Can't Wait Too Long

The Beach Boys version consists of an elaborate collection of vocal and instrumental tracks comparable to the group's earlier compositions "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes and Villains".[2] It includes a melody line played instrumentally without sung lyrics, a bass line bearing resemblance to the Smile sessions version of "Wind Chimes", plus several sections of chorus and a vocal middle section. It was recorded throughout 1967 and 1968, well after the sessions for Smile ended.[3] On February 11, 1980, overdubs were attempted on the original late 1960s recordings.[4]

Brian Wilson sings lead vocals.[3] There are very few lyrics. The title phrase is sung several dozen times, sometime alternating with "been away too long baby". Elsewhere is a simple couplet: "I miss you darlin' / I miss you so hard" which was evidently meant to be followed with "So come back baby / and don't break my heart", as Wilson can be heard instructing the other Beach Boys.[2] The final arrangement of the tune segues into an R&B inspired arrangement, and towards the end of the master outtake, there is a bass riff that had been labeled for years as an edit piece that is part of the "Heroes and Villains" suite — consult the bootleg album, Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 17.

Biographer David Leaf said: "[the song] needs no analysis or description other than to say that it’s an incredible piece of music ... sections of it are complete enough to be a terrific example of how Brian, in Van Dyke Parks' words, used to 'saturate the tape with music.'"[3]

The song was eventually released in a sound collage form in September 1990, as a bonus track on a CD reissue compiling two Beach Boys albums onto one disc—Smiley Smile/Wild Honey.[5] A shorter form of the song was also released in June 1993 on the group's 5-disc anthology, Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys.[6] On the latter version, Brian Wilson is heard instructing brother Carl on some other lyrics which were never recorded. In May 2001, a 51-second a cappella version of the song was issued on disc two of the Beach Boys rarities compilation album, Hawthorne, CA.[7] This same version reappears on the 2013 Made in California box set.