Finest Hour. A song inspired, IIRC, by the sensitivity of dogs.

A great sex shop on the West Coast. Quality goods, reasonably priced, a professional staff who answer questions without judgement (or giggling.)
It is wonderful to walk into this non-sleazy place and see people shopping for sex toys. There's something nice about a bunch of people not hiding their sexual agenda. You're sharing without words. You know that nobody here is thinking mean thoughts; it's cool to see the pursuit of happiness on such a concrete level. Also, you are reminded that everybody in the place is going home to have sex soon. Definitely a good vibe!

It must be noted that the Berkeley shop has a sex toy museum (which is said to be rather frightening, really). There are only two of the stores, one in San Francisco, and the original in Berkeley--owned, I believe, by sex-positive women. Their website is www.goodvibes.com. (And please don't ask me how I know all that, because I'll just blush and say something about the importance of material culture and pop culture history.)

The lyrics in the w/u above are actually written by Mike Love, not Tony Asher, and while the Smile album remains unreleased Good Vibrations was released on its replacement, Smiley Smile.

Tony Asher did however write lyrics for an early version of the track, later released as a bonus track on the CD version of Smiley Smile/Wild Honey. Those lyrics are:

She's already working on my brain
I only look in her eyes but I pick up something I just can't explain
I hope it's

Good, good, good, good vibrations yeah

I guess I know what she's like
And I can feel how right she'd be for me
It's weird how she comes in so strong
And I wonder what she's picking up from me.

As can be seen these are clearly dummy lyrics, and very different from Love's much better ones.

Oh and pingouin's w/u is incorrect with the line 'a normally-falsetto lead singer struggling to mimic a generic bassline'. The bassline on the chorus is sung by Mike Love, a tenor/bass singer. The falsetto on the Beach Boys' records was sung by Brian Wilson, who sings the falsetto part on this track too. The main lead vocal part on the verses is taken by Carl Wilson except for the half-lines 'I hear the sound of a' and 'when I look', which are sung by Brian because they're higher than Carl's range at that time (the edits are rather obvious).

Little known fact - the theremin sound on this track is not actually made by a theremin, but by an instrument called a tannerin invented by its player Paul Tanner. For live performances this part was played by Mike Love on a Moog ribbon synthesiser with little dots to show him where to put his fingers.


The w/u above has been changed to reflect my correction to Starke, but I've left this fro the extra info

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