Smile At You grown on anyone?

[Mike B]

I'm liking Smile At You more now than I did when I first heard it. But it still feels like it is missing something to me.

I've decided I have to approach all of these songs as if I've never heard a lick of any of them in demo or outtake form. I was disappointed in Smile At You and Thrown Down, but if I had never heard any other version of them, I'd probably really like them.

So from here on out, Say You Will is an album of entirely new material for me. (Um...yeah. I'm gonna keep telling myself that until I believe it!)

Mike B.

[sara1998]

I feel like a dinosaur... I haven't heard any of the songs being released on AOL so I don't know what the hell you're talking about. It's pretty cool to sit and listen to what you'all think. Gives me more anticipation for the 15th!!

Maria

[myndpeace]

Smile At You has so far been my favorite of the "officially leaked" songs (although What's the World Coming To is gaining ground rapidly). However, I had never heard the demo (angry version or non-angry version) until after I heard the first leak of the two minute clip a few weeks ago. As I've said before, the vocals on this track are simply stunning -- I didn't think Stevie could still pull that off! I also really like the production on this song, with a more subdued rhythm guitar and a very dominant bass.

But having listened to the demos, I think I probably like them better, and I can understand someone's dissapointment that the final was so different from the demos. The song is completely restructured, with the now controversial grammatically-challenged chorus added. I'm not usually picky about minor infractions -- quite a few have been made by Fleetwood Mac in the interest of better flow, but this error can hardly be considered minor, and it occurs in the chorus which is repeated three times. Couldn't they have just scrapped the whole line and put something else there?

[sparky]

This version is growing on me. I keep listening to it and trying not to scrutinize it too much. At this point, I find it is very hypnotic. In the demo, it came off as a very in your face song. A song that was impossible to ignore. This version is much more subtle. The understated approach works fine, but I think the song has such fire in it that it could be a barn burner. As far as I am concerned, if a Stevie song has that potential, it ought to be maximized. I always feel that her albums are missing two more upbeat, hard charging songs. But then, I have always preferred the angry, aggressive Stevie.

If I had no prior exposure to the song, I'd probably love this version. I may come to love this one in time. There is no denying it is a good song, and the vocal is top notch.

[Tusk57]

I am totally in the dark having not heard any of the songs from the up coming album SYW. (Except the beautifully done "Steal Your Heart Away" and the live version of "Bleed to Love Her".) From reading all of the comments made about "Smile at You", I know which camp I will be in. Sadly I was hoping for an even more charged up version of the two demos. Perhaps with more screaming guitars and Stevie not holding back any punches. I wish they had even just put out the actual demo as the song on the album. Why mess with it at all? I still can't figure out why it didn't make it on an album back when it was made. It's always been one of my alltime favorites. Bill
P.S. This being said, I will still try to listen to the new version with an open mind. It sure sounds like they left out the best parts of the original though....

[Rapunzel]

I LOVE the new version of Smile At You. I think people will grow to love it - it is just that they are so used to the demo. Give it a chance!

Aine x

[Sorcerer386]

I hate the fact that such a stupid thing as grammar takes something away from the song for me, but bad grammar is just, well, BAD! I'll get technical here...the grammatical error is the use of the past tense RAN with the helping verb HAVE. If you have "has," "had," or "have," it turns the verb into the past participle. So, it should read "I should have turned away and run..." because you say "I should have run," or "I had run." And yes, I believe it IS "ran as fast as I CAN" because I think they chose to overlook the grammar so that RAN rhymed with CAN. And is there a "just" in there, "I should have turned away and ran JUST as fast as I can"? I can't remember and am too lazy to check (it's late). But just to link this, I can't STAND the end of Blue Letter when they say "I ain't waiting." Ain't is just the dumbest word, even though I do catch myself using it sometimes. I usually want to smack myself afterward. But don't worry CarneVaca, it's a pet peeve for me too.

[sodascouts]

I'll always like the demo better, but this new version has started to grow on me. I still don't understand why Lindsey turned the chorus into bridge, though, and made the new chorus this mutated echoing sound where all Stevie does is ooh and ahh over his sing-songy repetitions of those ungrammatical lines again and again and again (Note: Those lines were indeed in the demo, but they weren't highlighted like this). This song could have rocked SO HARD! But I guess he wanted a more mellow, "adult contemporary" sound.

And for an adult contemporary type song, it works well. I just feel like Lindsey made the wrong artistic choice in ignoring its hard-core rocking potential. Don't they have enough mellow stuff on there already with his acoustic music? But hey, he did great job with Stevie's "Thrown Down" and his own stuff is fantastic. "Smile at You" if forgivable and, like I said, it is slowly growing on me.

P.S. And "Skies the Limit" IS much worse. I thought that Christine must be going for some kind of clever pun but when I listened to the song, there was nothing to imply that it should have been anything but Sky's. Very lame.

P.P.S. On the Mirage video, Stevie insists on singing "I'm not waiting" while Lindsey sings "I ain't waiting." I have to say, that is the one time where I was annoyed by the grammatically correct version, simply because it was stupid that Stevie wasn't singing the original lyrics and totally clashing with Lindsey. What was up with that?!

[Johnny Stew]

I was just listening to the 'Tusk'-era outtake version again, and Stevie sings, "I should have turned around and ran"... and then, several beats later, she sings what sounds like, "I tore(?) as fast as I can."

This is at the VERY end of the song, right before it fades... and is the only instance of these lines.

[linsluv]

I've never heard the demo version of Smile at You, and I went crazy over the new version when I first heard it... I really really like it. The grammar error didn't bug me and I liked the voice layering in the chorus, I got it stuck in my head for days...

(I'm gonna get the demo right now, hehe)

I did hear the demo of Thrown Down though and I hate the new version Its so much less emotional and Stevie's singing sounds better to me in the older one too as well as the guitar.

[Mad4stevie]

My favorite part of this song is John's awesome bass line in the beginning and Lindsey's guitar at the end while Stevie is singing "Go on, save yourself" . . . "Leave the key here". The voice layering gets stuck in my head though. In fact, I am hearing it right now!!