She's Goin' Bald

"She's Goin' Bald" is a song written by Brian Wilson, Mike Love, and Van Dyke Parks for the Beach Boys' 1967 album, Smiley Smile. Like many of the songs on that album, it has roots in the abandoned Smile album, as the short song "He Gives Speeches". Both compositions follow the "How Dry I Am" progression.^[1]

Background

"He Gives Speeches" was recorded for the abandoned Smile. After the collapse of Smile, "He Gives Speeches" was left unreleased.

The song was later rewritten and rerecorded for Smiley Smile as "She's Goin' Bald" with new lyrics by Mike Love. In 1995, Brian Wilson said that it was only a coincidence that Love himself "was on his way to goin' bald then," and that the group did the song without being aware that he might have thought it was about him. Brian then called it "one of the funnier songs [the Beach Boys] ever done, very current for its time."^[2] In 1976, Dennis Wilson claimed: "I took that song in a very strange way, I thought it was more or less about oral sex. You know, [sings] 'Get a job, sha na na na, sha na na na na. What a blow...' And I thought, Jesus, that's funny as shit — [moronic voice] 'Hey, it's about getting a blow job, huh huh huh.' Then Love recalled: "We were stoned out of our heads. We were laughing our asses off when we recorded that stuff." ^[3]

This version includes some unusual effects, including the novel use of an "Eltro Information Rate Changer" to raise the pitch of the group's vocals without affecting the tempo. An example of this obscure effect is present in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.^[4]

When it came time to assemble the Smile material for Brian Wilson Presents Smile in 2004, Wilson passed on the song's inclusion.^[5] The Beach Boys' recording of "He Gives Speeches" was then issued as a bonus track for The Smile Sessions in 2011.

Personnel

"She's Goin' Bald"

• Brian Wilson – vocals
• Dennis Wilson – vocals
• Mike Love – vocals
• Al Jardine – vocals

"He Gives Speeches"

• Brian Wilson – vocals

References