View source for Child Is Father of the Man

{{about|the song by the Beach Boys|the album by Blood, Sweat & Tears|Child Is Father to the Man}}
{{Infobox song
| name     = Child Is Father of the Man
| cover    =
| alt      =
| type     =
| artist   = [[the Beach Boys]]
| album    = [[The Smile Sessions]]
| released = October 31, 2011
| recorded = October 11, 1966{{snd}}April 1967
| studio   = [[United Western Recorders|Western]], [[CBS Columbia Square|Columbia]], [[Sunset Sound Recorders|Sunset Sound]], and [[Beach Boys Studio|Beach Boys]], Los Angeles
| genre    =
| length   = 2:14
| label    = [[Capitol Records|Capitol]]
| writer   = {{hlist|[[Brian Wilson]]|[[Van Dyke Parks]]}}
| producer = Brian Wilson
| misc     = {{External music video|type=song|{{YouTube|D1dCpa8oy4E|"Child Is Father of the Man"}}}}
{{Audio sample
| type        = song
| file        =
| description =
}}
}}
"'''Child Is Father of the Man'''" is a song by American rock band [[the Beach Boys]] that was written by [[Brian Wilson]] and [[Van Dyke Parks]]. It was originally recorded for the band's never-finished album ''[[Smile (Beach Boys album)|Smile]]''. In 2004, Wilson rerecorded the song for ''[[Brian Wilson Presents Smile]]''. In 2011, the Beach Boys' original recording was released on ''[[The Smile Sessions]]''.
The title derives from an [[idiom]] meaning that man is the product of habits and behavior developed in youth. Surviving tapes of the original recordings do not show any lyrics other than "child is father of the man". Parks penned new words for the 2004 version. The instrumentation includes keyboard, trumpet, vocal [[round (music)|rounds]], and a droning guitar saturated with reverb.<ref name="Priore" /> Elements of the song were later reworked for the band's "[[Little Bird (Beach Boys song)|Little Bird]]" and "[[Surf's Up (song)|Surf's Up]]".
==Background==
"Child is father of the man" is an idiom originating from the poem "[[My Heart Leaps Up]]" by [[William Wordsworth]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carter |first1=Dale |title=Reading Smile History, Myth and American Identity in Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks' Long-Lost Album |date=2021 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, Oxon |isbn=9780367622862 |page=57}}</ref>  There are many different interpretations of the phrase, the most popular of which is that man is the product of habits and behavior developed in youth.<ref name="Priore"/>  In a late 1966 interview, [[Brian Wilson]] remarked, "And another thing that interests me ... who was it, [[Karl Menninger]] {{sic}}, who said, 'The child is father of the man'? That fascinates me!"<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Priore|editor-first=Domenic|editor-link=Domenic Priore|title=Look, Listen, Vibrate, Smile!|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oy4BAAAACAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Last Gasp|isbn=0-86719-417-0|page=167}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Nolan|first=Tom|title=The Frenzied Frontier of Pop Music|url=http://www.afka.net/Articles/1966-11_Los_Angeles_Times.htm|magazine=Los Angeles Times West|date=November 27, 1966}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Parks' father was a psychiatrist and neurologist who studied with Menninger.<ref>{{cite book|last=Henderson|first=Richard|title=Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jxa4TUD0aZIC|year=2010|publisher=Continuum|isbn=978-0-8264-2917-9|page=32}}</ref>}}
According to historian Keith Badman, [[Van Dyke Parks]] stated that there were lyrics for the song that were never originally recorded.<ref name="Badman">{{cite book|last=Badman|first=Keith|title=The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band, on Stage and in the Studio|url=https://archive.org/details/beachboysdefinit0000badm|url-access=registration|year=2004|publisher=Backbeat Books|isbn=978-0-87930-818-6|pages=166}}</ref> In 2004, Parks told journalist [[Domenic Priore]], "It was an instrumental piece until Brian asked me to put words on it in November of 2003."<ref name="Priore" /> He said he had originally suggested the idiom to Wilson.<ref name="Priore"/>
{{quote|Brian had a fervent desire to re-invent himself as an individual, not as a boy, and that's what happened, I think. By the time I met him, he had already done "[[When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)]]"; he'd already raised the questions about being a man, and when I met him, that crisis was acute. I knew it was psychologically complex and over my head. The only way I could help with any of this, whatever it was he was going through, was refer him to that poem by [[Nathaniel Hawthorne|Hawthorne]]{{sic}} from which the phrase "the child is father to the man" comes. He used it as part of his inquiry of ''Smile'', as a lyric.<ref name="Priore">{{cite book|last=Priore|first=Domenic|title=Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=81YIAQAAMAAJ|year=2005|publisher=Sanctuary|author-link=Domenic Priore|isbn=1860746276}}</ref>}}
Wilson's [[I Am Brian Wilson|2016 memoir]] states that "'Child Is Father of the Man' was about mental health and knowing yourself so you could do the right things in the world."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilson |first1=Brian |author-link1=Brian Wilson |last2=Greenman |first2=Ben |author-link2=Ben Greenman |title=I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9CmiBQAAQBAJ |year=2016 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-82307-7|page=186}}</ref>
==Recording==
