Vegetables (song)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Vegetables"
Song by the Beach Boys
from the album Smiley Smile
ReleasedSeptember 18, 1967 (1967-09-18)
RecordedApril – June 3, 1967
StudioGold Star, Sound Recorders, Columbia, and Beach Boys, Los Angeles
Length2:07
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Brian Wilson
Music video
"Vegetables" on YouTube
Audio sample
Menu
0:00
  • file
  • help
"Vega-Tables"
Song by the Beach Boys
from the album The Smile Sessions
ReleasedOctober 31, 2011 (2011-10-31)
RecordedApril 4–14, 1967
Length3:49
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)
  • Brian Wilson
  • Van Dyke Parks
Producer(s)Brian Wilson
Music video
"Vega-Tables" on YouTube

"Vegetables" (early versions spelled as "Vega-Tables") is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1967 album Smiley Smile. Written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, it was one of the last tracks recorded for the unfinished album Smile and was briefly projected to be that album's lead single. Like other tracks on Smiley Smile, the finished arrangement was more stripped-down than the version conceived for Smile.

The song was partly inspired by Wilson's obsession with physical fitness in the late 1960s. In a contemporary article, he stated, "I want to turn people on to vegetables, good natural food, organic food. Health is an important element in spiritual enlightenment. But I do not want to be pompous about it, so we will engage in a satirical approach."[1] Another reported inspiration for the song was a humorous comment Wilson heard about the effect of marijuana turning him and his friends into a "vegetative" state.

The Beatles' Paul McCartney is rumored to be a guest contributor on early versions of the track that were released for the compilations Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys (1993) and The Smile Sessions (2011). While many witnesses support that he contributed chewed celery noises at an early session, held in April 1967, researchers failed to uncover any audio evidence that would confirm his presence on any surviving recording of the song.[2]

Background[]

The song was composed in 1966 and first attempted during the aborted Smile sessions. In a contemporary article, Wilson said, "I want to turn people on to vegetables, good natural food, organic food. Health is an important element in spiritual enlightenment. But I do not want to be pompous about it, so we will engage in a satirical approach."[1] Biographer David Leaf wrote that the song was based on Wilson's reported health obsession at the time.[3] The Saturday Evening Post writer Jules Siegel said that while using marijuana with Wilson and the "Beach Boys marijuana-consumption squad" Michael Vosse mused at how violence in their "vegetative" state could not be achieved, provoking laughter and further discussion of being a vegetable. Siegel said that this encounter was what inspired Wilson to write the song.[4]

Although it is not definitely known to be true, "Vega-Tables" is generally believed to fulfill the Earth part of "The Elements" suite that Brian envisioned for Smile.[5] One of the illustrations created for the album included "Vega-Tables" as part of "The Elements", however, a preliminary track list from December 1966 indicated "The Elements" and "Vega-Tables" as separate tracks.[6]

The "Vega-Tables" spelling may have been inspired by the Vejtables, a group who opened for the Beach Boys at a concert on January 1, 1966.[7]

Unused sections[]

An early recording of the song, referred to as the "cornucopia" version, features discarded lyrics that were likely to be written by Van Dyke Parks: "Tripped on a cornucopia / Stripped the stalk green and I hope ya / Like me the most of all / My favorite vegetable".[8]

Some versions also feature an interpolated section after the verses involving Barbershop-style vocal harmonies sung by the Beach Boys. The lyrics are "mom and dad say / sleep a lot, eat a lot / brush 'em like crazy / run a lot, do a lot / never be lazy".[citation needed] At one point, this section was considered for inclusion on "Heroes and Villains" under the subheaders "Do a Lot" or "Sleep a Lot".[9]

Artwork[]

Smile artist Frank Holmes' "The Elements" / "My Vega-Tables" illustration

Artist Frank Holmes, who designed the Smile cover artwork, created an illustration that was inspired by the song's lyrics, "The Elements" / "My Vega-Tables". Along with several other drawings, they were planned to be included within a booklet packaged with the Smile LP.[10] In 2005, Holmes shared a background summary of his design choices:

That’s two separate worlds, where they’re able to put two things together. Its an idea I picked up from Asian art, from early woodblock prints, where you could look down into a building and see what’s going on in two or three different rooms. By having this different viewpoint, you’re able to incorporate more than one thing, so here there’s an interior and an exterior, and two separate worlds. It’s just a device to separate the graphics, so that you can experience two things.

That block on the left is supposed to be a photograph of a body of water, with those little black things you clip onto the corners. That was all to do with the elements, of course.

