Heroes and Villains

The flagship song for the SMiLE project. Influenced by the success of "Good Vibrations" and its modular approach, Brian tried to recreate a similar single for this new album project, this time with lyricist Van Dyke Parks invoking images of the Old West. Although compositionally a simple song, the lyrics became quite complex—intertextual and full of double entendre. To match this, Brian devised several sections, invoking a mini vaudeville play with several acts. The problem was, Brian constantly changed his mind to which musical 'acts' should be included in "Heroes and Villains".  This resulted in a number of pieces on the cutting room floor—pieces that even sprang to life as their own separate songs (and likewise, several sections were gutted from other songs into "Heroes and Villains"!). The unfortunate reality is that this song, as a whole, was completely in flux since its first rehearsal in October 2nd, 1966 until it was finally finished for the reincarnated Smiley Smile album in June 1967. If you examined Brian's concept for "Heroes and Villains" at any one time during those 9 months, each could be very different!   

Early Construction

Initial recording sessions on October 20th spawned a 'Verse' section that was literally later 'sampled', with different overdubs featured on the same recording to create different verses. On that date, the backing track for the fragment "Barnyard" was also recorded; a week later, the instrumental fragment "I'm In Great Shape" was also recorded. At its earliest inception, both "Barnyard" and "I'm In Great Shape" were simply different pieces of "Heroes and Villains" (following the first Verse), as performed for DJ Humble Harve as a demo in November 1966. Also, famed keyboardist Al Kooper claims that Brian had played him a version of "Heroes and Villains" which contained "My Only Sunshine". No recorded evidence of this has emerged, but it is plausible due to the in-flux nature of the song and the SMiLE project in general. After setting the basic groundwork for "Heroes and Villains" in October with the 'Verse', 'I'm In Great Shape' and 'Barnyard' sections, Brian moved on to other SMiLE songs, leaving “Heroes and Villains” in this unassembled state.   

January Construction 

After recording the bulk of the SMiLE album, Brian decided to focus his energy solely on finishing "Heroes and Villains" as a lead single that December. Brian seemed to have a new vision of its structure (possibly because by January 1967 "I'm In Great Shape" was extracted as its own song. More on that later) and recorded a new chime-driven section called an ‘Intro’ (although curiously it was slated as ‘Part 3’) on December 16th and double-tracked vocals to the Verse himself on December 22nd. On January 3rd, Brian & The Beach Boys recorded a number of separate sections: 'Mission Pak', 'Bridge to Indians' and 'Pickup to 3rd verse', a capella linking movements meant to connect other pieces together; 'Part 1 Tag' a piano instrumental presumably meant to conclude the first section of the song; and 'Bag of Tricks' a bizarre instrumental interlude that consisted of party favor and percussion effects. Also recorded was a segment called 'Do A Lot', which was later extracted and became the chorus to "Vege-Tables". Brian also decided "Heroes and Villains" needed a chorus, so he literally stole one from a different song—“Do You Like Worms?". On January 5th, 'Bicycle Rider' was recorded, meant to be the chorus of "Heroes and Villains" (logged as 'Part 2' [which is debatable; more on the "Part 2" argument later]).  It is unclear how useful these recordings were, as these early January “Heroes and Villains" sessions were ultimately not used...   

February Constructions  

After a few week's break and a rethink, The Beach Boys returned to the song on January 27th and cut a number of new segments: 'In The Cantina', a segment that effectively replaced both 'I'm in Great Shape' and 'Bicycle Rider'; an a capella "Children Were Raised' which actually functioned as a second verse; 'Whistling Bridge' which is self-explanatory; 'All Day' a series of solo piano pieces that were extracted and evolved into its own track ("I Love to Say Dada", which itself evolved into "Cool Cool Water"). At the end of the session, Brian constructed a series of test mixes, the longest of which featured the structure of:  

Verse 1 / Whistling Bridge / My Children Were Raised / Verse 2  

On February 10th, the whole group assembled into Columbia Studios and added group vocals to the segments, and Brian made what I believe was his only finished version of "Heroes and Villains" from the SMiLE sessions. After stealing the 'Fade' from the separate track "The Old Master Painter/"You Were My Sunshine", the structure now featured:  

Verse 1 / a capella verse / In The Cantina / My Children Were Raised / Verse 2 /  Whistling Bridge / Fade  

This alternate version only survives as a mono master and has appeared on several releases, notably on the Good Vibrations boxset from 1993 and as a bonus track in the 90s reissues of Smiley Smile.  While Brian probably turned this master into Capitol as his final “Heroes and Villains”   single, he unfortunately changed his mind several days later...   

On February 15th an elaborate new segment to "Heroes and Villains" was recorded called 'Prelude to Fade', as well as a solo piano arrangement of the Bicycle Rider chorus called ‘Piano Ballad’. Then on February 20th, the Beach Boys recorded four separate sections of a new arrangement of "Heroes and Villains": some a capella with minimal percussion and piano backing, chanting the lyrics "Heroes and Villains" as a very psychedelic barbershop sextet, all overlayed onto a major-key transposition of the Bicycle Rider piano ballad theme. The first section included a preamble of Davis/Levy's "Gee", and the third section devolved into drug-induced laughter and harmonized sighing (and someone stating "Swedish Frog"). It is unclear how these sections could have fit in with the previous sections of “Heroes and Villains”-especially the final master prepared ten days earlier--since they are in a different key and conclude with a diminished chord. Some believe these recordings (as well as the previous 'Prelude to Fade') were meant as the b-side to the "Heroes and Villains" single (aka "Part 2" but more on that later). Others think this was Brian's attempt at creating a chorus for the song with no chorus. Either way, after assembling a rough mix of the four sections, all of this was scrapped. 

March Construction 

Brian Wilson now entered panic mode. The sessions tapes seem to suggest that on the 27th, 28th and then March 1st, Brian attempted to completely re-record "Heroes and Villains" from scratch, with completely new 'Intro', 'Verse', 'Chorus' (a version of the 'Bicycle Rider theme in a key that fits “Heroes and Villains”) and 'Fade' sections recorded under new master numbers. Although this 'Intro' has recently been reappropriated for "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" on modern reconstructions, nothing was done with these recordings and unfortunately, the SMiLE sessions were reaching its conclusion.  

Smiley Smile Construction  

Even though SMiLE was dead and Brian had a new vision for an album recorded mostly at his home in June 1967, he did not give up on the song and several of the previous “Heroes and Villains” sections were resurrected. A new, slower, a capella 'Children Were Raised' section was recorded, as well as new vocals for everything (including the previous session's 'Chorus') and an underlying organ part to connect the sections. This new construction of "Heroes and Villains" was finally released on Smiley Smile: 
Verse / Chorus / Verse 2 / a capella verse / barbershop My Children Were Raise / Chorus  

Without a doubt, "Heroes and Villains", as it resulted on Smiley Smile, lacked the magic and vaudevillian wonder as initially conceived 9 months earlier.  So much of the fun was left on the cutting room floor, known only to bootleggers who created their own versions. The release of the final February 10th master in the 1990s showed how SMiLE could have been. When Darian Sahanaja and Brian were arranging their SMiLE tour in 2003, the pair decided to create a new "Heroes and Villains" that included elements of both the Smiley Smile version and the fan-favorite Feb 10 "Cantina" mix. This compromise, although certainly not concise, was a happy medium and seemed to regain some of the magic of the SMiLE sessions. This is how the song finally appeared on The SMiLE Sessions.