On a Holiday

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"Holidays"
Instrumental by the Beach Boys
from the album The Smile Sessions
ReleasedOctober 31, 2011 (2011-10-31)
RecordedSeptember 8, 1966 – July 10, 1967[1]
StudioWestern and Beach Boys, Los Angeles
GenreExotica[2]
Length2:32
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)Brian Wilson
Producer(s)Brian Wilson
Music video
"Holidays" on YouTube

"Holidays" (sometimes erroneously called "Tones") is an instrumental by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was composed by Brian Wilson for their never-finished Smile album. In 2003, it was rewritten with new lyrics by Van Dyke Parks as "On a Holiday" for the project Brian Wilson Presents Smile (2004).[2]

Recording[]

The original Beach Boys' version of "Holidays" was recorded on September 8, 1966 at Western studio. According to historian Keith Badman, the session marked the official start of the album's sessions, although other tracks had been recorded before then.[3] It is one of the few pieces from Smile where every section was performed as part of one whole take.[4]

In 1967, the Beach Boys recycled the piece's marimba melody for the Smiley Smile version of "Wind Chimes".[2] These vocals were later mashed up into the version of "Holidays" that appears on The Smile Sessions (2011).[1]

Wilson's 2004 version of "Holidays" contains mostly the same arrangement, albeit with new vocals. The hook of another Smile track, "Roll Plymouth Rock", was repeated in the chorus.[5]

Reception[]

In the opinion of Consequence of Sound's Dean Essner, the original "has no vocals at all, allowing for the track’s wind instruments and marimbas to gorgeously swell at the front of the mix. But on Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE, Wilson sings a forgettable line about pirates, cluttering up the otherwise simple, feathery melody."[6] PopMatters' Sean Murphy characterized the song as a "Zappa-esque romp".[7]

Bootleg discrepancies[]

Bootlegs of Smile sometimes mislabel the track as "Tones".[8] A 1983 LP bootleg, referred to as the "Brother Records" Smile, included a track titled "Holidays", but was actually Miles Davis' "Here Come de Honey Man" (1959).[9]

Personnel[]

Per band archivist Craig Slowinski.[1]

The Beach Boys

Guest

  • Van Dyke Parks – piano with taped strings, overdubbed slidewhistle (uncertain credit)

Session musicians (later known as "the Wrecking Crew")

  • Gary Coleman – marimba
  • Gene Estes – marimba
  • Sam Glenn, Jr. – clarinet, overdubbed flute
  • Bill Green – clarinet, overdubbed flute
  • Jim Horn – clarinet, overdubbed flute
  • Jay Migliori – clarinet, overdubbed flute
  • Chet Ricard – marimba

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c The Smile Sessions (deluxe box set booklet). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records. 2011.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Priore, Domenic (2005). Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece. Sanctuary. ISBN 1860746276.
  3. ^ Badman, Keith (2004). The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band, on Stage and in the Studio. Backbeat Books. pp. 145, 147. ISBN 978-0-87930-818-6.
  4. ^ Shenk, Lou. "Smile Primer". alphastudio.com. Archived from the original on December 12, 2011. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
  5. ^ Moore, Allan F. (2016). Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song. Routledge. p. 300. ISBN 978-1-317-05265-4.
  6. ^ Essner, Dean (September 27, 2014). "Brian Wilson's SMiLE vs. The Beach Boys' The Smile Sessions". PopMatters.
  7. ^ Murphy, Sean (August 28, 2012). "'SMiLE' and Brian Wilson's Very American Dream". PopMatters.
  8. ^ Priore, Domenic, ed. (1995). Look, Listen, Vibrate, Smile!. Last Gasp. p. 145. ISBN 0-86719-417-0.
  9. ^ Flory, Andrew (2016). "Fandom and Ontology in Smile". In Lambert, Philip (ed.). Good Vibrations: Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys in Critical Perspective. University of Michigan Press. pp. 227–228. ISBN 978-0-472-11995-0.

External links[]

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