“Here’s your lunch”: The gross prank Brian Wilson played on his abusive father
When a biopic is created, there’s typically an aspect of the subject’s life deemed so captivating by the studio or director that it warrants further dramatisation. This was evident with Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson in Bill Pohlad’s 2014 film Love and Mercy, which delved into Wilson’s well-documented struggles with mental illness. Through an astute portrayal of the tortured artist, the film solidified the mythology surrounding his life.
You’d have to be a real dyed-in-the-wool psychopath not to feel great empathy for what Wilson has been through. Alongside the mental health struggles that plagued him for decades, from the outset of life, he and his brothers, Dennis and Carl, were forced to deal with an abusive father, Murry Gage Wilson. In his 2016 memoir, I Am Brian Wilson, the Californian said that he and his siblings suffered psychological and intermittent physical maltreatment from Murry, describing him as “violent” and “cruel”.
A songwriter, talent manager and producer, Murry became The Beach Boys’ manager in 1961 and later founded the Sea of Tunes publishing company with Brian the following year. Famously, Murry wanted to be a singer when he was younger but left his dreams behind after his first son – Brian – was born. He later took up a position as a songwriter for Palace Records, but it did not massage his ego like he dreamed of.
Therefore, after not enjoying his coveted time in the limelight, when it materialised that Brian and his brothers were genuine talents, and formed The Beach Boys with their cousin Mike Love – the son of Murry’s sister Emily Glee – he began to live vicariously through them. This also meant that his loving character was not lost on them. It only bolstered it.
To give some credit where it’s due, Murry Wilson did play a role in kickstarting the band’s career by securing their recording of the classic ‘Surfin'” and leveraging his music industry connections to secure a deal with Capitol Records—a pivotal moment in their careers and lives. However, beyond these initial successes and the fact of bringing them into the world, it became increasingly clear that Murry was as inept a manager as he was a father. His tyrannical behaviour was so pervasive that the band members felt unable to confront him for years.
The Beach Boys finally hit back and dismissed Murry as their manager in early 1964 due to his personality and overbearing presence during recording sessions and at shows. Yet, he was not for turning, and things would come to a head during the vocal overdub session for the 1965 number one, ‘Help Me Rhonda’.
After years of abuse, Brian could take it no more. Although Murry was fired over a year prior, he still came to the recording studio and attempted to tell Al Jardine how to sing. He is said to have been highly critical of and ridiculed the band’s vocal style throughout their takes. This led to Brian making a stand, leading to a heated argument and then a physical altercation over the control of the mixing desk.
According to Love’s account, Brian shoved Murry, causing him to tumble to the ground before promptly leaving. This incident, captured in recordings that have since made their way into the public domain, fully illustrates Murry Wilson’s nature. Remarkably, he continued to loom as a presence in Brian’s life, even advising him to speed up ‘Caroline, No’ from his masterpiece, Pet Sounds. However, it became clear that everyone had reached their limit with him, as evidenced by his marriage to his sons’ mother, Audree, ending in 1966.
Murry might have been an internal problem for years, but before physically dominating his patriarch and firing him, Brian would look for small victories. He revealed this in his autobiography, with one particularly gross anecdote about the levels he would stoop to in order to do a number on his lifelong scourge.
He sketches an entirely different character from the somewhat helpless one often found in the mainstream narrative. “Sometimes, I provoked my dad. Once I took a shit on a plate and brought it to my dad. ‘Here’s your lunch,’ I said,” Wilson recalled.
Continuing: “He was sitting down with his pipe in his mouth. ‘Get in the bathroom,’ he said. Then he came in and whipped the hell out of me. I was bringing the plate to him because of the times I didn’t deserve. There were hundreds of those times, at least.”
