Wind Chimes
Encyclopedia
"Wind Chimes" is a song composed by Brian Wilson
and Van Dyke Parks
for the American
rock
band
The Beach Boys
. The original version of the song was written and recorded for the aborted 1966 album Smile. The band completely re-recorded the song for inclusion on their next album, Smiley Smile
. That version was released on the b-side of "Wild Honey", their 1967 single which charted at #31 on the Billboard Hot 100
chart.
When Brian Wilson
returned to finish Smile as a solo project
in 2004, he would record the song again. This version was also used as a b-side, this time for Wilson's solo recording of "Wonderful", which charted at #29 in the UK.
boxset released in 1993. Most reference sources on the Smile project concur that the song was intended as the "Air" section of a planned four-part 'mini-suite' called "The Elements", which was to have been incorporated into the larger structure of Smile; the other sections of the suite were "Vega-Tables" (Earth), "I Love To Say Dada
" (Water), and "Mrs O'Leary's Cow" (Fire).
In its original version, "Wind Chimes" was in AAB form. The finished 'A' sections feature Carl Wilson
on lead vocals, singing over a backing track consisting of marimba
s, percussion, and double bass
. As with all parts of the project, Brian Wilson experimented with a number of variant arrangements for "Wind Chimes" - Takes 1-3 and Takes 8-9 of the A-section backing track feature an alternative arrangement in which the marimbas were replaced by multiple keyboards (possibly celeste
, organ, piano and/or harpsichord
). There is also a surviving alternate vocal version of the A section (possibly a demo) on which Brian sings the lead vocal.
The B section consists of variations on the bass line from the A section, first sung by the whole group over a full backing track, and then, repeated much more quietly, by three pianos. The session tapes reveal that (as in the recording of Pet Sounds) while Brian was usually exacting in his musical demands as a producer, he was also very alert and responsive to improvisations and even apparent "mistakes" made by his session musicians. During a 'pickup' take for the 'B' Section backing track (included in the bootleg Beach Boys compilation Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 17) one of the keyboard players accidentally plays a scale of five semitones, instead of the central 3-semitone riff. Wilson immediately stops the take, enthusiastically declares "That was a good mistake!", and then instructs the musicians to incorporate this accidental change into the next take.
The song was recorded in three sessions. On August 3, 1966 at Gold Star Studios
, Brian Wilson
produced the backing track. Two months later, on October 5, the A sections of the backing track were redone with a much smaller band, and the band recorded their vocals on October 10. The October recording sessions were at Western Studios
and were engineered by Chuck Britz
.
would be released in September 1967 and featured both new songs and new recordings of songs originally intended for Smile. The new version of "Wind Chimes" was recorded by the band on July 10 & 11 at Brian Wilson's home studio. It starts with 2 A sections, just like the original version, but the rest of the song is different, ending with a vocal tag based on a Smile track called "Holidays".
As with the other Smile songs that were re-recorded for Smiley Smile, the arrangement is much sparser than the original recording. Brian Wilson
, Carl Wilson
, Mike Love
, and Dennis Wilson
all take turns on the lead vocals.
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
and Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....
for the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
. The original version of the song was written and recorded for the aborted 1966 album Smile. The band completely re-recorded the song for inclusion on their next album, Smiley Smile
Smiley Smile
Smiley Smile is the twelfth studio album by The Beach Boys, issued in 1967. Released in the place of the much-touted Smile, Smiley Smile is widely considered to be under-produced, and it was received with indifference and confusion upon its unveiling...
. That version was released on the b-side of "Wild Honey", their 1967 single which charted at #31 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart.
When Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
returned to finish Smile as a solo project
Smile (Brian Wilson album)
Smile, sometimes typeset with the idiosyncratic partial capitalization SMiLE, or referred to as Brian Wilson Presents Smile is a solo album by Brian Wilson, with lyrics by Van Dyke Parks released on September 28, 2004 on CD and two-disc vinyl LP...
in 2004, he would record the song again. This version was also used as a b-side, this time for Wilson's solo recording of "Wonderful", which charted at #29 in the UK.
Original version
"Wind Chimes" was originally written and recorded for the Smile project. It is one of the few songs that was completely finished for the album and was included as one of the previously unreleased tracks on the Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach BoysGood Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys
Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys is a 1993 boxed set released by Capitol Records which collects tracks spanning The Beach Boys' entire career to that point on four CDs. A fifth disc contains mostly studio session tracks, complete vocal and instrumental tracks, and rare live...
boxset released in 1993. Most reference sources on the Smile project concur that the song was intended as the "Air" section of a planned four-part 'mini-suite' called "The Elements", which was to have been incorporated into the larger structure of Smile; the other sections of the suite were "Vega-Tables" (Earth), "I Love To Say Dada
Cool, Cool Water
"Cool, Cool Water" is a song written through several incarnations by Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks, and Mike Love for the American rock band The Beach Boys.-Premise:...
" (Water), and "Mrs O'Leary's Cow" (Fire).
In its original version, "Wind Chimes" was in AAB form. The finished 'A' sections feature Carl Wilson
Carl Wilson
Carl Dean Wilson was an American rock and roll singer and guitarist, best known as a founding member, lead guitarist and sometime lead vocalist of The Beach Boys...
on lead vocals, singing over a backing track consisting of marimba
Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
s, percussion, and double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
. As with all parts of the project, Brian Wilson experimented with a number of variant arrangements for "Wind Chimes" - Takes 1-3 and Takes 8-9 of the A-section backing track feature an alternative arrangement in which the marimbas were replaced by multiple keyboards (possibly celeste
Celeste
- People :* Celeste Holm , US actress* Madame Céleste , French dancer and actress* Celeste , American former pornographic actress* Dick Celeste , governor of Ohio from 1983 to 1991...
