Red Mosquito

I had never read that history of smile post by Dennis from the Frogs... Wow. I knew Red Mosquito and Off He Goes were rip offs musically, but basically a whole song borrowed?

Never been a big fan. Kinda disappointed when I've gotten it live.

Bi_3 wrote:I had never read that history of smile post by Dennis from the Frogs... Wow. I knew Red Mosquito and Off He Goes were rip offs musically, but basically a whole song borrowed?

Wasn't it more akin to a tribute to a friend?

Dennis wrote a song.
His brother essentially paraphrased it by surreptitiously writing lyrics in Ed's notebook.
Ed eventually used those lyrics for Smile and credited them.

Unless I'm missing something, what exactly is the problem?

The music was written by Jeff.

The lyrics were written by Jimmy & Dennis Flemion and Eddie.

Dennis is credited in the vinyl notes but not the CD for some reason.

He is probably officially credited somewhere in the BMI/ASCAP database because he did receive songwriting royalties for it, though the amount was paltry. (We are talking about "No Code".)

wease wrote:Never been a big fan. Kinda disappointed when I've gotten it live.

Do you say "no" every time eddie asks "don't it make you smile?"

I like it but it feels unfinished - bad lyrics (almost no lyrics). But cool music.

This has catapulted its way from mid-range to top-tier for me over the last week or so. I love it now. So much.

mikejasond wrote:I like it but it feels unfinished - bad lyrics (almost no lyrics). But cool music.

The lyrics are fantastic.

evenslow wrote:

Bi_3 wrote:I had never read that history of smile post by Dennis from the Frogs... Wow. I knew Red Mosquito and Off He Goes were rip offs musically, but basically a whole song borrowed?

Wasn't it more akin to a tribute to a friend?

Dennis wrote a song.
His brother essentially paraphrased it by surreptitiously writing lyrics in Ed's notebook.
Ed eventually used those lyrics for Smile and credited them.

Unless I'm missing something, what exactly is the problem?

Maybe I misread it... But it sounded like they played Ed a complete song, "this is how I feel", wrote a few lines from that in Ed's notebook, and some time later a lyrically and musically clone was born.

Straight from the Frog's mouth:
http://jimmyflemion.tumblr.com/post/334 ... how-i-feel

Bi_3 wrote:

evenslow wrote:

Bi_3 wrote:I had never read that history of smile post by Dennis from the Frogs... Wow. I knew Red Mosquito and Off He Goes were rip offs musically, but basically a whole song borrowed?

Wasn't it more akin to a tribute to a friend?

Dennis wrote a song.
His brother essentially paraphrased it by surreptitiously writing lyrics in Ed's notebook.
Ed eventually used those lyrics for Smile and credited them.

Unless I'm missing something, what exactly is the problem?

Maybe I misread it... But it sounded like they played Ed a complete song, "this is how I feel", wrote a few lines from that in Ed's notebook, and some time later a lyrically and musically clone was born.

Couldn't have been a musical clone b/c Jeff wrote the music.

Birds in Hell wrote:

mikejasond wrote:I like it but it feels unfinished - bad lyrics (almost no lyrics). But cool music.

The lyrics are fantastic.

agreed...fantastic

dprival78 wrote:

wease wrote:Never been a big fan. Kinda disappointed when I've gotten it live.

Do you say "no" every time eddie asks "don't it make you smile?"

Much to my wife's chagrin, yes.

I can (and sometimes do) enjoy Smile, but it is middle tier PJ at best. It is by no means a bad song, but I find it fairly boring in most aspects.

tragabigzanda wrote:Love this song, always have. It's something that sounds like a half-hearted throwaway that managed to rise far higher than its intention.

I agree and I think a lot of that has to do with Ed's remarkable singing throughout.

Poll?