Here is an exquisitely painful audio experience. It’s from the Beach Boys recording session for “Help Me Rhonda.” Also present in the studio was the insufferable one-eyed Wilson father, Murry. Listen to this and you’ll know why one-eared son Brian fired his father as manager of the band.
Thanks to WFMU for making this timeless recording available.
Al Jardine sang the lead on “Help Me Rhonda”. Which leads me to another point. I believe that the Beach Boys are the only group to have five members of the original core group sing the lead on a Top 20 hit. Although Mike Love was the primary lead vocalist, the other members all contributed leads – even Dennis (“Do You Want To Dance”). Brian did “Surfer Girl” and Carl came into his own in 1966, with “God Only Knows” and “Good Vibrations”. Of course, we are not including David Marks, the “lost Beach Boy”, who had minimal vocal contributions. All four Beatles, of course, sang lead on Top 10 hits.
Maybe DogRat will someday post some selections from Murry Wilson’s solo LP – “The Many Moods Of Murry Wilson”, with two songs evidently written by his latest discovery – his musically talented plumber. Murry did manage The Sunrays, a group he musically and visually patterned after the Beach Boys. I think they fired him, too. But not before they recorded one of my all time summer faves, “We Live For The Sun”!
Murry did, actually, have something in the way of musical credentials. His sole claim to fame was writing a song called “One Step, Two Step” that was picked up by Lawrence Welk. But as proud a moment as that was for Murry, his aspiration turned to frustration.
I’m fond of the notion that almost nothing happens in a vacuum. Mozart’s father Leopold was a renowned violinist who literally wrote the reference text on how to play violin, that was used for many decades. Picasso’s father was a highly regarded artist. Johann Strauss Sr. was considered the king of dance music until his son eclipsed him.
Murry Wilson should be credited with encouraging Brian to pursue music, but at the same time he was jealous of his son’s greater talent, and he was obviously trying to live through him. That’s why I called the recording timeless. It was a classic, and tragic, family drama.
Yes, Doug, you’re right; it IS a painful audio experience! Like Jeanie Beanie, I don’t know, either, what qualifications the old man had to act so authoritarian in this recording session and try to get away with it. He certainly didn’t understand much about being collaborative, diplomatic, and tactful, that’s for sure!
Furthermore, you’re dealing with an art form, not a science. Rules are broken and envelopes of creativity are pushed all the time in evolving art. It’s not “right” or “wrong” like in basic arithmetic! Look at what Bob Fosse did in dance. Although he understood the rules of ballet, he turned them 180 degrees and invented brilliant modern dance work. Murry Wilson was a talker, not a listener… Very insensitive. Sophisticated art does not grow and flourish under “It’s my way or the highway” type of autocratic management. As a result, – spinning wheels here, in a waste of music studio time!
Parents who try to teach their grown kids something need to tread very lightly. It doesn’t help to pull out all that “I’m your father; I know and want what’s best for you; I’ve always loved and protected you so trust me now and do what I say,” etc. kind of stuff. Criticism always feels worse coming from a family member, than from some more neutral studio session manager. There’s just too much family baggage you can’t escape. Brian was right to fire his father as manager of the band. That was a healthy choice!
I had heard stories of how he treated the boys like turds from the get-go, despite the incredible talent and brilliance of his own son, whom he did nothing but put down. Of course, we all know how this affected Brian mentally.
You’d most likely know this: what was Murry’s background and musical training (if any). And I should know this, but I don’t (I’m hanging my head in shame). Who sings the lead vocal on “Help Me Rhonda?” Is it Mike Love?