, organ, piano and/or harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
). There is also a surviving alternate vocal version of the A section (possibly a demo) on which Brian sings the lead vocal.
The B section consists of variations on the bass line from the A section, first sung by the whole group over a full backing track, and then, repeated much more quietly, by three pianos. The session tapes reveal that (as in the recording of Pet Sounds) while Brian was usually exacting in his musical demands as a producer, he was also very alert and responsive to improvisations and even apparent "mistakes" made by his session musicians. During a 'pickup' take for the 'B' Section backing track (included in the bootleg Beach Boys compilation Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 17) one of the keyboard players accidentally plays a scale of five semitones, instead of the central 3-semitone riff. Wilson immediately stops the take, enthusiastically declares "That was a good mistake!", and then instructs the musicians to incorporate this accidental change into the next take.
The song was recorded in three sessions. On August 3, 1966 at Gold Star Studios
Gold Star Studios
Gold Star Studios was a major independent recording studio located in Los Angeles, California, United States. For more than thirty years, from 1950 to 1984, Gold Star was one of the most influential and successful commercial recording studios in the world....
, Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
produced the backing track. Two months later, on October 5, the A sections of the backing track were redone with a much smaller band, and the band recorded their vocals on October 10. The October recording sessions were at Western Studios
United Western Recorders
United Western Recorders, often abbreviated to UWR, was a renowned recording studio complex in Hollywood, California, which became one of the most successful independent recording studios in the world in the late 1950s and 1960s....
and were engineered by Chuck Britz
Chuck Britz
Charles "Chuck" Dean Britz was a recording engineer who most famously worked with Jan and Dean, Brian Wilson, and The Beach Boys on numerous albums between 1962 and 1967....
.
musicians
- Charles C. Berghofer - upright bass
- Hal BlaineHal BlaineHal Blaine is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine played on numerous hits by popular groups, including Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Frank CappFrank CappFrank Capp is an American jazz drummer.Capp was born August 20, 1931 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. He began playing with Stan Kenton starting in 1951 and remained with Kenton for some time. Later he joined Neal Hefti's group. He often accompanied Peggy Lee on some of her road dates and...
- percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration... - Al de Lory - pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
- William Green - clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
- Sam Glenn - saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
- James Horn - clarinet
- Al JardineAl JardineAlan Charles "Al" Jardine is a founding member of top-selling American music group The Beach Boys, a guitarist and occasional lead vocalist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.-Early life:...
- vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Carol KayeCarol KayeCarol Kaye is an American musician, best known as one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists in history, playing on an estimated 10,000 recording sessions in a 55 year career....
- bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Larry KnechtelLarry KnechtelLawrence William "Larry" Knechtel was an American keyboard player and bassist, best known for his work as a session musician with such artists as Simon & Garfunkel, Duane Eddy, The Beach Boys, The Mamas & the Papas, The Partridge Family, The Doors, and Elvis Presley, and as a member of the 1970s...
- organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with... - Mike LoveMike LoveMichael Edward "Mike" Love is an American singer/songwriter and musician with The Beach Boys. He was a founding member of the band along with his cousins Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, and their friend Al Jardine, and continues to perform with the band to the present day...
- vocals - Jay MiglioriJay MiglioriJay Migliori was an American saxophonist, best known as a founding member of Supersax, a tribute band to Charlie Parker....
- saxophone - Van Dyke ParksVan Dyke ParksVan Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....
- unknown - Don Randi - piano
- Lyle Ritz - upright bass
- Brian WilsonBrian WilsonBrian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
- vocals - Carl WilsonCarl WilsonCarl Dean Wilson was an American rock and roll singer and guitarist, best known as a founding member, lead guitarist and sometime lead vocalist of The Beach Boys...
- guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, lead vocal - Dennis WilsonDennis WilsonDennis Carl Wilson was an American rock and roll musician best known as a founding member and the drummer of The Beach Boys. He was a member of the group from its formation until his death in 1983...
- vocals
Smiley Smile version
After Smile was abandoned, the group quickly recorded an album, to be released in its place. Smiley SmileSmiley Smile
Smiley Smile is the twelfth studio album by The Beach Boys, issued in 1967. Released in the place of the much-touted Smile, Smiley Smile is widely considered to be under-produced, and it was received with indifference and confusion upon its unveiling...
would be released in September 1967 and featured both new songs and new recordings of songs originally intended for Smile. The new version of "Wind Chimes" was recorded by the band on July 10 & 11 at Brian Wilson's home studio. It starts with 2 A sections, just like the original version, but the rest of the song is different, ending with a vocal tag based on a Smile track called "Holidays".
As with the other Smile songs that were re-recorded for Smiley Smile, the arrangement is much sparser than the original recording. Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
, Carl Wilson
Carl Wilson
Carl Dean Wilson was an American rock and roll singer and guitarist, best known as a founding member, lead guitarist and sometime lead vocalist of The Beach Boys...
, Mike Love
Mike Love
Michael Edward "Mike" Love is an American singer/songwriter and musician with The Beach Boys. He was a founding member of the band along with his cousins Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, and their friend Al Jardine, and continues to perform with the band to the present day...
, and Dennis Wilson
Dennis Wilson
Dennis Carl Wilson was an American rock and roll musician best known as a founding member and the drummer of The Beach Boys. He was a member of the group from its formation until his death in 1983...
all take turns on the lead vocals.
See also
- The Beach BoysThe Beach BoysThe Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
- Smiley SmileSmiley SmileSmiley Smile is the twelfth studio album by The Beach Boys, issued in 1967. Released in the place of the much-touted Smile, Smiley Smile is widely considered to be under-produced, and it was received with indifference and confusion upon its unveiling...
- List of songs by The Beach Boys