‘Vega-table’ is a split-up word, so I’ve got V-E-G-A sitting on the tops of tables, combining those two images. I got the interior out of the surf thing, with the sun and nature, and birds flying in the sky. Then there’s a picture of someone smiling there, probably Brian. Then there’s all the vegetables growing there, with the water coming down from the bolt of lightning and faucets coming out of the clouds, dripping water onto the plants. And of course the electric socket. Got to have electricity.[11]

Smile sessions[]

Overview[]

External video
video icon "Vega-Tables" (1966 demo)
video icon "Hal Blaine Vega-Tables Promo Session"
video icon "Heroes and Villains: Do a Lot"
video icon "Vega-Tables" (1993 Smile version)
video icon "Vegetables" (long version)

Recording for "Vega-Tables" or "Vegetables" spanned from October 17, 1966 (1966-10-17) through June 15, 1967 (1967-06-15).[12] On November 4, 1966, Wilson produced a session dedicated to capturing a "humorous" situation featuring himself, Parks, Danny Hutton, Vosse, and a man named Bob.[8] Towards the end of the exercise, the group plays a rhythm on bongos while chanting "Where's my beets and carrots" and "I've got a big bag of vegetables".[8] On November 16, Wilson produced another humor session, this time dedicated to recording mock disagreements between Vosse and session drummer Hal Blaine. The latter play-acts as a man that is irate at Vosse for trespassing into his garden. It later turns into a serious conversation between Blaine, Vosse, and Wilson about the planetary alignments. Wilson completes the session by having his own mock disagreement with Blaine. Badman writes, "At one point, it is believed that these recordings will somehow figure into the 'Vegetables' track itself."[13][nb 1]

In February 1967, Wilson announced that "Vega-Tables" would be the lead single from Smile, although he had only recorded the "cornucopia" demo of the song at this point.[14] To taunt the record company, Wilson staged a mock promotion of the "Vega-Tables" by holding a photoshoot at the Los Angeles Farmers Market, where he posed in front of a fruit and vegetable stand.[15][nb 2] Parks was against having the song as the album's single. He later commented, "I am sure I would not have wanted 'Vega-Tables' to be given too much emphasis. For Smile, that celebrated collaboration, to be dependent on a commercial release of 'Vega-Tables' as a single, was to me tremendously ill-advised, wherever it came from."[11] In early April, the band spent at least eight studio dates recording "Vega-Tables" before embarking on a US tour on the 14th of the month.[12]

Parks' last recorded appearance on the album's sessions was for a "Vega-Tables" date on April 14, after which he withdrew from the project.[16] Afterward, Wilson took a four-week break from the studio.[17] On April 29, publicist Derek Taylor reported that a single, "Vegetables" backed with "Wonderful", would soon be released. He described it as "a light and lyrical, day to day, green grocery song on which Al Jardine sings a most vigorous lead."[18]

McCartney visit[]

Paul McCartney reportedly contributed celery-crunching noises at an early session for the song

During the April 10 vocal session at Sound Recorders, which also saw work on "Wonderful" and "Child Is Father of the Man", Paul McCartney of the Beatles joined the Beach Boys in the studio for several hours.[12][nb 3] Al Jardine remembered that:

The night before a big tour, I was out in the studio recording the vocal [for "Vega-Tables"] when, to my surprise, Paul McCartney walked in and joined Brian at the console. And, briefly, the two most influential musical Geminis in the world had a chance to work together. I remember waiting for long periods of time between takes to get to the next section or verse. Brian [seemed to have] lost track of the session. Paul would come on the talkback and say something like "Good take, Al."[3]

KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer said he was present at this session with McCartney: "We were in a booth, and we were supposed to shout out the names of vegetables. I was a young, punk kid at the time, and I shouted out 'TV dinners!' I didn't know ..."[11] Wilson's first wife Marilyn said, "Paul came to the Vega-Tables session. Brian had some fresh vegetables out, for the mood. He sprinkled salt all over the console table near the mixing board and started dipping celery into the salt and chomping on it. Paul followed his lead and picked up the celery and did the same thing. It was priceless to see this."[21]

Asked about his involvement in a 2001 interview, McCartney said he had no memory of chomping vegetables at the session.[22] In 2016, he offered a more specific recollection:

I just went round to the studio because they invited me. I just thought it would be fun to sit there and watch them record, ‘cause I’m a big fan. And so I was there, and then it was, I think, Brian who came over and said, "Oh Paul, got a favor to ask: would you mind recording something?" I thought, "Oh, no! But great, I could do that!" Oh God, I’m gonna be singing on a Beach Boys record or something, you know! I got a bit kind of intimidated and thought, "Okay, here goes nothing". And they said, "Well, what we want you to do is go in there and just munch!" … Well, I can do that! So, if you hear somebody munching celery, that’s me![23]

