About George Faulkner Sings More Murry Wilson

This CD EP is the follow-up to the 2019 LP vinyl release called George Faulkner Sings Murry Wilson. What makes this all-new EP release unique and exciting, is the inclusion of three songs that were never demoed, recorded or released in Murry’s lifetime. All three were found on original sheet music created between 1950-1955 for copyright purposes. Two are religious songs – With God’s Help, and Love One Another – and the third is the very first song Murry ever submitted for copyright (first in 1941 and again in 1950) called Somebody Else’s Heart. These three songs alone make this an archival gem. The CD also includes new renditions of I Know You’re Gonna Be OK, and I’m Painting with Teardrops of Blue.

Like the 2019 LP, the song selections for this CD were made by first eliminating any Murry songs that had previously been recorded and released by Murry himself, The Beach Boys, The Sunrays, Snow, or The Honeys. Those were not considered for this project. They cannot be improved upon. The demo of The Honey’s song I Know You’re Gonna Be OK (used as reference for this EP) has been bootlegged, but was never officially released.

Like the LP, this release features a cast of musicians from NYC, London, Nashville, and Philadelphia. Only 300 copies have been pressed. This is a CD-only release, available via Bandcamp.

About Murry Wilson, composer

Murry Wilson was a songwriter. His interest in music started early in life, and he started writing professionally in the early 1940s, shortly after his marriage to Audree Korthof who was a musician, organist, and pianist. Together they passed a love for music on to their children. By all accounts, Murry wanted nothing more than to somehow make it in the music industry, and ultimately, he did. His success wasn’t necessarily as a songwriter though, although he kept writing music until his death at age 55 in 1973.

After the Sunrays disbanded I went back to music school in the later part of the late 60’s. Every time Murry got the urge to write songs and get back into the studio, he would graciously call me to refine the tunes and write the charts. There were a lot of sessions at Gold Star and Sunset Sound all the way up until his death. He could have hired anyone he wanted (if they’d work with him), but he stayed loyal to me knowing the arranging skills I was learning could be experimented with and gave me the opportunity to write and work with the best studio players in LA.

– Richard Henn, 2019

Brian Wilson once said that people often mislabeled Murry as an untalented songwriter, but according to Brian “My Dad had talent, he sure did. He was a talented man. He had some music in him. My favorite song of his was one called His Little Darling and You. It was a ballad,” and in 2008, Brian included his own reworked version of the song, retitled Just Like Me and You, as a bonus track on his album That Lucky Old Sun.

Murry had over 25 of his compositions recorded (and re-recorded) by a variety of acts. This being a testament to not just his ability to write a quick hook and a snappy title, but in his ability to hustle and sell his songs to a host of labels, producers, bandleaders, and groups. Prior to the birth of the Beach Boys, Murry learned how to hustle and shop around his work. He also had a hand in one of the great Beach Boys songs late in his life – Breakaway – and he released a solo instrumental album in the late 60s called The Many Moods of Murry Wilson.

Learning that Murry started writing songs when Brian was a baby, one must believe his work had at least a minor level of impact on his children and their eventual songwriting endeavors. But in the early 1960s, his attention turned to providing for, nurturing, and eventually managing his three sons.

The Murry “I knew” is not the Murry depicted in some of the articles and books that I’ve read. However, I was not there in 1962, nor was I there in Hawthorne, in the late 40’s, and 50’s when some of these events were said to have happened. I can tell you, however, that Murry was much like my own father, the ‘breadwinner’ of the family. He was also a lot like an army drill sergeant. A very stern task master. When he offered to shake your hand, you felt it. It was a firm grip. When he patted you on the back — in an effort to compliment you for a job well done — it was also a firm gesture. But he was always very honest and supportive of my efforts on behalf of ‘the boys.’ He always paid me well. He looked to me for advice in areas of touring, promotion, PR, and developing relations with radio broadcasters, deejays, music directors (even though — in those early days — it was typically the ‘program director’ you dealt with. The term “music director” had not come on the scene, as such).

– Fred Vail

There is evidence that Murry wrote about 50 songs in his adult life. About half were recorded, 26 found submitted for copyright with the US Chamber of Congress, a handful professionally demoed, many published. He would even snail-mail transcribed sheet music to himself for rudimentary copyright purposes on occasion. If there are boxes of Murry Wilson memorabilia in Wilson family storage, it is highly likely those boxes contain songs that nobody has heard since the 50s, or ever attempted to record. Three of his missing rarities are on this EP, but George is certain there are at least ten more songs left – sheets and demos – still waiting to be uncovered. Two being commercial jingles sitting in the Beach Boys archives.

For more info about this project, visit the original LP release page.