The Founding of the Beach Boys (Part 2 of 4)
What did Murry Wilson know and when did he know it?
Part 1 of this four-part essay dealt with the Beach Boys’ beginnings in the years 1960-61. Focusing on a few critical events, it began to question one of the fundamental tenets of Beach Boys history: the assumption that Murry Wilson, father to Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, played a key role in the formation of the group by helping them make a connection with the song-publishing firm of Guild Music Co.
Part 1 acknowledged that Guild was the very same firm that published Murry Wilson’s songs, a critical fact lending credence to the idea that Murry brokered the relationship between Guild and the Beach Boys. It then addressed the particular means through which the Boys first made contact with Guild—through Al Jardine, who (then working separately from the Wilson family or any future Beach Boys) received the Guild contact information not from Murry Wilson, but from Murry’s wife Audree. It moreover appears that Audree first did this without Murry’s knowledge.
Part 1 further speculated as to the significance of business contacts in general, and the extent to which Murry would (or should) have been aware that his connection to the recording business was valuable property. Part 1 left off with a reminder that as of the time Al Jardine received the Guild contact info from Audree, Brian Wilson was not involved at all.
If you haven’t read Part 1 (consisting of subchapters i - iii), please read it before continuing here.
Below, Part 2 of this comment on the Beach Boys’ origins picks up with Brian Wilson’s entrance into the story, and sets forth a context in which to interpret Murry Wilson’s reaction upon learning of his sons’ efforts to form a band and get a single recorded.
iv.
Brian first enters the picture approximately one year later, during the summer of 1961, when Al invited him up to the studio of Guild Music Co. The job was to help demo a song, “Down by the Rio Grande,” written by Bruce Morgan, Hite and Dorinda’s son. It must be noted once again that Murry was not physically present for this session, nor has it been claimed that he even knew about it. There’s also no indication that Brian mentioned this to his father. (e.g., “hey Dad, I just talked to Al Jardine and oh boy, guess what?”)
While in 1960, it was Al who had needed an introduction to the likes of Guild Music, on this occasion a year later it was the Morgans who reached out to Al, seeking his musical assistance for “Down by the Rio Grande.” The implication first is that Al had developed some sort of relationship with the Morgans that existed independent of the Wilson family. Second is that from the Morgans’ perspective at the time, Al Jardine was the guy to call, not Brian Wilson. This was not just because of Al’s talent or agreeable personality, but also the fact that the Morgans had no relationship with Brian to speak of. They knew very little of him. Given Brian’s words upon meeting Dorinda Morgan at the session—I bet you don’t remember me—it appears that the Morgans had indeed forgotten about him and had scarcely any knowledge of his doings or musical aspirations. This, notwithstanding Brian’s talent and status as the son of their long-time client and friend Murry Wilson.
Brian’s words, “I bet you don’t remember me” speak to the current state of affairs: although he had been to the Guild studio at least once before, in 1958, Brian knew the Morgans wouldn’t recognize him or know who he was. (Dorinda Morgan would later confirm that she indeed had not recognized Brian.) If Murry had brokered Brian’s involvement at the “Rio Grande” session in 1961, or called the Morgans to let them know his son was coming over to the studio, Brian wouldn’t have said that to Dorinda Morgan. But he did say it, and that is because Murry didn’t have anything to do with this. He probably didn’t even know about it. Naturally, this is because Al Jardine was the one who called Brian in; who first made it possible for Brian to start working, as a young adult, in a (semi) professional studio environment. And so naturally, Brian introduced himself to Dorinda Morgan the way he did.
The “Rio Grande” session fizzled out. Al and Brian soon regrouped, and along with one or two other guys, tried to get something else going. It seems this vocal blend wasn’t up to snuff. Brian shuffled the deck by substituting baby brother Carl and older cousin Mike Love, followed by Dennis Wilson, who apparently was included at his mother’s behest.1 This lineup—Jardine, B. Wilson, Love, C. Wilson, D. Wilson—is the group that performed at the legendary audition for Guild Music around Labor Day, 1961. The lineup that was soon to become The Beach Boys.
