The Elements: Fire

"The Elements: Fire"
Song by The Beach Boys from the album SMiLE
Released	November 1, 2011
Recorded	November 28, 1966
Genre	Acid rock[1], psychedelic rock, hard rock, instrumental rock
Length	2:27
Label	Capitol
Composer	Brian Wilson
Producer	Brian Wilson
Cover versions
Brian Wilson
SMiLE track listing
"Wind Chimes" (15) "The Elements: Fire" (17) "Love to Say Dada" (18)

"Mrs. O'Leary's Cow"
Song from the album Smile
Released	28 September 2004
Format	7" vinyl
Recorded	13–17 April 2004 Overdubs: May–June, 2004
Genre	Acid rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock, instrumental rock
Length	2:28
Label	Capitol
Writer	Brian Wilson
Producer	Brian Wilson

"The Elements: Fire" is an instrumental song, also known as "The Elements", "Fire" and "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow", which was written by Brian Wilson. The title is in reference to the Great Chicago Fire. The song was originally intended for The Beach Boys famous unreleased album Smile as part of the "Elements" suite in 1966. However it was released on Brian Wilson's 2004 solo album release of Smile. According to Brian Wilson "the instrumental track was one long, eerie whine. It built slowly, like the beginning of a giant conflagration, and grew so intense it was possible to picture the kindling catching, spreading, and being whipped by the wind into a raging, out-of-control inferno."^[2] The song is partly based upon Brian Wilson's second LSD trip that involved ego death as well as death by fire.^[3]

"Bad Vibrations"

Looking back at the song, Brian Wilson states that he thinks, "The chords were weird, sick, not the straight eight. I ran the miniorchestra through twenty-four takes before I was satisfied. Still, during each version, I thought, Oh God, I'm flipping out to have written such stuff. The weirdest was the crash and crackle of instruments smoldering for the final time. Listening to the playback, I began to feel unnerved by the music, strange and eerie. I liked the music. But it scared me."^[2] According to Brian, "It created a disturbing picture that mirrored the screams that had filled my head and plagued my sleep for years."^[2]

Brian continues that, "On the way home, I remarked, 'You know, I think that music just might scare a whole lot of people.' No one was more scared than I was. The following day I learned that a building next door to the studio had burned down the night of the recording session. Several days later, I was told that since the session an unusual number of fires had broken out in Los Angeles. It was exactly as I feared. Instead of positive spiritual music, I'd tapped into a dark source, an extremely powerful fire music that emitted bad vibrations, which I decided were too dangerous to release into the world."^[2]

Archives

In regard to the Beach Boys version of the song, according to Brian Wilson, "Roughly two minutes of 'Fire' music still exists, locked in the Capitol vaults, where I hope it remains. Not because I still believe it possesses a negative power; that was merely a reflection of how disturbed I was at the time. I hope that segment remains unreleased simply because it's not good music."^[2] Regardless, the music was used as part of "The Beach Boys - An American Band" documentary.

Grammy award

In February 2005, Brian Wilson won the first Grammy Award of his music career, winning a "Best Rock Instrumental" for "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow".

Sources

1. ^ "Out-Of-Sight! SMiLE Timeline". Archived from the original on 2008-03-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20100201234435/http://pages.cthome.net/tobelman/The_Out-Of-Sight_SMiLE_Site.html. Retrieved 30-10-11. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story by Brian Wilson and Todd Gold. Published by Harpercollins, 1991. ISBN 0-06-018313-6
3. ^ "Out-Of-Sight! SMiLE Timeline". Archived from the original on 2008-03-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20100201234435/http://pages.cthome.net/tobelman/The_Out-Of-Sight_SMiLE_Site.html. Retrieved 30-10-11. 

See also

• Mrs. O'Leary