The Murray Diaries…an introduction

The story behind the Murray diaries is bizarre and almost unbelievable! By 1966, Murray had been fired as the manager for the Beach Boys and was upset at the relative failure of his solo album (The Many Moods of Murray Wilson). But, Murray had a plan. To implement this plan, he had the perfect group, which he controlled, the SunRays.Murray had decided that HE would write all the material for the SunRays new album. An album that would be so revolutionary and groundbreaking that it would leave the Beach Boys in the dust.

So, to see what the competition was up to, Murray started hanging out with Brian at his home. Murray was intrigued by Brian's SMiLE concept. He started taking notes as soon as he got home each evening of Brian's daily explanations of SMiLE and the acetates that he heard. Finally, he hit upon a concept of his own, called "Look Who's Smiling Now!", a biographically musical journey through the life of Murray. Looking back on his life, the tunes seemed to pour out of Murray. Within a few days, he already had several songs: "Gotta Be Cruel to Be Kind", "Dennis Need's a Beating", "Seeing the World (through my glass eye)" and "I Know Brian's Dad".

By December of 1966, Murray had a whole album's worth of material. One night at Brian's, Murray saw the handwritten note to Capitol with the track line-up for SMiLE. He had to beat Brian to the punch and get the SunRays album out first! But, what was the release date of SMiLE? Murray had to find out. He asked Brian if he would give his honest opinion of the songs of his autobiographical opus. Brian, not happy about hearing more of Dad's tunes, muttered, "sure Dad". Unfortunately, Murray had helped himself to one too many hash brownies. This on top of his ready-whip intake, made him somewhat confused and he accidentally erased his tape. His only copy! But, he still had his lyrics…or did he? He had left them on the piano bench in the sandbox, where they had fallen onto the sand. Now in Banana and Louie's domain, they were chewed, trampled and soiled until little was left of them. Murray stumbled into Brian's tent and passed out. The next day, finally out of the hash haze, Murray realized the implications of the previous evening. He could now never beat Brian…

Murray's handwritten description of Brian's SMiLE composition days were finally found in 1999. However, with the scandals involved with the Hitler diaries and the Jack the Ripper diaries, it is doubtful that they will be released in their entirety. Only two pages of notes have made it out, but finally, many of the mysteries of SMiLE have been solved:

Part of "Wind Chimes" was originally an insert in "Cabinessence" (representing the aftermath of the tornadoes hitting the settlers and the crossed the vast American plains of Kansas)…
"Good Vibrations" was originally part of "the Elements", i.e. the 5th element (representing a metaphysical realm to the elements)…
"He Gives Speeches" was originally part of "Heroes & Villians & Politicians"…
"Barnyard" is the missing "Earth" element!…
"George Fell" is actually the missing "Air" segment (needing air to blow the french horn, get the connection?)…
"Holidays" was originally part of "Do You Like Worms" (representing the 4th of July holidays after the submission of the American Indian)…
"Bicycle Rider" was originally another insert into "Cabinessence" representing the aged tourists riding their bikes to gaze at the Grand Coulee Dam)…
"With Me Tonight" was an original part of the "Heroes & Villians & Politicians" story (about a one night stand with Marguaritte-whose husband was the politician)…
"Vegetables" is the link track connecting "Wonderful" to "Child is Father to the Man" (the settler/parents lecturing their male and female children to eat their vegetables, to give them strength when the Indians attack again.)…
"Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" was part of "Barnyard" (in which the legend of the start of the Chicago fire is described-kicking over the lantern in the barn-get it?)…
"I Wanna Be Around" a.k.a. "Woodchop" was also part of a grand suite: Barnyard/Mrs. O'Leary's Cow/Vegetables/I'm In Great Shape/Woodchop (in the barnyard, the cow starts a fire and burns down the barn, but our hero eats his vegetables, hence the great shape he is in to do the repairs on the barn!)…

More to come! Including: Murray tries to play Monterrey…