By this point, Murry Wilson—noisy, boisterous, “protective,” champion of the Beach Boys, enabler of their success—has become mightily conspicuous by his absence. For this is the third critical event in the band’s formation in which Murry leaves no trace, being neither physically present nor actively involved in any capacity. He’s neither a broker, nor agent, manager, advisor, motivator or moral support. First there was the initial, in-person meeting between Al Jardine, Gary Winfrey and Audree Wilson at the Wilson residence in Hawthorne. Next came the Morgan family’s “Rio Grande” session at which Brian Wilson returned to the Guild studio for the first time since 1958. And now the most important date of all, when not only Brian, but Murry’s other sons, Dennis and Carl, joined with Mike Love and Al Jardine to audition for his friends the Morgans.
There is no evidence of Murry Wilson’s involvement. Moreover, based on the known facts, there is no reason to think he knew of it at all, let alone approved of it, let alone desired this state of affairs.
v.
The five Beach Boys (who probably didn’t have a group name at this point) performed for the Morgans at the legendary audition, at which the idea—generally attributed to Dennis Wilson—was hatched to write a song about surfing. The Morgans liked the idea, and were willing to hear the boys perform their “surfing song” once it had been written and rehearsed.
Here is a composite version of what happened next, as it has most often been told by journalists, historians and the principal members of the Beach Boys organization:
It is still around Labor Day weekend when the boys convene in the Wilson music room to rehearse. Murry Wilson is out of town on business—supposedly in Mexico—and has taken wife Audree with him. Before departing they leave their sons cash, with the instruction that it be spent only on food and emergencies. However, hot on the heels of their initial audition for Mr. & Mrs. Morgan, the boys need to rent instruments and gear with which to practice “Surfin’,” so the cash quickly evaporates for that or some other reason. The group practices over the course of a couple of days, putting together acoustic guitar, bass, percussion, harmony vocals and surfing lyrics. Brian records portions of these home sessions on his tape recorder. Then Murry and his wife return home.
Murry is taken unawares by the scene—the mess in the house, the musical instruments, the fact that the cash is gone—and throws a fit, perhaps going so far as to knock Brian across the room. The boys calm their father by playing “Surfin’” for him. Murry recognizes the song’s potential, softens, and soon agrees to become manager of the fledgling group.
There must be a fundamental truth to this account. It is doubtful that the Beach Boys and the Wilsons purposefully conspired to invent some tale out of whole cloth, especially one that already paints a less-than-rosy picture of the family’s inner workings. It’s also unlikely that all principals within this notoriously fractious organization would manage to remain unified in their telling of some kind of Big Lie.2 Everyone was basically telling the truth as they remembered it, and there is a baseline consistency among the various accounts.
However, some of the separate details may have become chronologically scrambled or mismatched. For instance, while it remains likely that the idea for the “surfing song” and the subsequent composition of “Surfin’” occurred around Labor Day or shortly thereafter, the rental of professional music equipment (if done for the ultimate purpose of studio recording) may have occurred at a later date. (Or maybe not.) And there is currently evidence that Murry and Audree Wilson did not go to Mexico around Labor Day weekend, but instead traveled there later that year, in November. Assuming that Mr. & Mrs. Wilson took only one trip to Mexico that year, and that it occurred in November, the timeline of events would then shift—but only if “Mexico” is seen as the critical detail to which all other events must be inextricably tied.
