Surfin' U.S.A. (song)

March 4, 1963

Surfin 'USA is a song by the Beach Boys from the album Surfin ' USA, which was written by Brian Wilson. It was recorded and released in 1963 on March 4, 1963 as a single. The song reached # 3 in the U.S. Billboard charts. The vocals in this song sings Mike Love.

The surf spots

In the period around 1963, Brian Wilson had a relationship with Judy Bowles. Her younger brother Jimmy Bowles was an avid surfer. Wilson thought about to write a surf song and name it all known surf spots in it. "I've Jimmy asked me to create a list of all the places he could think of. And by God, he did not forget a single ".

Most of these places in relation to California, two are in Hawaii and one in Australia:

  • " Del Mar" - Del Mar, San Diego County, California
  • " Ventura County Line" - Ventura County, California
  • " Santa Cruz " - Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County, California
  • " Trestles " - San Onofre State Park, San Diego County, California
  • "Australia's Narrabeen " - Narrabeen, New South Wales
  • "Manhattan" - Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles County, California
  • " Doheny " - Doheny Beach, Dana Point, Orange County, California
  • " Haggerty 's" - Haggerty 's, Torrance, Los Angeles County, California
  • "Swami 's" - Swami 's Beach, Encinitas, San Diego County, California
  • "Pacific Palisades " - Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles County, California
  • " San Onofre " - San Onofre State Park, San Diego County, California
  • "Sunset" - Sunset Beach, Orange County, California
  • " Redondo Beach " - Redondo Beach, Los Angeles County, California
  • "LA" - Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California
  • " La Jolla " - La Jolla, San Diego County, California
  • " Waimea Bay " - Waimea Bay, Hawaii

Single releases

The song was released in March 1963 in the USA by Capitol Records as a single. The song reached # 3 on the charts and thus became the first top 10 success of the Beach Boys. The B-side Shut Down reached number 23

In Sweden, Canada and Australia, the song entered the top 10 in England, where the Beach Boys were at that time still completely unknown, they reached No. 34

Surfin 'USA in 1974 re-released and reached number 36 of the charts.

Musicians during the recording session

  • Mike Love: Singing
  • Carl Wilson: guitar, vocals
  • David Lee Marks: Guitar
  • Brian Wilson: bass, organ, vocals; producer
  • Dennis Wilson: vocals, drums

The recording took place in the Western Studios in Los Angeles.

In the biography of Hal Blaine, he explains that he had played the drums on Surfin 'USA. This is so far not possible, as Blaine was hired by Brian Wilson as a studio drummer in June 1963. Frank DeVito also claimed a few years ago, he had played the drums. However, the recording protocol has Dennis Wilson on drums.

Copyright Dispute with Chuck Berry

After the song had become a hit, Chuck Berry's lawyers reported. Berry complained that Surfin 'USA would have the same melody as his hit Sweet Little Sixteen. The lawyers walked out of an unconscious plagiarism of Wilson. Wilson found many arguments against it, and thought to have written a completely unique song. As Berry but accused him of stealing the melody was Brian Wilson's father Murry Wilson and managers from the entire copyright of Chuck Berry, without telling his son about it. He even gave him the rights to the text, which does not come from Berry.

Only at the beginning of the 1990s, as Brian Wilson had to run some processes order to overcome his past legal, even that song was an issue. Wilson received in the course of this process, half of the credits back, which is why there is now the fictitious Credit Brian Wilson / Chuck Berry.

Carl Wilson was years later in an interview announced that the band Chuck Berry had met in Copenhagen once. On this occasion, Berry had indicated that he liked very much Surfin 'USA.

During an interview for the Would not It Be Nice BBC documentary Mike Love claimed that he had written the text for this song, which was denied by the other band members.

Genre David Marks (musician)
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