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Look (Song for Children)
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = Look (Song for Children)
| cover =
| alt =
| type =
| artist = the Beach Boys
| album = The Smile Sessions
| released =
| recorded = 1971
| studio = Western and Beach Boys,
| genre =
| length =
| label = Capitol
| writer = Brian Wilson
| producer = Brian Wilson
| misc =
}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Song for Children
| cover =
| alt =
| type =
| artist = Brian Wilson
| album = Brian Wilson Presents Smile
| released =
| recorded = 2004
| studio = Sunset Sound, Hollywood
| genre =
| length =
| label = Nonesuch
| writer =
| producer = Brian Wilson
| misc =
}}
"'Look'" (also known as "'I Ran'" and "'Untitled Song #1'") is an instrumental composed by American musician Brian Wilson for the Beach Boys' never-finished album 'Smile'. Wilson later completed the track as "'Song for Children'", with new lyrics written by Van Dyke Parks, for the 2004 album 'Brian Wilson Presents Smile'.
Background
"Look" was one of the earliest pieces recorded during the 'Smile' sessions. Musicologist Philip Lambert speculated that some parts of the music possibly evolved from one of the riffs in "Good Vibrations".
Recording
The instrumental track for "Look" was recorded on August 12, 1966 at Western studio. It was titled "Look" on the tape box, but on the AFM sheet, it was logged as "Untitled Song #1" with a runtime of 2:16. The instrumentation featured upright bass, vibraphones, keyboard, French horn, guitars, organs, trombone and woodwind. Take 20 was marked as best.
Capitol Records documentation suggests that, on October 13, all six Beach Boys were involved in a vocal overdubbing session for the track, now logged as "I Ran (Formerly Untitled Song #1)" with a 3:10 runtime. Writing in 'The Smile Sessions' liner notes, Craig Slowinski said that "a tape from that session has not turned up in a search of the Capitol and BRI vaults."
In November, journalist Tom Nolan wrote about Wilson in 'The Los Angeles Times West':
'Brian Wilson Presents Smile'
"Look" was later rewritten as "Song for Children" during the assembly of 'Brian Wilson Presents Smile' (2004). According to Darian Sahanaja: "I was moving things around in Pro Tools, putting things together to show Brian. I dropped 'Wonderful' next to 'Look', and we listened to it. Brian's eyes lit up, and he said 'That's 'it'! That's how we'll do it!'"
Van Dyke Parks subsequently supplied lyrics to be sung in overlapping harmony vocals to further establish connections with other tracks on the album, especially those within the second movement, and it was renamed from "Look" to "Song For Children". In this version, the "Twelfth Street Rag" section is not performed. "Song for Children" served as the link between "Wonderful" and "Child Is Father of the Man", thus being the second track of the album's second movement.
Personnel
Per band archivist Craig Slowinski.
'The Beach Boys'
* Carl Wilson vocals (sampled from a 1971 recording for 'The Smile Sessions')
'Session musicians' (later known as "the Wrecking Crew")
* Hal Blaine drums
* Jimmy Bond upright bass
* Frank Capp bongos, tambourine, glockenspiel
* Ray Caton trumpet
* Dick Hyde tuba
* George Hyde French horn
* Barney Kessel 12-string electric guitar
* Larry Knechtel harpsichord
* Al de Lory grand piano
* Jay Migliori flute
* Bill Pitman Danelectro fuzz bass
* Ray Pohlman Fender bass
References
Buy Look (Song for Children) now from Amazon
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