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http://memorabilia.hardrock.com/?item=006606

You have to down load something to navigate the site.

 Man, poor Brian. I've never read this before, but I can't imagine having a parent lay a guilt trip on me like this.

Mod: Please delete this thread if this has been discussed before, but I did a search and didn't find anything.

Is there any chance someone would have the patience to save/screen cap and upload the pages? I'm not using a computer, so I can't download the software needed to view it. Sounds interesting, though.

Read the letter a few weeks ago. The HRC site mentions one to Carl from Murry as well but it does not seem to be possible to read this online.

 I had to download some Microsoft Silver program, and then was able to zoom in on the individual letters. A bit of a pain in the butt having to scroll back and forth to read it. I take it they do this so the pages can't be copied?

Gees bloody wizz!  :o

No wonder the Wilson clan was so screwed up!

So does anybody know if this letter was ever presented to Brian in 1965 or if this is just a draft which turned up in Murry's estate?

I wonder if this was payback for Brian standing up to Murry during the Rhonda session

Very interesting, and super cool site. I recommend everyone to download Silverlight, its a really cool plug-in for Internet Explorer...the things people can do with it is insane.

 I have a friend that works at the Hard Rock in Orlando with the memorabilia, and he turned me on to this site.

 Some interesting Murry quotes

"...felt it was my duty as a father to give you the security a punishment gives."

"children are disapointed when they are not punished."

"Audree...was trying to raise you boys as girls."

"...she (Audree) took a coat hanger to you boys."

He talks about Gary Usher's "evil influence."

Says Brian was "obsessed to prove he was better than his father."

Not to mention his numerous claims of doing business "honestly"...I imagine David Marks, Alan Jardine, Mike Love, and Brian himself would all disagree with that...although I'm sure Murry found a way, in his mind, to justify his swindling of them all.

Still, it's best to understand no one does things completely perfectly all the time...Murry is just an extremely exaggerated example of that.  And, ironically, they would probably have gotten nowhere without him. 

Some interesting dates re the letter:

Jan 8 '65: Help Me Ronda session with the Murry confontation

March '65: Mike is cited in a paternity suit brought by Shannon Ann Harris who claims he fathered her daughter Shawn Marie (source Bellagio website Timeline - thanks to AGD)

May 8 '65: The Murry letter.

A few stones seem to be falling in to place .....

One of the more interesting things I have read. I think Murry meant well but I think his own ego and jealousy got in the way. It's almost as if he could see that The Beach Boys had that self destructive streak. He seemed not to be able to make too many friends and didn't understand why people were against him. I would put a lot more weight into what he was saying here if he wasn't screwing Mike over so badly or know that he wouldn't live up to his credo of honesty in 1969. Still I wonder if he had lived another 20 years would things have been better or worse. It's very complex but again it's eerie reading because Brian did fall in with the wrong people over and over and over and over again with horrendous results.

I'm very patient  :lol

There you go: http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/1135/murryslettermay8th1965.jpg (http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/1135/murryslettermay8th1965.jpg)

As I read this I kept picturing Murry's secretary taking dictation on this. How uncomfortable.

 My friend at the Hard Rock sent me this morning.

"We've got a few Murry letters, including his divorce documents. I'll try to dig a few more up."



 

Thanks SJB, I just hope we don't receive empty threats to take this down... :afro

There's a certain Corleone Family / Godfather vibe in those pages.  :)

Murry touches a few nerves, but knowing what we know now....

Jesus...

I mean... Jesus.

Can you say "self-righteous duplicity" ?

Who is "Gwen"?  ???

AGD -- My response was the same. This man was toxic to his kids.

I'm not sure where you got that date of January 8 for the Rhonda confrontation but I believe that most people say that it occurred at a vocal session for the single version-rather than the album version. I believe the Murry argument was at the session in February or March. I'd go with C-Man on this-since he probably has analyzed the tapes more than anyone else.  I find that letter fascinating-because it really shows that what has been printed about Murry is pretty true-if you weren't a Wilson you were Hollywood phony-even Mike Love, who's mother was a Wilson, was a phony in Murry's book.  Quite a letter.

I tried to pin down a date and from different sources came up with various dates but the one that kept popping up was Jan 8.

I went with the "googled" consensus and ignored the info on the bootlegs  ;)... sadly the most reliabe and authoratative source - the Bellagio site -  makes no reference to the Murry confrontation on either it's Timeline or in the Shows & Sessions sections.

 ... I posted knowing that if it was wrong I'd soon be corrected ...  ;D

There are two dates for the vocals of the "Rhonda" 45 on 10452 -  March 4th and March 21st. Iffn I had to put a date to the 'Murry' session, I'd opt for the latter.

Man that was interesting

I would be surprised if Brian finished reading that entire letter. I wouldn't have, myself.

I don't read 'Carl and Gwen' as being Carl Wilson if that is the interest.

This Carl was Carl Korthof, Jr. (Audree's brother).  The Gaines book says Gwen(n) was their sister, but more likely Carl Jr.'s wife (Audree's sister-in-law).

As off as Murry was or envious, there were still moments where I felt he was all too correct as to what would happen to his sons.

The man was toxic to his children. Plain and simple. If he was "right" about how they would end up, it's probably because he knew deep down that he was a shitty parent. 

Blimey , very very sad and interesting to read - No little wonder why Brian ended up the way he did !!!
Its makes you realise how good our parents were (even though we didn't think so at the time)....
If my dad had written a letter like that to me , i would have &^***£"&^^^^^ (no i wont go there , but you know what i mean)

Jealous comes to mind !!! But what a wonderful insight to us die-hard fans to read such stuff ?????

Did anyone else think of Landy when Murry was talking about love transference?

It wouldn't take a parent to notice those things in the Wilson Brothers. In fact, it would take barely one day to see that Brian had a need of approval from the 'cool crowd, that Dennis was self-destructive etc. Murry is mostly pointing all those frailties in his favour, but I think he's genuinely worried about their future too.

Murry's life is breaking down, no question. He knows his marriage is in dire straits and his kids have practically disowned him. The letter is in some ways very, very sad.

But in such circumstances, Murry doesn't reflect on himself at all. He paints himself as the ultimate victim. Victimized by Audree (of all people), by Brian, by the band. Never mind that he caused most of the problems in their relations with him.

Exactly right.  Murry seemed eager to be the martyr, to make Brian feel guilty for the dysfunctional state of their relationship at the time.  It was indeed a sad letter to read, as we really get a sense of just how alone Murry was.  He had alienated his entire family, yet, like you point out, he chose to blame everyone but himself.  Such a troubled man he was.

Thanks so much for posting that.  It was an absolutely fascinating read.