While not insignificant, the timing of Murry and Audree’s Mexico trip is not the most important detail. (Nor for that matter is the date the boys rented professional equipment.) What is most important is the fact that Murry and Audree were not home during an unspecified window of time in which the group was engaged in some sort of activity as a nascent rock ‘n’ roll band. The boys were writing their new original tune “Surfin’,” and/or rehearsing it, and/or polishing it in preparation for an audition, demo session, or more formal recording date. The parents’ specific whereabouts during that time—Mexico, Europe, the coffee shop around the corner, planetary orbit in a Mercury space capsule—does not matter as much as the fact that they were not physically present while a critical band-forming event was taking place in their house. This element has remained unchanged in the telling of the story. In their 2004 Complete Guide to the music of the Beach Boys, Andrew Doe and John Tobler go so far as to say that the Wilson brothers “took advantage of parental absence” to quickly form a group and take a shot at recording a single professionally.
Why would it be advantageous to form a group while one’s parents are away, especially when one of those parents is supposed to have been a great supporter and driving force of that group, without whose guidance, generosity and know-how the group could not have existed in the first place? The answer could very well be that as a pathological and barbaric child abuser, Murry Wilson was driven to hurt his sons, not help them. And that if those sons were ever to engage in some activity to their own benefit, their father was less likely to be involved in a positive capacity. As outlined above (and in the preceding chapter of this essay), Murry was not present at any of the critical stages of the band’s formation in 1960-61. There’s really no evidence that he was aware of these goings-on at all.
Murry’s belated encounter with the group at the “Surfin’” writing/practice/rehearsal session—still quite possibly around Labor Day—is the earliest recorded (remembered) instance of his involvement with the Beach Boys as such: where he is present in the same space as the members of the band while they are working together as a band (or band-in-formation). And his role was not that of supporter but of oppositional counterforce. He’s angry. He wants his money back. He’s physically violent. The boys quickly played “Surfin’”—to “calm” him, it is said—which means not only that he was angry enough to require calming, but that he had never heard the song before; that he wasn’t aware of it. This is yet another detail implying that he had nothing to do with the formation of this lineup, the boys’ dealings and negotiations with the Morgans of Guild Music, the idea to write a song about surfing, or the actual writing of the song itself.
If this audition and subsequent home practice session did occur as so often described, it appears the boys had neglected to inform Murry of what they were doing. For wouldn’t Murry—a control-freak whose later removal as Beach Boys manager would require an act of physical force—have been at his sons’ critical Guild audition if he knew about it? Could it really be possible that Brian (or somebody else) told Murry about the boys’ exciting prospects with Guild, and that Murry remained too uninterested to bother showing up at any of the auditions?
Yes, it is possible. In fact it’s technically possible Murry had been fully informed about everything, going back to the day Audree Wilson gave the Morgans’ name to Al Jardine. But if Murry knew about the audition(s) and still remained that passive and nonchalant, then a host of other questions would appear, particularly the extent to which he “encouraged,” “led,” or “drove” the boys to success. Just how much faith, really, would he then have had in his sons’ prospects as professional musicians? But again, it seems more likely that Murry did not know about any of this; that he had been in the dark. That the whole thing came together without his encouragement, guidance, or awareness.
vi.
Still, there are two persistent facts that will always support the idea of Murry’s active and positive contribution to the founding of the Beach Boys. The strongest might be the plain biological fact that Murry was a dad—the father of Brian, Dennis and Carl (and uncle to Mike). Our proper faith in the institution of the family and instinctive recognition of its critical importance to civil society (plus a little sentimentality, and various other psychological factors, including our feelings toward our own parents and children) inspires the most positive reading of a given family as possible. So yes, everyone experiences painful family friction. But even in troubled families, mutual love, care, and sacrifice are presumed to exist by default, perhaps as a matter of biology or human nature. An “evolutionary” reading might suggest that all parents—even the abusive ones—retain a faculty for altruism when it comes to their offspring.