On the existing tapes for these sessions, McCartney's presence cannot be verified, and it is unclear if any record of his performance has survived. Archivist Craig Slowinski, who assembled the sessionography included with The Smile Sessions box set, stated: "I was ready to credit Sir Paul with 'veggie munching' ... but since no tapes were found with his voice or reference to him, we figured I'd better not. Too hard to say that any veggie munching on his part remained on tape through the final stages of production."[24] Sessions co-producer Mark Linett explained: "Unless Paul is being very quiet, there’s no evidence that he’s a part of the chomping. And there’s quite a lot of discussion going on while that particular track is being recorded."[2]

After the "Vega-Tables" session, McCartney performed his song "She's Leaving Home" on piano for Wilson and his wife.[25] Wilson said: "We both just cried. It was beautiful."[26] He performed "Wonderful" on piano for McCartney.[18] Beatles roadie Mal Evans wrote about singing the traditional "On Top of Old Smokey" with McCartney and Wilson, but was not impressed by Wilson's avant-garde attitude to music: "Brian then put a damper on the spontaneity of the whole affair by walking in with a tray of water-filled glasses, trying to arrange it into some sort of session."[27] In a January 1968 interview, Wilson stated of the McCartney episode that "it was a little uptight and we really didn't seem to hit it off. It didn't really flow. ... It didn't really go too good."[28]

Smiley Smile sessions[]

The Smile album was reported scrapped on May 5, 1967. Starting on June 3, "Vega-Tables" was rerecorded for the new album Smiley Smile,[29] where it was respelled "Vegetables" and reworked as a kind of campfire song,[30] Apart from its coda (recorded April 1967), the track was remade entirely from scratch.[30] Wilson played the electric bass on this version[31] and added organ overdubs to the final section of the song.[21]

According to Al Jardine, "I remember telling Brian, 'We’ve got to do something different on this thing.' What the hell, it was four in the morning. I filled some water bottles, tuned it to the key of the song and blew air into the bottles. What you hear sounds like an old organ."[32]

"Vegetables" was mixed to mono on June 3, 1967. A recording for "You're with Me Tonight", held on June 6, was logged as a "Vega-Tables" session.[21]

"Mama Says"[]

"Mama Says"
Song by the Beach Boys
from the album Wild Honey
ReleasedDecember 18, 1967 (1967-12-18)
RecordedNovember 1967 (1967-11)
StudioWally Heider, Hollywood
Length1:05
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)The Beach Boys
Music video
"Mama Says" on YouTube

In 1967, the song was revisited for the last time as the closing track "Mama Says" on Wild Honey (1967).[29] This version consisted of an extended re-recording of the unused "Do or Lot" or "Sleep a Lot" module. It was the first time a track with thematic links to Smile was used to close a later Beach Boys album, the others being 20/20 (1969) and Surf's Up (1971).[3] Inexplicably, Parks' songwriting credit was not honored, and instead Mike Love was listed as the song's only co-writer.[33]

Other versions[]

Alternate releases[]

  • In 1993, a composite version from the Smile sessions was given its first official release, under its original title "Vega-Tables", along with a slew of other Smile material, on the Good Vibrations boxset.[9]
  • In 2001, some recordings related to the song were released on the rarities compilation Hawthorne, CA.[8]
  • In 2011, many more composite versions were made available on The Smile Sessions.
  • In 2013, a 1993 live performance of the song was released on the compilation Made in California with Carl Wilson and Al Jardine on lead vocals.

Cover versions[]

See also: List of cover versions of Beach Boys songs

In popular culture[]

Personnel[]

These credits pertain to The Smile Sessions version.[21]

The Beach Boys

  • Al Jardine – lead, backing and harmony vocals, miscellaneous percussion and sound effects, vegetable chomping, whistling (uncertain credit)
  • Mike Love – backing and harmony vocals, laughter, vegetable chomping
  • Brian Wilson – backing and harmony vocals, laughter, grand piano, miscellaneous percussion and sound effects, vegetable chomping, detuned grand piano, electric harpsichord, whistling (uncertain credit)
  • Carl Wilson – backing and harmony vocals, laughter, miscellaneous percussion and sound effects, vegetable chomping, Fender bass, overdubbed ukulele
  • Dennis Wilson – backing and harmony vocals, laughter, miscellaneous percussion and sound effects, vegetable chomping, thump percussion, overdubbed drum, xylophone, rattling percussion

