"God Only Knows" Arrangement

To get to know the Blue Meanie's onboard sequencer a bit better, I decided to sequence "God Only Knows." Pet Sounds may not be the best source for a first sequence because of the whole Wall of Sound thing, but I like a challenge. I couldn't find any sites that gave a good description of the instrumentation/arrangement of the song (this one came close, though I had to highlight it to read it).

Right now, I want to attempt a faithful recreation rather than going off on a tangent. I'm leaving out the vocals on this list. It may take months to complete the sequence, but here's what I've figured out so far:

Intro

• Piano (I originally had a B3. It now sounds to me like a B3 doubled on a piano)
• Accordion
• French Horn
• Orchestra drums - Jingle bells on quarters (in second half)
• Bass in second half
• Flute on bar 8 to introduce verse 1

Verse/Chorus 1

• Piano
• Orchestra drums - Jingle bells on quarters with woodblocks (the horse clop thing)
• Bass
• Piano in bass register doubles bass line on bar 20 to introduce verse 2 - Is there a harpsi in there too?

Verse/Chorus 2

• String quartet
• Piano
• Orchestra drums - Jingle bells on quarters with woodblocks
• Bass

Pizzicato Break

• Pizzicato strings doubled by what sounds again to me like B3
• Flute
• Orchestra drums - snare fill
• Bass

Vocal Break/Chorus 3/Verse 3/Chorus Refrain

• String quartet
• Orchestra drums - Woodblocks and tambourine on 2 and 4 replacing the jingle bells. Tambourine lays out at the beginning of the chorus refrain and is replaced by the snare fills to the outro
• Bass - Lays out at the beginning of the chorus refrain but then comes back in for the outro
• Piano
• After "...could show nothing to me" and "...would living do me?" there is a bit of fanfare that I think may be a flute or two flutes doing a contrapuntal kind of thing but that one kind of has me stumped.
• French horn reprising intro "riff" in the outro

As many times as I've listened to this song over the past few days, I'm finding myself admiring it even more and not getting at all tired of hearing it.

Comments

[el sid]

you're right; that song's amazing. i, also, have been listening to it a lot recently, along with the rest of the album. interesting.
my roommate got the new wilco CD and wrote a review of it on his blog. i thought it might interest you.
http://www.youandwhosesorryassblog.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.youandwhosesorryassblog.blogspot.com

[Jennifer]

yeah, lucky for you I never get tired of it either.