Guess some of you missed the numerous admissions of guilt and remorse reiterated
in this sad document. Easy to vilify the man but he was plainly injured and chose to
write what he probably couldn't verbalize. We can speculate all day long on the truth
of the matter, but it's apparent that perhaps his "angels" may not be as they have
been deified, personally or professionally. I'm willing to give him the same benefit of
the doubt. If you don't have kids, it's beyond your comprehension. The frustration of
unconditional love under duress is enough to put you in an early grave, as it did with
Mr. Wilson. It's not the love of The Beach Boys, a sandwich, B.J., ad infinitum - it's the
perpetual responsibility of making sure your kids don't repeat the same mistakes as
their elders and trying to secure them a better life simultaneously. Guilty or not, his
family shat on him when he needed them the most. Where's the love ?.

The apple never falls far from the tree.

Thanks for the link, insightful reading on a much maligned figure in the B.B.'s saga. Let's
hope for more forthcoming.

Preposterous.

Nothing Murry says isn't immediately backed up with "I was just trying to do the right thing." Yeah, like physically and verbally abusing your kids. He actually criticizes Audree for not hitting them hard enough.

His regrets are that he tried so darned hard to be honest, and he loved his kids so much, and now they just can't stand him for some darned reason. If only they would use his mixing skills! (Perhaps someone can find that quote from Chuck Britz about how they rigged Murry a fake mixing board so he wouldn't actually screw up the tapes.)

Practically every word is a strained self-justification. Yeah, he fell short, but there were reasons! Audree betrayed his natural leadership role. Brian is just so egotistical.

So how did the kids turn out?

-- Brian is an honest, decent guy. He's mentally ill. Yes, drugs damaged him greatly, but Brian would likely be some version of himself today without drugs. He has serious mental problems, and it's not a moral defect. It's a problem in his brain. It would have happened no matter who he hung out with, or whether or not he was a musician. We can debate triggers and extents, but if any of you know folks with severe bipolar disorder -- it can wreck lives. You don't have to be famous or hang out with "phonies."

-- Carl, likewise, was an honest, decent guy. He had some battles and scars, but everyone thought the world of him. Cancer took him from us too soon, but it happens to many folks.

-- Dennis was messed up. But that had little to do with music -- most accounts have him acting in exactly the same way though his preteen and teen years. It's hard to see how his story would have ended differently -- you don't have to be rich and famous to be an alcoholic.

I think the kids turned out okay, really. They married, sometimes more successfully than others. They had kids of their own, who by all accounts have done pretty well. So Murry's prognostications of doom are bunk. Things actually worked out okay. Not always perfectly, but things worked out. And the sooner everyone got free of him, the better off they were.

No, not at all... but they were invariably expressed in a "poor me, pity me" tone. The comparison with Landy was perceptive - in this missive, Murry sets himself up as the one trustworthy figure by denigrating everyone else - even his nephew and wife, fer crissakes !

The reference to the band's 'novelty tunes' was particularly snide and underhand: remember, this letter was written in spring 1965, not fall 1962. My father used to say, "can't tell someone something they don't want to hear".

That is the most interesting thing I have read in a long, long time.  It's so personal, I feel as if I shouldn't be reading it.

This letter must have been written around the time when the relationship between Murry and his sons was at rock bottom.  I get the feeling the tension subsided over the next few years, though there's no doubt the relationship was probably still irreparably unhealthy.  By the beginning of the next year, Murry was attending the "Caroline, No" tracking session, and things seemed rather peaceful.  By 1969, Brian and Murry were working on "Break Away" together. 

Thanks so much Day Tripper, Sloop, and everyone else who made this staggering document available.

Ho...Leee...Caaaa....rap.

I've always found the "Rhonda" session meltdown sort of pathetic, and empathized with Murry on that one night as a sad figure who had lost his manhood.  This is another matter.  This is truly malevolent. This is pathological. Besides the lethal cocktail of illnesses and disorders that I'll leave to the more qualified analysts- narcissism? paranoia?- it's just clear and unmistakable emotional abuse of every kind, and an unintended admission to all kinds of past guilt. What an insight into what the Wilson brothers really came from.  

I have to concur completely with claymcc and Andrew here. Murry was a failed cult leader.

And Audree is always tagged as an enabler...someone who stood by and did nothing to save her sons.  Here Murry has her as just another traitor in his personal jihad against everyone else.

This is, to me, final and conclusive proof that the Wilson brothers were victims of serious childhood abuse.

I think this was probably just one of many, many lapses into an episode of severe depression, probably an extension of the (obviously) life-changing moment (and well-documented severe depression episode) when he was fired by his sons, and clearly at the end he's still looking for a reckoning from that.  This one just happened to be documented for us.  And this wasn't Murry every day of the week. But ignore that- whether or not he actually sent it, whether or not he would have said all these things the day before or the day after, whether or not be actually did try to convene a meeting disbanding the Beach Boys in 1965 (!!!!!) because they wouldn't let him manage them, or pressed his barely veiled blackmail threats into the open, this is the real Murry, right here. This is fallout from the nuclear waste that was inside, eating away, all the time. The world treated him wrong. No one understood him or his genius.  He had been cheated.  "How can I help them if they won't listen to an intelligent man?"

You know what rant this reminds me of?  I really hate to say this- (get ready with the tired Internet gag term about the inevitability of bringing up the Nazis)- it sounds like the final Political Testament Hitler dictated in the bunker right before he shot himself. Justifying his mistakes, obfuscating, blaming everyone else, fatalistic; calling everyone else a traitor, predicting the bleak future of a world without himself, and trying desperately to scorch the earth he left behind. In other words, the ravings of a disordered mind that can only see the world as it serves him to see it, can only see others as they fit into his world. What he did to Dave Marks was right, because he did it, and did it out of love, or maybe it didn't even happen in his world.  But Brian singing with his friends Jan and Dean...well, that was actually immoral, because it hurt Murry.

I leave you with this definition of narcissistic personality disorder from Wikipedia:

Hotchkiss[10] identified what he called the seven deadly sins of narcissism:

   1. Shamelessness - Shame is the feeling that lurks beneath all unhealthy narcissism, and the inability to process shame in healthy ways.
   2. Magical thinking - Narcissists see themselves as perfect using distortion and illusion known as magical thinking. They also use projection to shame dump onto others.
   3. Arrogance - If a narcissist is feeling deflated, he can reinflate himself by diminishing, debasing or degrading somebody else.
   4. Envy - If the narcissist's need to secure a sense of superiority meets an obstacle because of somebody else, he neutralises it using contempt to minimise the other person's ability
   5. Entitlement - Narcissists hold unreasonable expectations of particularly favorable treatment and automatic compliance because they consider themselves uniquely special. Any failure to comply will be considered an attack on their superiority and the perpetrator is considered to be an "awkward" or "difficult" person. Defiance of their will is a narcissistic injury that can trigger narcissistic rage.
   6. Exploitation - can take many forms but always involves the using of others without regards for their feelings or interests. Often the other is in a subservient position where resistance would be difficult or even impossible. Sometimes the subservience is not so much real as assumed.
   7. Bad Boundaries - narcissists do not recognize that they have boundaries and that others are separate and are not extensions of themselves. Others either exist to meet their needs or may as well not exist at all. Those who provide narcissistic supply to the narcissist will be treated as if they are part of the narcissist and be expected to live up to those expectations. In the mind of a narcissist, there is no boundary between self and other.

