"Break Away" is a song by the American rock band

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

that was recorded during the early sessions for their album ''

Sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as ...

'' and issued as a non-album single on June 16, 1969. It was written by

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meani ...

and

Murry Wilson Murry Gage Wilson (July 2, 1917 – June 4, 1973) was an American songwriter, talent manager, record producer, and music publisher, best known as the father of the Beach Boys' Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson. After the band's formation in 1 ...

, although Murry was credited as lyricist under the pseudonym "Reggie Dunbar".

Dennis Wilson Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best remembered as their drummer and as the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. ...

's "Celebrate the News" was chosen as the B-side. The single peaked at number 63 in the US and number 6 in the UK.

Background

According to Brian, Murry came up with the idea for the song from watching '' The Joey Bishop Show'' on television while it proclaimed, "We're gonna break away for a minute and we'll be right back!". Brian, at his piano, then composed the song with Murry as they "plunked and plunked and plunked" and "finally got a song going." At another time, Brian said that

the Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conc ...

inspired him to write this song. The Monkees had appeared on the aforementioned television program on April 29, 1969, but "Break Away" was recorded prior to that date. Asked why Murry had used a pseudonym, Brian responded that his father "didn't want anyone to know that he wrote it with me." On another occasion, Brian gave a different answer to the same journalist, saying "I don't know. He was nutty. He was crazy, that was his fictitious name." Brian Wilson spoke positively of the song in a later interview, commenting, "That's a beautiful song. I think it might be one of my most underrated songs."

Charts

References

External links

* * {{authority control 1969 singles Capitol Records singles The Beach Boys songs Songs written by Brian Wilson Song recordings produced by Brian Wilson 1969 songs