Look (Song For Children) - Piano Cover (Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys)

This was tough due to the number of rhythm changes that occur throughout the song. As a result, this isn't perfect but it's pretty good overall.
Look (Song for Children), by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks. The song was also known as I Ran on some bootlegs prior to the release of Brian Wilson Presents Smile (2004). The title "Song for Children" likely comes from a remark that Brian made during the 1966 recording session for this track where he referred to the chorus as "the kiddie part", although this is just an educated guess on my part. As of the time of that recording session, the song officially had no title. Most SMiLE historians view Look (Song for Children) as an experimental piece where Brian attempted to expand and expound upon certain rhythms featured in specific sections of Good Vibrations. Because Look (Song for Children) begins on the same chord that Wonderful ends on, Brian Wilson chose to segue Wonderful directly into Look (Song for Children) for his 2004 Brian Wilson Presents Smile live show. According to Darian Sahanaja, keyboardist and vocalist in the Brian Wilson band and Brian's right-hand man when it came to reviving the SMiLE project, this sequencing decision came solely from Brian himself, being one of two instances where Brian made a sequencing decision without Darian's input in any way (the other instance being Barnyard into Old Master Painter/My Only Sunshine). All other sequencing decisions for Brian Wilson Presents Smile were jointly made by Brian and Darian, with Brian having the final say after Darian offered his input/advice. You can see some of these behind the scenes sequencing decisions happening in the "Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE" documentary, specifically in a scene where Brian and Darian are playing portions of Child Is Father of the Man on Darian's laptop and discussing how one of the rhythms in the song has a feel similar to Surf's Up, which they then realize it can segue into.

[@FeelFlows409]

Apologies for this video having lower volume than normal. Usually I amplify the volume by about 50% before uploading, but I completely forgot to do that for this video, apparently.

[@jannisg5620]

great cover!

[@crazygoji]

thanks for showing how its played roughly lol, im planning on covering it and will probably use this as a resource

[@steveclapham5587]

Superb love your video

[@steveclapham5587]

Omg that is fantastic love it how long do it take you to learn that x

[@FeelFlows409]

Thank you! I’ve been working on this pretty much since the moment I finished my previous piano cover of Child Is Father of the Man, so all in all about 2 months. This one was particularly challenging to learn and get right, especially compared to the other songs in suite 2 of SMiLE. I’d actually argue that this is the toughest song to play in that bunch, although I’m sure some people might disagree.

[@colmjulian5257]

It took me years to find this song. I think you can play the part at 22 seconds better

[@steveclapham5587]

I love how u play superb

[@FeelFlows409]

Thank you! I appreciate the kind words :)

[@alancrack456]

Child is father of the man cover??

[@FeelFlows409]

I previously had a cover of it uploaded on here for a time, but I did not like how it turned out so I removed it. I need to redo it one of these days so I can upload a version of it I’m satisfied with, but I just haven’t had the time.