[END QUOTE]

You could plug in excerpts from Murry's letter after each of those seven.

Did Murry do the hand-edit of "HATiNG" on the 8th page?

'Cause there it is again... The idiosyncratic, SMiLE-style lower case "i" in the middle of capital letters.

"Guess some of you missed the numerous admissions of guilt and remorse reiterated
in this sad document."

No. It had the ring of someone excusing himself before a jury for abusive behaviour towards his children.

I think I agree with Reggie.

I don't think we can draw a lot of conclusions from this letter, for instance, how do we even know this letter got sent? Seems to be a draft. Is this a response to some communication from Brian?

I feel for all of them.

No, we don't know if Brian wrote an equally accusatory letter and Murry was responding to it. But one difference is that Brian was still in his early 20s and very immature (we know this because in many ways he still IS immature), and he was under a LOT of pressure, still trying to understand who he was and what he was supposed to do with his talent (possibly the reason why he hung out with all those guys who thought he was cool), and a sensitive parent would have recognized this. Yes, Murry tells Brian he's intelligent and talented, but always in a negative light, as in, "You're so intelligent, but you're arrogant about it." Not once does he say, "I'm proud of what you've accomplished." It's always "Look how far you've come (under my guiding hand), and now you're in danger of throwing it away." I think Murry loved his children dearly, but he had serious problems when it came to communicating with them. Not only did Murry tear at Brian, but he tore down Brian's mother in that letter. He basically said, "Everyone you love except me is a bad or dysfunctional person." It's easy to see why Brian has the problems he does.

I don't think Murry attended the "Caroline, No" session in person...IIRC, he was on the phone with Brian, who held up the receiver to the control room monitor speaker at one point.  He eventually suggested Brian speed up the master tape, which Brian did, so obviously his opinion still mattered.  But as far as I know, after "Rhonda" Murry didn't attend another Beach Boys sesson until he sang on "Be Here In The Mornin'".

This is what happens when you have too much free time on your hands ...

Is anybody interested in having a transcript of the letter posted in this thread?  (I ran images of the pages through an OCR program, then meticulously corrected the results.)

Doesn't anyone feel a little uncomfortable reading the private letter of a father to his son?  I don't know anything about how the Hard Rock obtained the letter, but some things are family matters and don't belong in the public domain, even the family life of a member of the Beach Boys. 

Brian told us all about shiting on a plate and 2 by 4s. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we read this letter.

I did feel uncomfortable reading it, but I did anyway. :-[

This is a letter from a father to an adult son. Probably not what Murry considered his proudest father moment but desperate parents of progeny in what they see as desperate situations do desperate things sometimes.

Interesting...I guess the uncomforable feeling comes from the fact that it's relatively recent, and Brian is alive. If this were a letter from Mozart's father to Mozart, it would be a historical artifact and nothing more.

Right, just like Landy would many years later.

Was Murry threatening to 'leak' nasty info about the band to the press??

Do you think Brian really did feel guilty, as Murry predicts in this letter?

This was a fascinating document to read.

Yes, please post your transcript!

A truly fascinating letter.  In addition to the obvious self serving nature of the letter, Murry does seem genuinely concerned about the welfare of Brian and his brothers, and is upset over some of their recent behavior.  His comments about Mike are particularly interesting.  If he were a total jerk, you'd think he would not have bothered to write eight pages expressing his feelings in such a personal way.  He's lost the admiration of his wife and kids, but is unable to see where he might have been at fault, instead placing all the blame on external factors and other people.  But, as C-man stated earlier, if not for Murry, it's highly doubtful that The Beach Boys (and this discussion board) would exist.  There has been a lot said and written about Murry over the years, but this letter speaks volumes about the conflicts and insecurities the man was dealing with.

That being said, I'd like to know more about this letter.  Where was it found?  It's not even signed.  With the corrections (although there aren't many), it looks like a draft.  Was it ever sent?  What else of this nature does the Hard Rock Cafe have in their collection?

COMPLETE WITH MISSPELLINGS AND INCORRECT GRAMMAR:


May 8, 1965

Mr. Brian Wilson
1047 N. Gardener
Hollywood, California

Dear Brian:

Your mother and I are leaving with Carl and Gwen for a twenty day trip of Europe, and confidentially, because Carl is not a well man, we are taking them on this trip with us to give both Carl and Gwen a little more happiness, because we fear something might happen to Carl within the next two or three years.  Under NO circumstances, ever mention to Shirley, Gwen or any of his family of our fears.

Both Gwen and Carl told us that all three of our sons thought their house is wonderful now and I am very proud of the job I did in supervising and helping to design their remodeling.  Actually it was a fairly easy job.

Now to the point of this letter; it has become very apparent to me that our family can no longer exist under the worrisome and trying conditions that have been going on for the last five or six years, and I think the time has come for us all to face facts straight in the eye.  As long as I can remember, we had a code of honor in the family regarding my sons: First, I tried to teach all of you never to be greedy or dishonest with anyone and be generous with each other.  Second, if anyone ever approached any of my children with pills, bennies or dope of any kind, to run away from them, not just walk away.  Thirdly, you were all told that if anything ever happened to me that I hoped you would take care of your mother.

Brian you were a wonderful young boy and regardless of what you may think, I gave you very much love and I idolized you as a baby.  You can never know how many hundreds of times I picked you up and kissed you and carried you on my shoulders, sang to you and taught you words, songs and so many things because you were a baby.  I can remember giving all three of my sons love in many forms and actually, when I was strict from time to time, it was because I felt it was my duty as a father to give you the security a punishment gives.  As boys grow into the adolescent time of their life, their brain tells them when they have done something wrong, and, believe it or not, children are sometimes disappointed when they are not punished because their brain tells them right from wrong.

The fact that your Grandmother Betty did not love your Grandfather Carl Korthoff as the normal wife does caused her to transfer her great love to her children and this is the reason your Mother and your Uncle Carl loved her so much because they could do no wrong.  It is time now to tell you that your Grandfather Carl was a very frustrated and unhappy man the last five years of his life because he knew fifteen years before that his wife didn't truly love him and I pitied this man because although Betty was a wonderful woman, she was not woman enough to leave him just because she was afraid Audree and Carl would suffer financially.

