Named for Catherine O'Leary of the Great Chicago Fire , " Mrs. O'Leary 's Cow " was initially composed for the Beach Boys ' unreleased album '' Smile '' as the first part of " The Elements " suite : Fire . In Brian Wilson 's ghostwritten 1991 autobiography '' Would n't It Be Nice : My Own Story '' , the circumstances of his second LSD trip were detailed . They were purported to have involved ego death as well as death by burning , which has led some to speculate that the track is a musical adaptation of this LSD trip . According to Wilson with Gold , " It created a disturbing picture that mirrored the screams that had filled my head and plagued my sleep for years . " In regard to the existence of its master tapes , " Roughly two minutes of ' Fire ' music still exists , locked in the Capitol vaults , where I hope it remains . Not because I still believe it possesses a negative power ; that was merely a reflection of how disturbed I was at the time . I hope that segment remains unreleased simply because it 's not good music . " At an earlier time , Wilson noted , " It was sick . Weird chords , it was n't the straight eight and all that . I started thinking , ' Oh God , I 'm flipping here . ' But I liked it . " The music was considered an attempt at " witchcraft " by Wilson , who dismissed it simply a product of the group 's excessive drug use . British rock journalist Nick Kent described the track as a " dark , booming , reverb-drenched blur of sound . " During the 1970s , writer Byron Preiss was lent an acetate disc of the track , calling it " a mad , impressionistic piece that crept up on you with the emotional chill of a real fire . " Author Bob Stanley named it a " terrifying atonal cacophony " . According to '' Would n't it Be Nice '' , " the instrumental track was one long , eerie whine . It built slowly , like the beginning of a giant conflagration , and grew so intense it was possible to picture the kindling catching , spreading , and being whipped by the wind into a raging , out-of-control inferno ... The weirdest was the crash and crackle of instruments smoldering for the final time . Listening to the playback , I began to feel unnerved by the music , strange and eerie . " Present at the instrumental 's tracking on November 28 , 1966 was Danny Hutton and Frank J. Holmes . Dennis Wilson filmed Brian as he produced the recording . Other attendants included wife-of-Brian Marilyn Wilson , sister-in-law Diane Rovell , and Beach Boys roadie Arnie Geller . Van Dyke Parks avoided this session " like the plague " due to what he perceived as Brian 's regressive behavior during the period . It was recorded under unusual conditions . Wilson instructed Geller to purchase several dozen fire helmets at a local toy store so that everybody in the studio could don them during its recording . Wilson also had the studio 's janitor bring in a bucket with burning wood so that the studio would be filled with the smell of smoke . After twenty-four takes , attempts by Wilson were made to record the crackling noises made by the burning wood and mix them into the track . An account of the famous " Fire " story was first reported and published in October 1967 : Another story which circulates involves Wilson attempting to set fire to the tapes only to find that they refuse to ignite , which further frightens him . Al Jardine explained from his point of view : " I was n't at that session but I think Carl was there . Yeah , there was the rumor that he burned all the tapes . You ca n’t burn tape , that ’s just a myth . We tried it once , because of the rumor that Brian has burned the tapes , and I wanted to see if that would work . We were finishing a song for '' Surf ’s Up '' and we had some outtakes from the album and I put a match to it , and it would n't burn . The tapes were n't burned , and needless to say they do exist for the '' Smile '' sessions . " On a 1978 '' Robert W. Morgan Special of the Week '' radio program , Dennis recalled how he had recently played the " Fire " tape for Brian , and that a day later , an electrical fire broke out at the Record Plant in Los Angeles , destroying the Studio C room
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
The Elements: Fire