"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 number 63 in the US and number 6 in the UK.[1]
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."[2][3] Asked why Murry used a pseudonym, Brian responded: "I don't know. He was nutty. He was crazy, that was his fictitious name."[2] He said that his father "didn't want anyone to know that he wrote it with me."[4] At another time, Brian said that the Monkees inspired him to write this song.[5]