Now, in our own family, years later, we had three lovely sons and little by little it was only natural for my wife to automatically transfer a lot of her love from her husband to her sons because her own mother did the same thing; and to complicate matters, she resented authority in me of any kind because when her own father showed authority, she resented him.  Audree also resented interference of her own father against her brother, who was treated like a dog when he became old enough as a young man to have his own father become jealous of him.  In other words, Brian, all your Grandfather Korthoff saw in his own family was that Betty, Audree and Carl loved each other so very much he was always on the outside, and although he was a very smart man he was grieving and the only way he could fight back was to show his authority against Carl, and on occasion, your mother.

Now it may be very hard for you to understand how your mother could be affected by this love transfer to herself and her brother and how it could affect her own family years later, but if you will recall back many years, you will remember that when I gave an order for my sons to do a job, even though my wife didn't actually say something against me, the look of resentment against authority was there..... and if you will ask any psychologist about this, you will see that over a period of 15 to 17 years, looks of anger accompanied by swear words and degrading remarks to a father in front of his children while he is trying to do his job as a leader of the household, would render two automatic emotions to the children's brains: 1) that they would agree with the mother and would have resentment against the father; 2) it would make the child think that although he may have done wrong himself, the fact that the mother and children were in complete rapport in their resentment and rebellion made the act which they had committed wrongly almost right in their minds and this second emotion is the undoing of the love, direction and teaching which I always tried to convey to my sons.

I guess the third major factor which caused a loss of feeling in the family from sons to their father was that my wife could only remember how kind her mother was, and although Audree did not realize what she was doing, she was trying to raise you boys almost like girls, just as she was raised by her mother, and, although from time to time she took a coat hanger to you boys or bawled you out when you did something she felt was wrong, none of her correction really meant a lot or was too effective because you could only compare the more strict punishment I could render as a stronger human being, such as spanks on the bottom and, on occasion, more violent punishment and severe tongue lashings.  It is hard for me to explain, Brian, but I was powerless to cope with this situation and I was so much in love with my wife and adored her so much that I could not begin to undo intelligently the damage that was taking place in my own family.  No matter how you weigh it, parental difference of opinion in raising children can only leave marks on the children in one way or another and when you have three completely different personalities in children, this even complicates matters more.

Maybe now you can begin to understand that the last seven years has been almost a living hell for me and although I have wanted to give up completely on two separate occasions, something told me to hang on and keep trying because I felt my sons were worth it.  I believe I could have achieved part of the undoing of this unwholesome situation in our family when you all reached the ages of 17 or 18, but we found ourselves thrown into this vicious music business together.  Instead of having a beautiful thing develop, money and security of money began to change you so much that this and your first achievements as a songwriter, accompanied by the phony praises of Gary Usher, Lew Adler, Kirschner and countless other (Hollywood) people began to change you so much, in my opinion, that I could no longer reach you, and your natural resentment against me which had been building up through things mentioned before in this letter, became magnified to the point where you acted like you hated me on many occasions.

I can understand part of your becoming a man to give your father a bad time on some things, but not in your basic belief that you and Kent Lent agreed on that it was the smart way to use people and to not work if you could get by by outsmarting people and using finesse.  As you will recall, I have always tried to be a honest man in business and I have made it almost an obsession never to cheat anyone in a business deal, and although I know you have told many, many people in Hollywood that I am an honest man and never to worry about me in a business deal, I have seen you take the opposite point of view and try to do it the "cool" way.  The fact that you have told me on several occasions that you have to be ‘dishonest' in business to get the big money never ceases to hurt and frighten me and my only hope to God is that you are not so far gone but what you can realign your thinking as to your business practices and the uses of deception, which you know in your heart you have used on many occasions, not only against your father but your own brothers as well.

I do not have to relate all of them, but you have broken contracts with me in the Sea of Tunes Publishing Company by giving songs to Kirschner's Alden group.  You have recorded on Jan and Dean's record which was an absolutely treacherous act against not only your employers but the welfare of your family financially; but more important, the combined integrity of The Beach Boys group itself.  Now you may not think this is important but if you have no conscience about anyone else's feelings or that you don't care if your actions will hurt them, then I would suggest that you consult not only an attorney with some morals but also a psychiatrist and try to unravel your thinking in these areas.

In other words, Brian, the whole concept of my teaching my sons honesty in business was to try to make good men out of all of you, and I can't begin to remember the hundreds of times I was interfered with by my wife when I tried to make you all see the point I was trying to make; but I do know one thing, I can hold up my head in Hollywood and all over the world in the music as well as machinery business and you can't.  No matter how many hit songs you write or how many hundreds of thousands of dollars you may earn, you will find when you finish this short cycle of Beach Boy success that you didn't do it honestly and for this reason you are going to suffer remorse.  I have been trying to fight you on every act of what I thought was not honest to protect you from yourself some five or seven years later; because I knew that when competition hit you between the eyes that you would not be able to cope with this vicious competition, regardless of how talented you are, because you got so much much too fast and the fact that you used your own father and then threw him away when you thought you didn't need him will come back into your mind over and over again.

The way things are shaping up now, The Beach Boys cannot go on and on because cycles of music change as well as fads, like The Beatles, Presleys, etc., but the fact that my sons' singing your beautiful ballads and very catchy novelty songs can sustain you in this business over a longer period, and because you know this, you have used this extraordinary harmony talent and your great song writing ability as a tool towards your own ends.  I mean specifically that when you found out that The Beach Boys image and success was on its way you began to listen to phonies who said that The Beach Boys needed you and that you didn't need them (meaning your own brothers)... the fact that I was included as your guiding factor and manager didn't mean much to you either, and if you don't think this hurts to know that your son would abandon not only his brothers but his father as well, then you are completely mistaken.

I didn't mind so terribly much when you left our home to get an apartment, but the fact that you were ready to hit me in front of Gary Usher, when my wife and I were trying to get rid of Gary Usher and his evil influence on our family, did cause much hurt because you left fighting against your own family for the benefit of Mr. Usher and to his purposes and to your own selfish purposes and which you and Gary were scheming out.  You may have forgotten how Gary told you I was a square and didn't know what I was doing and that you didn't have to listen to me, besides countless other derogatory remarks made by other people such as Bob Norman, Jan Berry and the whole bunch.  How can you be so gullible when you know right from wrong is beyond my imagination, and over the past three years I believe I have spelled out every phony, pitfall and wrong doing that could come from any one of The Beach Boys' making foolhardy mistakes.   I don't believe I have to go too far into the Loren Schwartz bit because the proof of my estimation of this man's character and ability spoke for itself.  In other words, you would rather take the word of anyone against your father because you were taught to do this in your very early years as a young boy, hearing your mother tell me I was wrong in front of you, so I do understand what has caused some of your thinking.

