Break Away

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1969 single by the Beach Boys

"Break Away" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was recorded during the early sessions for their album Sunflower and issued as a non-album single on June 16, 1969. It was written by Brian and Murry Wilson, although Murry was credited as lyricist under the pseudonym "Reggie Dunbar". Dennis Wilson`s "Celebrate the News" was chosen as the B-side. The single peaked at No. 63 in the US and No. 6 in the UK.[1]

Record World called it "an extremely pretty and summery song."[2]

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."[3][4] At another time, Brian said that the Monkees inspired him to write this song.[5] The Monkees had appeared on the aforementioned television program on April 29, 1969,[6] but "Break Away" was recorded prior to that date.[7]

Asked why Murry had used a pseudonym, Brian responded that his father "didn`t want anyone to know that he wrote it with me."[8] 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."[3]

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."[4]

Charts