Session musicians

  • Arnold Belnick – violin
  • Samuel Boghossian – viola
  • Chuck Berghoffher – overdubbed upright bass (verses)
  • Joseph DiFiore – viola
  • Joseph DiTullio – cello
  • Jim Gordon – hi-hat, castanet, cups
  • Raymond Kelley – cello
  • William Kurasch – violin
  • Nick Pellico – vibraphone
  • Bill Pitman – tenor ukulele (Danelectro bass on early takes)
  • Ray Pohlman – Fender bass (fade)
  • Lyle Ritz – upright bass (fade)

See also[]

  • Radiant Radish – a health food store co-owned by Brian Wilson from 1969 to 1970

References[]

Note

  1. ^ The arguments are similar to those featured in a later Beach Boys track, "T M Song", from 15 Big Ones (1976).[13]
  2. ^ The location was at Fairfax Avenue and 3rd Street, only feet away from where Wilson later opened the Radiant Radish.[15]
  3. ^ McCartney had last met with Wilson in late August 1966, during which he was played an early acetate record of the Beach Boys' forthcoming "Good Vibrations".[19] He returned to the United States in early April 1967 to reunite with his actress girlfriend Jane Asher and to learn of developments in the San Francisco music scene.[20]

Citations

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Badman 2004, p. 160.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "#120 – MARK LINETT – BEACH BOYS SMILE SESSIONS PART 2". Icon Fetch. October 14, 2011.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Leaf, David (1990). Smiley Smile/Wild Honey (CD Liner). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records.
  4. ^ Peet & Siegel 2004, p. 46.
  5. ^ Matijas-Mecca 2017, p. 180.
  6. ^ Priore 2005, p. 86.
  7. ^ Badman 2004, pp. 108, 180.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Badman 2004, p. 156.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Heiser, Marshall (November 2012). "SMiLE: Brian Wilson's Musical Mosaic". The Journal on the Art of Record Production (7). ISSN 1754-9892. Archived from the original on April 15, 2015. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  10. ^ Badman 2004, p. 173.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c Priore 2005, p. [page needed].
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b c Doe, Andrew G. "GIGS67". GIGS66. Endless Summer Quarterly.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Badman 2004, p. 162.
  14. ^ Badman 2004, pp. 173, 178.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b Badman 2004, p. 178.
  16. ^ Badman 2004, pp. 180–181.
  17. ^ Badman 2004, pp. 181, 183.
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b Badman 2004, p. 182.
  19. ^ Taylor, Derek (1967). "The Rock's Backpages Flashback: Paul McCartney Drops In On The Beach Boys". Archived from the original on 2014-07-26.
  20. ^ Sounes, Howard (2010). Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney. London: HarperCollins. pp. 169–70. ISBN 978-0-00-723705-0.
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b c d The Smile Sessions (deluxe box set booklet). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records. 2011.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  22. ^ Bextor, Robin (2001). McCartney (Documentary film). Event occurs at 27:20.
  23. ^ "You Gave Me The Answer - Meat Free Monday Asks..." paulmccartney.com. December 12, 2016.
  24. ^ http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,25265.msg614389.html#msg614389
  25. ^ MacDonald, Ian (1998). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties. London: Pimlico. p. 217. ISBN 0-7126-6697-4.
  26. ^ "100 Greatest Beatles Songs: No. 82 - 'She's Leaving Home'". Rolling Stone. September 19, 2011. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
  27. ^ Edmonds, Mark (20 March 2005). "Here, there and everywhere". The Times. London. p. 3. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
  28. ^ Highwater, Jamake (1968). Rock and Other Four Letter Words: Music of the Electric Generation. Bantam Books. p. [page needed]. ISBN 0-552-04334-6.
  29. ^ Jump up to: a b Badman 2004, p. 188.
  30. ^ Jump up to: a b Matijas-Mecca 2017, p. 81.
  31. ^ Slowinski, Craig (2017). "Re: Does anyone know who played bass on Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, and Friends?". smileysmile.net.
  32. ^ Sharp, Ken (April 2, 2013). "Al Jardine of the Beach Boys: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About "SMiLE" (Interview)". Rock Cellar Magazine. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  33. ^ Wilson & Greenman 2016, p. 262.
  34. ^ Priore 2005, p. [page needed].
  35. ^ "Sir Paul eats with the Animals". April 10, 2001. Retrieved 15 July 2014.

Bibliography

External links[]

Retrieved from ""