Knowing how intelligent you are and how fertile your mind is, I know that you have come into almost an automatic way of thinking that you can succeed in life by taking the easy route or the "cool" way and I state flatly that you may get away with it financially, but you can't escape the eventual understanding that will come to you as a forty year old man that you are and were wrong.

I cannot believe that such a beautiful young boy, who was kind, loving, received good grades in school and had so many versatile talents, could become so obsessed to prove that he was better than his father.  I can tell you, although I am strong in many areas and consider myself fairly competent in not one area of music but in countless other fields as well, that I have something between my ears besides vacant air and I am proud of the job I did with my sons as their manager and guiding force, although I know I was wrong in my approach, but there again, what the hell could I do when my own wife, Mrs. Joanne Marks, Mike Love and a bunch of phonies that kept coming out of the walls would trick you all into thinking I was a mean man.

I am over the big hurt of losing my three sons as a manager for their benefit and good fortune, but I am not over the fact that I have lost my three sons' love, and I mean real love, because you are all in a distorted world of screams, cheers and financial success.  The money will not mean a damn thing to any of my sons if they are not happy when the job is done and it is a sad thing for three young beautiful songs to place their life's success on the success of a record album or a 45 RPM disc or to how successful they are in the eyes of the music world from how many seats they sell in a live concert.  I hope to God that you and your brothers review your thinking now before it is too late, because only more damage can arise from this temporary, fleeting image of success known as The Beach Boys.  Try to get back to fundamental thinking of honestly and try to treat your careers as a job and not a way of life.  Forget that you are trying to become the greatest producer and greatest songwriter for the benefit of the phonies.  Make this achievement for your own personal satisfaction and have pride when you do an honest job.

If you will recall, I didn't mind when you took practically all of the credit for the mixing and the productions for the first two years, but I know now it was wrong because you started to believe that you did it all single-handed.  You forgot all the wonderful suggestions Carl made along with those of your mother, Dennis and myself.  It was an easy thing for me to learn how to mix you guys because I knew the strong points of each of you as well as your weak points., and coupled with the natural music ability, if you can call it that, that I have, I know I did a good job and I have yet to have a son come up to me and kiss me with an honest emotion for doing many, many good recordings – and you may well believe that this is a slap in the face.

When you think of how you and Gary conned me out of a recording session and let me pay your bills, not only for that series of deals, but paying for studio time while you were experimenting with other artists, using my advice and on occasion my mixing ability, etc., you may begin to understand that it does hurt a father when his son conspired with weak people against his own father, and although I was delighted to be part of your growing success and to be around to see you develop into a great talent, I was grieving inwardly because I knew you were doing it the wrong way (the weak way). You must no listen to the phonies if you expect to become an honest man.

I tried to counsel your cousin but he was a problem child and got into trouble while in High school, later on with his first wife and by the grace of God, no bad publicity got into the papers until the paternity suit thing.  I am proud that my son, Dennis, reminded you all in front of Mike that I predicted he was trouble and would be disgracing all of us if he continued to go his way.  I can understand how five young men could become rebellious because everyone resents authority, including myself, but when five young men are so damned dumb in business at the start of their careers and will still give an experienced business man nothing but trouble from the word go, it is almost unbelievable, and although we did achieve a lot of good things together, the hurt that comes from knowing that most of this was achieved duress of threats, punitive measures and arguments is almost disgusting and I say honestly that my intent was pure and honest, and I handled myself in all facets of your careers so as to set an example of honestly as a figurehead, and not one of The Beach Boys can say that they always acted in honest endeavor and in good faith, as much as I did.

In other words, we all goofed, each in our own way, but I didn't do anything dishonest and I don't think that any of you can match my achievement in business experience and business practices, at this point of your lives.

The financial success and achievement of the Beach Boys' vocal group as given each and every one of its members a sense of false security and it has given vent for each member, in his own way, to take pre-calculated risks and on many occasions where if two or three of these premeditated risks were taken got into the papers and trades, this gigantic business deal could have gone down the drain.  I am referring, of course, to such things as statutory rape, drinking, lacsivious conduct on the part of one of the members, which I can prove, along with one or two more vilations of the law which could be construed as felonies by a judge in a court of law.  Dennis has done his share of things which have made me tremble from time to time and he has taken advantage of his position in the business with no regard to the out come of his actions to please his own personal self and to his satisfaction.  I state firmly and finally now that I will not now or ever go along with the thinking of my sons along these lines and I am worried that a continuance of this mockery in handling your lives and careers can only end in personality disasters, one way or the other, not to mention the character of each and every young man, who ever he may be.  The simple fact is that we all have to face up eventually to our mistakes and when this time comes, each and every one of you will become men.

Brian, your mother and I are growing further apart and a beautiful thing is becoming destroyed, and though she is a very wonderful woman, she is weak in her way because she loves you all so much and cannot bring herself, after all these years of siding with her babies, to do the right thing and really lay down the law to you fellows on the honesty and character bit.  Although she knows you are all three wrong in the way you do things from time to time, she cannot face up to anyone of you now because she has given up; and she is afraid to lose your love and you cannot blame her.  The fact that my wife and I are growing apart may not be a great concern to you as a human being, but it is a sad thing for me and with all of the memories, both good and bad, about my family of which I have been so proud, I have come to the final decision that all three of my sons should immediately be taken out of the music business to salvage the rest of their lives, and although this may be against the thinking of your employers, your attorneys and yourselves, you had no right collectively, or individually, to handle yourselves in the manner in which you have so boldly done, and you don't have the right individually to castigate anybody else for your own wrong doings.

I believe the best thing is for you all to have a serious talk in front of your own attorneys and explain the terrible things that have taken place, and then when I return from Europe we will have a general meeting, with your attorneys and three whom I have employed to give you all the facts of life; and I believe when this meeting is finished the attorneys will all concur that it would be the best thing for you all to dissolve yourselves as a group because the temptations are too great for five young men who will not take honest direction and who have boldly flaunted the laws of the land in one way or the other, and this is indeed a sad thing because the talent is so great and the achievements have been so wonderful.

I want you all to know that I loved you as my sons and still do, but I am absolutely crushed to think that it would all turn out the way it did and I do not say that it is all your fault – I know I failed my sons many, many times and couldn't spend time with them in their earlier stages of life when I wanted to, but it is pretty rough to run a vicious machinery business against millionaires and try to form your son's character and their sense of respect in front of a woman, wonderful in so very many ways, who could not face up to her real roll of responsibility as a parent.