It then becomes easier to appreciate how a man like Murry will still work to enable his sons’ success, even if he abuses them, and even if they are entering the same field in which he has toiled for years with little to show for it. Even a chronically and sadistically abusive father will be naturally inclined to rejoice (if only internally) at his sons’ accomplishments. And if from time to time the tension between Murry’s demonstrated behavior and presumed decency of motive becomes uncomfortable, we remain free to characterize Murry as a “complicated” or “conflicted” person. Murry’s entire relationship with his sons is likewise subject to revision: maybe the stories of abuse are fabrications, and therefore “it wasn’t so bad.” Or, as certain of Murry’s advocates have claimed from time to time, he really was no different than any other father of the era. (Which in effect is to say the same thing, while slandering whole generations of decent American men.)
The second fact militating in Murry’s favor is the point from which this comment began: that it will always be true that the entire sequence of events would not have been possible without Murry’s relationship with Hite and Dorinda Morgan. Therefore, even if the foregoing account is otherwise sound, this fact will always reflect well on Murry, serving as one solid piece of evidence pointing to his encouragement and assistance.
Yet if the foregoing analysis is accurate, Murry neither willfully donated his contact to Guild Music (that was Audree’s doing), nor did he shepherd the boys through these initial stages, for he was fundamentally ignorant of Al Jardine’s work with the Morgans and even Brian’s involvement on their “Rio Grande” demo, when Brian returned to the Guild studio as a virtual stranger to them. Murry didn’t know about the Beach Boys’ critical Guild audition, the idea for the surfing song, or the actual writing of “Surfin’” itself. On the first occasion at which he is understood to be dealing with the future Beach Boys as a band (at some kind of writing session or rehearsal) he is conspicuously and suspiciously angry, to the point where he needs to be calmed or “soothed.” (Also, Dorinda Morgan, Brian Wilson’s first song publisher, specifically remembered that Murry was neither proud nor pleased to learn that his son was becoming a songwriter.) How to characterize the evidence?
A proposition: the Beach Boys appropriated and made use of Murry’s property—his business contact—without obtaining his permission. Robbery, theft, or burglary are words too strong to describe the boys’ actions, insofar as those terms imply a use of force, malicious intent, or premeditation. But through a strange, protracted sequence, the sum total of their actions was to exploit Murry’s personal connection to the music business, while making no discernible effort to cut him in. The formation of the Beach Boys at the Guild audition can be characterized as an act of usurpation against Murry Wilson. Because Murry was an authoritarian, it can also be characterized—from Murry’s subjective p.o.v.—as an act of outright disobedience and insubordination.
Further: it was Brian Wilson, more than anyone else, who really trespassed against Murry. Carl, Dennis and Mike only followed behind Brian, getting involved only after Brian alone had become the first Wilson brother to make contact with the Morgans. Al Jardine remained relatively “clean” and forthright in this, being a family outsider (with no history of growing up under Murry’s control) whose initial crime was to innocently knock on the Wilsons’ door back in 1960. But by doing that, Jardine set in motion a chain of events eventually resulting in Brian’s first real opportunity to get his toe in the door of the record business.
Through Al Jardine, a chance to audition for none other than his father’s song-publisher seems to have just dropped into Brian’s lap. And Brian took the opportunity, while perhaps being vaguely amused at this turn of events. (“I bet you don’t remember me.”) And once involved with the Morgans, Brian doesn’t seem to have brought his father in. Brian forgot, or for some other reason neglected, to tell his father he was working with Al Jardine and the Morgans. Even after his brothers and cousin got involved, it seems Brian continued to overlook the matter of his father’s lack of knowledge.
This comment continues in Part 3 of “The Founding of the Beach Boys.”
For references, see list at the conclusion of Part 4 of this essay.
This, together with her foundational assistance to Al Jardine, hints at the influence and latent authority Audree Wilson maintained in this family, notwithstanding her loud, credit-hungry husband.
They in fact have not been unified: Al Jardine has notably called into question the claim that musical instruments were rented with Murry’s cash. Jardine has believably stated that his mother fronted the money, with full knowledge of what it would be used for.