My Regeneration: 'Heroes and Villains' and the Salvation of Brian Wilson Presents Smile

TY - JOUR

T1 - My Regeneration:

T2 - 'Heroes and Villains' and the Salvation of Brian Wilson Presents Smile

AU - Carter, Dale

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - ‘Heroes and Villains’ is often identified as a key to the Smile project on which Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson and lyricist Van Dyke Parks collaborated in 1966 and 1967. That role has not been closely analyzed, however. This close reading of the song’s structure, lyrics, themes and social and cultural referents shows that it offers an index to the album. Using its frontier setting and a variety of sacred and secular myths, symbols and icons, ‘Heroes and Villains,’ like Smile as a whole, offers historically-informed visions of national decline, crisis and regeneration that are at once critical and patriotic.

AB - ‘Heroes and Villains’ is often identified as a key to the Smile project on which Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson and lyricist Van Dyke Parks collaborated in 1966 and 1967. That role has not been closely analyzed, however. This close reading of the song’s structure, lyrics, themes and social and cultural referents shows that it offers an index to the album. Using its frontier setting and a variety of sacred and secular myths, symbols and icons, ‘Heroes and Villains,’ like Smile as a whole, offers historically-informed visions of national decline, crisis and regeneration that are at once critical and patriotic.

KW - Popular Music

KW - Brian Wilson

KW - Van Dyke Parks

KW - Beach Boys

KW - Smile

KW - 1960s

UR - http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rrms20#.V27bM01f3IU

U2 - 10.1080/19401159.2017.1336377

DO - 10.1080/19401159.2017.1336377

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1940-1167

VL - 4

SP - 171

EP - 188

JO - Rock Music Studies

JF - Rock Music Studies

IS - 3

ER -