I have protected your income tax payment for the year of 1964, and I am paying a sizable amount for doing this, but now I must see that you are paid in full sometime this year.  I have been trying to prevent Capitol from paying the Sea of Tunes Publishing Company the fortune owing to yourself so that you would not be penalized by the income tax bracket you have achieved.  My books are going to be audited by CPA's and I expect to pay you, after the audit and after receipt of funds from Capitol Records, approximately $276,000 and I am proud to turn over these funds to you as a tribute to your great talent, and if I should die by accident prior to this audit, I would ask that you, as my eldest son, obtain the audit from my legal records and see that you are paid,

Always be honest from now on in business, regardless of what business you may be in, and I now ask that after our legal meeting, which should take place in about thirty days, that we disassociate ourselves in any form of business together, such as artist and publisher, etc., because we can no longer work together in a truly honest father and son relationship, and I release you now completely as a young business man in this respect only; and ask that you answer now for all your own mistakes and do not now or forever complicate my honest business practices and life by your breaking legal contracts with me or anybody else.

Please try to understand that all I tried to do was make you all honest men, and instead of hating me for it, I ask that you all try to search your own hearts once in a while and try to be better.

For those who are interested in seeing what 1047 North Gardner St. looks like today, click here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1047+North+Gardner+Street,+Hollywood&sll=37.09024,-95.712891&sspn=32.527387,79.013672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1047+N+Gardner+St,+Los+Angeles,+California+90046&ll=34.089941,-118.353277&spn=0.004149,0.009645&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=34.090036,-118.35328&panoid=oZVY8Os_x2S8acsfrfwzKg&cbp=12,272.52,,0,-2.11 (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1047+North+Gardner+Street,+Hollywood&sll=37.09024,-95.712891&sspn=32.527387,79.013672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1047+N+Gardner+St,+Los+Angeles,+California+90046&ll=34.089941,-118.353277&spn=0.004149,0.009645&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=34.090036,-118.35328&panoid=oZVY8Os_x2S8acsfrfwzKg&cbp=12,272.52,,0,-2.11)

 :afro

A fascinating read. There's a lot to digest here, but it doesn't ring any different to me than any other 'show biz story.' Take some regular fellahs and throw them into the grinder of show business, and you're going to have the same underlying father/son conflicts magnified by big bucks and big pressure.

Yeah sure, Murry paints himself as the victim. But when big $ is at stake, many many people turn into animals. Witness any garden-variety probate adjudication of a will. Fascinating.

Murry was undoubtedly a jerk and a not-so-great father, and his letter is clearly self-serving.  Nonetheless, he makes a number a quite valid points.  His assessments of the character flaws of his sons and Mike Love weren't entirely wrong.   And, sadly, his dire predictions about the Beach Boys' personal futures would, at least partly, be proven right.

It's interesting what he was wrong about, though.  For one thing, he badly underestimated the staying-power of Brian's music. 

" For one thing, he badly underestimated the staying-power of Brian's music."   Understand has nothing to do with it; he's being manipulative and saying this to put down Brian and the others

I agree with Juggler that Murry most likely truly did underestimate the staying power of Brian's music, as most popular songs have a relatively short self life.  Plus, my presumption is that at this time, in Murry's estimation, The Beach Boys were singing "rock n roll songs" for kids and teenagers, not long lasting "standards" for adults such as himself.  Murry's biggest business blunder was selling the Sea of Tunes publishing catalog in 1969.  At the time, Murry, along with Capitol Records and the great majority of the American public, thought the Beach Boys were washed up.

This letter reads like a suicide note IMO and this comment indicates it had crossed his mind.

...Maybe now you can begin to understand that the last seven years has been almost a living hell for me and although I have wanted to give up completely on two separate occasions, something told me to hang on and keep trying because I felt my sons were worth it...

Yeah I wonder if it was ever sent also.

    UNCLE MURRY WAS THE THE BALLS!

   

...there's always one.

There is nothing left to say. He was a very very troubled and insecure man.

Yeah, it does, TOA- it reads like a lot of different things, all rooted in manipulation.  But my interpretation is far darker than anyone else's here seems to be.  As they ask in English class, what was the author's purpose in writing?  Just to get a lot of things off his chest?  Certainly not. That doesn't hold up.  This letter, sent or not, was meant to produce results, at least when it was written- specific results I think Murry had in mind. There's a lot of build-up and a lot of cryptic stuff.  But let's look at some clues:

(1) Here's the history of our family.  I'm the one telling you how it really was, because I'm the one who knows. Sit at my feet and learn as I reveal to you the way it is. (Surprisingly intelligent, sensitive, and perceptive stuff from Murry in this section. He really was an intelligent man.)

(2) I'm the only one who ever really looked out for you and did right by you. Your mother may have meant well, but she came from a troubled background [unlike Murry?], as I have explained. That's why she undermined me with you boys. Listen to me, not her.

(3) I'm still the only one you can trust.  Mike Love is trouble and I've always said so.  Everyone around you is a phony and a user. All your friends are steering you wrong.

(4) You're really not as talented as you think you are.  You're listening to phonies and users, and they will destroy you unless you find someone you can trust. Someone who's always been there.

(5) I'm the only really decent man you've ever known.

(6) You stole credit from me (for my mixing abilities [!]) and your success was built on my back.

(7) All your friends have tried to undermine me, just like your mother.

[8] You've all been dishonest and you've lost your way without me.

(9) You hurt me terribly when you fired me.

(10) But we all make mistakes, we've all goofed.

(11) I've recovered from that mistake but you haven't.

(12) [shift of tone here] And you've broken laws- committed sexual crimes and done drugs.

(13) And I can prove it.

(14) So I'm calling a meeting to disband the Beach Boys.  As always, for your own good.

But maybe there's something they could do to fix things...to find their way again...to right past wrongs. They'd better listen- he's an intelligent man, done wrong, and wrongfully undermined.  He's the only reason they were ever successful. But more to the point, he says he can prove some stuff. Yeah, we'd better listen.

Read this letter for what it is.

Thanks, Beach Head, for the transcript, and thanks SJB for this.  This was Murry's house or the Sea Of Tunes office or both?  Either way, it's gone now, sadly. I'd love to see a picture of what was there in 1965.

I'm slightly confused. Who is the Carl that Murry talks about in the first few sentences? I assume it's  not Brian's brother, but an older relative? I'm not very knowledgeable on the extended Wilson family.

Carl Korthoff,  the uncle of Brian, Dennis and Carl.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Is that the same Korthoff mentioned in Be Here In The Morning? "No calls for Korthoff, Parks or Grillo".