The instrumental track for "Child Is Father of the Man" was recorded on October 7 ("Version 1") and October 11, 1966 ("Version 2") at [[United Western Recorders|Western Studio]]. The latter was logged as a "[[Cabinessence|Cabin Essence]]" session.<ref name="Booklet"/> Biographer [[Jon Stebbins]] described the track as "a brooding and expansive aura, with a plaintive [[harmonica]] {{sic}} line not dissimilar to those heard on [[Ennio Morricone]] [[Spaghetti Western]] soundtracks."<ref name="Stebbins">{{cite book|last1=Stebbins|first1=Jon|author-link=Jon Stebbins|title=The Beach Boys FAQ: All That's Left to Know About America's Band|date=2011|isbn=9781458429148|pages=90–91|publisher=Backbeat Books }}</ref>
Vocals were overdubbed by the group on October 12 and December 2 at [[CBS Columbia Square|Columbia Studio]].<ref name="Booklet"/> Band archivist [[Mark Linett]] later said that there are vocal parts obscured by [[Carl Wilson]]'s singing on the track. Linett said, "When he's not singing, you can hear faint background vocal parts that no longer exist on the multitrack. They must have been in his headphones, and were picked up by the vocal mic. It could be that Brian decided he didn't need them, or that he was going to re-record them, but never did. You hear this sort of stuff throughout the tapes."<ref>{{cite web|date=October 2004|last=Bell|first=Matt|title=The Resurrection of Brian Wilson's Smile|url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct04/articles/smile.htm|work=Sound on Sound|accessdate=23 June 2013}}</ref>
A mix of "Child Is Father of the Man" was compiled in late 1966 and later released on the 2018 compilation ''[[Wake the World: The Friends Sessions]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stone |first1=Sam |title=Wake The World: The Beach Boys Mine 1968 Vaults for Two New Copyright Extension Titles! |url=https://theseconddisc.com/2018/12/07/wake-the-world-the-beach-boys-mine-1968-vaults-for-two-new-copyright-extension-titles/ |website=The Second Disc |date=December 7, 2018}}</ref> In April 1967, the band revisited the song at Sound Recorders. Brian played grand piano while he and his bandmates sang vocals. The tape was logged as "Tune X" on the box and slated as "Nowhere" on the session tape.<ref name="Booklet"/>
==Legacy==
In 1968, the song's chorus was rewritten and rerecorded as the chorus for "[[Little Bird (Beach Boys song)|Little Bird]]" from ''[[Friends (Beach Boys album)|Friends]]''.<ref name="Chidester2014">{{cite web|last1=Chidester|first1=Brian|title=Busy Doin' Somethin': Uncovering Brian Wilson's Lost Bedroom Tapes|url=http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/03/busy-doin-somethin-uncovering-brian-wilsons-lost-b.html?a=1|publisher=[[Paste magazine|Paste]]|accessdate=December 11, 2014|date=March 7, 2014|archive-date=December 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211033306/http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/03/busy-doin-somethin-uncovering-brian-wilsons-lost-b.html?a=1|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 1971, when the band completed "[[Surf's Up (song)|Surf's Up]]" for their [[Surf's Up (album)|album of the same name]], the coda included a reworking of the chorus from "Child Is Father of the Man".{{sfn|Stebbins|2011|p=91}}{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=296}} Writing in a 1996 online Q&A, band manager [[Jack Rieley]] wrote that Brian had "stated clearly that it was his intent all along for Child to be the tag for Surfs Up."<ref>{{cite web|date=October 18, 1996|last=Rieley|first=Jack|author-link=Jack Rieley|title=Jack Rieley's comments & Surf's Up|url=http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php?topic=9651.0}}</ref>
==Personnel==
Per band archivist Craig Slowinski.<ref name="Booklet">{{cite AV media notes| title = The Smile Sessions | others= [[The Beach Boys]]| year = 2011|publisher=[[Capitol Records]]|type=deluxe box set booklet}}</ref>
'''Version 1 (October 7, 1966)'''
{{div col}}
*[[Hal Blaine]] – drums, overdubbed tambourine
*Jimmy Bond – [[upright bass]]
*Frank Capp – [[vibraphone]]
*[[Carol Kaye]] – Fender bass
*Bill Pitman – electric baritone lead guitar
*[[Brian Wilson]] – grand piano
*[[Carl Wilson]] – castanet
{{div col end}}
'''Version 2 (October 11{{snd}}December 2, 1966)'''
{{div col}}
* Jimmy Bond – upright bass
* [[Bruce Johnston]] – vocals
* [[Al Jardine]] – vocals
* [[Carol Kaye]] – Fender bass
* [[Mike Love]] – vocals
* Ollie Mitchell – trumpet
* Bill Pitman – electric baritone lead guitar (chorus and verse)
* [[Brian Wilson]] – vocals, tack piano (chorus and verse), grand piano (bridge), overdubbed snare drum in chorus (uncertain credit)
* [[Carl Wilson]] – vocals, electric rhythm guitar (verse), overdubbed [[sleigh bell]]s in chorus (uncertain credit)
{{div col end}}
'''Version 3 (circa April 10, 1967)'''
* [[Mike Love]] – vocals
* [[Al Jardine]] – vocals
* [[Brian Wilson]] – vocals, grand piano
* [[Carl Wilson]] – vocals
==References==
'''Note'''
{{reflist|group=nb}}
'''References'''
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* {{YouTube|id=ffwd8458Lcg|Child Is Father of the Man (Original 1966 Track Mix)}}
* {{YouTube|id=E1yVLIVzWIs|Child Is Father of the Man (Version 1)}}
* {{YouTube|id=0fgT6IQFRME|Child Is Father of the Man (Version 2)}}
* {{YouTube|id=MCoweCaRn5U|Child Is Father of the Man (2004 version)}}
{{The Smile Sessions}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:1966 songs]]
[[Category:The Beach Boys songs]]
[[Category:Song recordings produced by Brian Wilson]]
[[Category:Songs written by Brian Wilson]]
[[Category:Songs written by Van Dyke Parks]]
[[Category:Songs based on poems]]
[[Category:Songs released posthumously]]
[[Category:Brian Wilson songs]]
[[Category:Songs about mental health]]