No, that Korthoff was his son (I think), Steve Korthoff, who worked for the BBs at the time.  Carl  Korthoff Jr. (Audree's brother) passed away in January '67, while on a trip to Vegas with Audree.  Read Gaines' book for the morbidly hilarious tale of how Audree got arrested for possession of pot when they came for his body. 

Reading Murry's interviews in 1971 for Rolling Stone he really learned to love Brian's music. I suspect he always did but was pissed. Talking to Eddy Medora a few years before he passed he insisted that Murry was not a rock hater and would listen to groups like the Beatles and get excited about different chords and things.

Steve Korthof - cousin & the band's roadie

Jon Parks - road manager (not Van Dyke, as almost everyone assumes)

Nick Grillo - can't recall if he was manager by then or just handling the band's finances.

Andrew, do you also see in this letter a veiled attempt, with some cryptic threats, to regain control of the Beach Boys?  I honestly can't see how there's any other way to read the intentions.

No... I see a man, proud but totally misguided, who realises that his boys are now beyond his reach and influence and reacts the only way he can - by striking out at everyone within reach yet not comprehending for a single second that he is mostly to blame. He blames everyone from Usher to his own wife because the boys don't respect him any more. I find his justification of the punishment he doled out utterly disgusting: it reminds me of the excuses people who batter their partners offer: "I did it for her/his own good".  Murry was obviously hurting, but couldn't - or wouldn't - comprehend that he was the main source of that hurt. From the very little I know of Wilson family history, it seemed to be almost a genetic trait.

Interestingly, about 6 blocks north of the Rovell house at 616 N. Sierra Bonita.

I think Surfer Joe hit the nail absolutely on the head when he labelled Murry a narcissist.  Narcissism is a disease that makes other people suffer.  It's not just arrogance or conceit, it involves manipulating people's emotions, pushing people's buttons, trying to hurt them at their most vulnerable, and playing one person off another to create drama.  All for the purpose of feeding the narcissist's insatiable ego.  They have no empathy whatsoever, and if they do, they relish the hurt they know they're causing.  They can never love another human being or be loved., though they would say differently  Abusing people emotionally and sometimes physically is just part of how they roll.  It's a mistake to ever develop any feelings for them or even feel sorry for them, because they're sociopaths.  Unfortunately for the Wilson brothers, they were a captive audience, since Murry was their father.  I've met a couple of narcissists in my life, and was lucky enough that I avoided getting too involved.  But man, just looking at the lives they lead and how they've hurt other people is sickening enough.

Pretty amazing when you read that list of traits right after reading the letter. I'm sure a professional, qualified person could make it much more specific as to Murry's type just from the letter. Any shrinks here?

I'm amazed if I'm the only one reading it for the purpose it overwhelmingly hints at- after all the big build-up, the whole thing simply comes down to this: the band is going wrong, you've lost your way, I've got some dirt on you that I can prove, and I'm calling a meeting to talk about the band's future. What's not to get there?

Murry's life was essentially destroyed when he was fired the year before- he lost his whole identity, all his authority, his manhood, his dream, his whole ego. The "I Know Brian's Dad" buttons tell you all you need to know about Murry circa 1963/64.  But who was Brian's Dad in 1965? Nobody. The Sun Rays. He took to his bed for months, he hints at thoughts of suicide.  And all the while the band was scaling bigger heights without him. It would be utterly naive to think he didn't have thoughts of getting it back, just like you wanted that girl back that dumped you during your junior year, and the simplest understanding of how Murry operated would fill in the rest. He saw success as a fight. This letter shows that he was willing to fight a little dirty.

Late reply, but thank you! ;D

I think deep Murry hated himself for being like his own father. I wouldn't call him a sociopath in that he did have a view of right and wrong. Other then some short term petty comments, I don't think he wanted to see other people hurt especally his sons. He loved his family but didn't know how to treat them right. People like Fred Vail and Eddy Medora really made me see another side to him. He wasn't this pure evil that say Landy was.

"Let's fight for success!"

I think Murry showed sociopathic traits, which goes along with being a narcissist.  He may have had some love for his wife and kids, but it was destroyed by his own self-aborsption.  It was all about Murry.  The only way to save yourself from someone like that is to run away from them for good, or avoid them as much as possible.  Unfortunately, Brian and his brothers weren't able to do that.  Murry died young, but I think that just left the whole conflict unresolved, because they didn't have the ability to see him for what he was when he was alive.  They bought into the guilt trip he laid on them and his emotional blackmail.  He was really twisted.  It's like that old saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."  Only he fooled them over and over again, and made it seem like their fault that the abuse happened, and laid a guilt trip on them for wanting to get the heck away from him.   Most sociopaths are not mass murderers or even criminals, they're people who live among us, sometimes with superficial charm or impersonating "nice guys" to win favor from people at times, while hiding their true nature or motives.  They try to hurt anyone who finds out the truth about them .  That's what that Murry letter is about, in so many layers.  Fascinating stuff, thanks for bringing it to light. 

It's tough when it's someone in your family.  Walking away from that is a big, big deal.

The "sexual crimes" referred to...is that Brian sleeping with Marilyn?  She was underage, but they were married by '65.  Can't imagine that would have been that big of a deal.  Maybe Murry thought it would have been?

I assumed he was talking about other incidents, maybe Dennis or Mike?

I don't like to jump to conclusions about Murry / Mike Love / anyone else involved in the BBs saga.. but if anything is proof that Murray was a sociopath who didn't care about anyone but himself, it's in this letter.

He essentially tries every possible tactic to get Brian to let him back 'into the fold,' from explaining away his "rough discipline" of his sons as Audree's fault (!) to threatening blackmail. Pretty classy. With a father like that, who needs enemies?

But we must consider the letter in the context of the times. What was California's age of sexual consent in 1965? Clearly, it was legal for (then) 22 year old Brian to Marry 16 year of Marilyn in 1964. And it should be noted that at the time when The Beach Boys started their recording career that Carl, David & Dennis were all themselves under 18.

It's all Jan Berry's fault  :) . . . for helping to deepen Brian's pockets as a songwriter . . . at the expense of Murry and the other Beach Boys . . . Oh, and also that thing about Murry's authority being usurped in the eyes mother Audree.

The latter is a true testament, not only to the times, but more directly to the entire ethos of Brian's parents' generatation. Father and husband ruled all . . . Mother and wife was subordinate . . . Kids (especially younger) were to be seen and not heard, and to speak only when spoken to. Regionalism took these issues to different extremes, but there was a bit universality there among that generation.

Beyond that . . . "Guilt-tripping" is still a ploy that parents continue to saddle their children with in the present era. Happens on many levels.

M.

The Lost Beach Boy had this story of Carl and Dave losing their virginity to the same hooker and both getting crabs from it, if I recall.

lololololololololol

[/quote]
The Lost Beach Boy had this story of Carl and Dave losing their virginity to the same hooker and both getting crabs from it, if I recall.
[/quote]

Speaking of the Lost Beach Boy....

There is an insightful quote from David in there about the resentment Murry felt when Audree's attention shifted to Brian, which seems to be one of the major points in this letter.  So, I said to David, "you were right about Murry...listen to this!"  David's response was to say that he wasn't Freud at 15...he knew about Murry's resentment toward Brian because Murry TOLD him.  He said the letter didn't have anything in it that he hadn't heard Murry rant about a hundred times before...so Brian (and everyone else who would listen) had heard it all long before the letter was written!

It was actually pretty interesting to read for me because of the amount of time I spend on trying to undo the damage that Murry has done to David, so to read about his "honesty" is so absurd, its laughable.  On the other hand, he does makes SOME valid points.   David has been one of the few who has defended Murry, and given him credit for the initial success of the Beach Boys...maybe because he was brain-washed by all the rants outlined in this letter, or maybe because its true.  Either way, after reading this letter, I can't help but feel a little bit sorry for him. And yes, that is coming from someone whose husband was stolen from by Murry! 

That is a very long and rambling letter.  It seems like something someone would write trying to purge themselves of of a lot of obsessive, painful and recurring thoughts.  Possibly trying for closure or to finally state their case in full.   

Hi Carrie!
Just like to say I just finished the book last week. Thanks to David and Jon for a good and honest read. Very interesting reading first hand about the early days and how many of the characters were behind the presented image.

The most dangerous crazy people are the ones that make perceptive, valid points, because then you start to believe them and believe you can reason with them rationally.  If someone like that is in your family...look out.

Aye.  This letter also makes me realize that Murry was an abusive husband, not just an abusive father.  He makes it sound like Audree left him because he got tired of her siding with her sons over his discipline.  But Audree actually left him over his flaunting a relationship he had with another woman. She got tired of being humlliated and hurt by him, but he changed the subject because apparently whatever Murry did was okay according to Murry.  Audree never took him back into her home, either, after that.  Murry had no empathy for her feelings or her pride or sense of self-esteem.  Just like he tried to destroy the self-esteem of Brian in particular by manipulating and trying to push his buttons, but made Brian feel like he was the guilty party, not Murry. 

Yes, people like Murry threaten the well-being and sanity of their families by playing games with their minds, making them feel like the guilty parties when he was the one who trampled over them, not the other way around.  And acted so surprised and hurt if they called him out on his bad behavior, and laid a guilt trip on them for getting mad at him or avoiding him.  I think I understand now why Brian fell under the influence of Gene Landy, who manipulated him in similar ways.  I swear, this letter is one of the best finds in Beach Boy fandom.  Classic. 

 I'm the original poster. I showed this thread to the guy who put this letter on Hard Rock's site, and he wanted to thank everyone for their interest, and said he would send the link to this thread to Hard Rock corporate.  He said this letter was from the Murry Wilson estate, and that he would let me know exactly where Hard Rock got it from.

 He also said "I'll gather up some stuff specifically for this forum. Give me a couple days and I'll dig up some treasures. It'll take a while, though. I need to have the stuff photographed in super hi-res. "

 Apparently its in Hard Rock's warehouse here in Orlando, FL.  Makes me wonder - items that we would salivate over, are just sitting in a box somewhere and no one knows about it,  like Indians Jones' Lost Ark.

 Although some new material may not have the same insight into Murry's thought process as this letter does, I look forward to anything that sheds new light on Beach Boy history. I think we owe this gentleman a big "Thank You."

Second that

and thirded.

Fourthed.

Thanks!

Big thanks indeed!! :bow

I thought the it went "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, fool me, we won't get fooled again!" :lol :lol

I agree. I think he meant well in his own mind, but the same can't be said objectively.

To add, I think the whole "honest businessman" thing may have something to do with the fact that Brian took all the credit for some songs that were group projects or lifted song structures from elsewhere and reused them. Murry may have focused on these kinds of things as careless business decisions that he didn't want to have to be stuck with--but of course it only seemed to become an issue when these decisions were paying out. We also have to consider that with the amount of material Brian was tasked to be putting out (4 albums in one year), something had to give.

Lastly, I don't think Murry had any real conception of Brian as an "artist," as a person independent of his influence. And that goes for the rest of the group too.

Imagine if Brian had really taken this to heart and "ended the Beach Boys" in '65... they wouldn't have really made that much history other than to be another American band driven out of existence by the British Invasion.

"the British Invasion"

God bless Freddy and the Dreamers.

Then again, I'm sure Brian would have pursued as a soloist, or at least revived the band with a different image, and perhaps history would have been very different.

I think had Summer Days and Summer Nights been the last Beach Boys album the route they took post 1975 would have been more understandable. Still with LP's like Surfin' USA, All Summer Long, Today, and Summer Days, I still think people would highly regard their work. I'm glad they didn't break up because the music of 1966-73 was so good, but would they all have been happier as people? Sadly yes I think they would have been.

Yeah, who could forget that iconic "Do The Freddie"?

Touché.

So far, not me, but I'm still workin' on it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4LlztpjXtI

 :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

... too much fun!

Dang it, Rob, now it's going to take me about five more years to completely forget "Do The Freddie".

Little known fact: he was preparing to release his follow-up single "Let's Do The Freddie Again (Like We Did Last Summer)" when the Tanya Harding team kneecapped him with an axe handle in a preemptive strike.  This officially ended the British Invasion.

Freddie returned to his previous career on the fringe of the entertainment business- hanging around in the park and eating bugs for loose change.

Thuis was brought to my attention via the Guardian today- not sure if it's been mentioned anywhere else

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/07/brian-wilson-murry

and the letter-

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/12/all-i-tried-to-do-was-make-you-all.html

We had a long thread about it about a month ago. It's pretty interesting to read because most of us here weighed in.
http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,8066.0.html

ah I thought you guys may have spied it already- ok I should take this down I suppose

No need to remove it, I just merged both topics.

wow you guys are good- thanks

Thank you so much for doing this!!!!!! This will make for some interesting afternoon reading when I get home from work :)

A very sad letter.  That letter was written to ease his own conscience, in an effort to make himself feel better IMHO.  The Beach Boys followed the typical childhood star path, too much fame, too much money, too much debauchery flung at them before they are mature enough to handle it correctly.   

You have a different read on it than me, CD (I guess everyone does).  I'm sympathetic to Murry, too- he was pathetic and a beaten man.  But it couldn't be more clear to me what the letter is about.  It's an attempt to re-take management or get back into the picture on any basis possible.  "You've broken the law and I can prove it. Now I'm calling a meeting to discuss your future.". It's a blackmail attempt.