Ride the Wild Surf
The sun, the surf, the salty air, and the sand between my toes.
Colourful umbrellas, surfboards and bikini-clad girls everywhere.
“In the wake of the Beach Boys’ success, many singles by new surfing and hot rod groups were produced by Los Angeles groups. Himes notes: “Most of these weren’t real groups; they were just a singer or two backed by the same floating pool of session musicians: often including Glen Campbell, Hal Blaine and Bruce Johnston. If a single happened to click, a group would be hastily assembled and sent out on tour. It was an odd blend of amateurism and professionalism.”1
This week Jim at A Unique Title for Me, host of Song Lyric Sunday has asked us to look to the beach for inspiration. The song I am highlighting is “Surf City.” Released by Jan and Dean in 1963, the only other band from the surf era to achieve any real commercial success. Jan and Dean’s success would be cut short when real life would mimic one of the band’s other songs. Jan Berry would crash his Corvette not far from the location prominently featured in one of the band’s other hits, “Dead Man’s Curve.” The accident would leave him with brain damage. Berry would eventually overcome the effects of the accident but Jan and Dean would never achieve the success they saw prior.
“Surf City” appeared on the album “Surf City and Other Swingin’ Cities“, the song was co-written by Berry and Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame. It would top the charts for two weeks in the summer of ’63 and serve as Jan and Dean’s only #1 record.
Surf City Lyrics
Two girls for every boy I bought a '30 Ford wagon and we call it a woodie (Surf City, here we come) You know it's not very cherry, it's an oldie but a goodie (Surf City, here we come) Well, it ain't got a back seat or a rear window But it still gets me where I wanna go Yeah, we're going to Surf City 'cause it's two to one You know we're going to Surf City, gonna have some fun You know we're going to Surf City 'cause it's two to one You know we're going to Surf City, gonna have some fun, now Two girls for every boy They say they never roll the streets up 'cause there's always somethin' goin' (Surf City, here we come) You know they're either out surfin' or they've got a party growin' (Surf City, here we come), Yeah, there's two swingin' honeys for every guy And all you gotta do is just wink your eye And I'm going to Surf City, gonna have some fun, now Going to Surf City 'cause it's two to one You know we're going to Surf City, gonna have some fun You know we're going to Surf City 'cause it's two to one, now Two girls for every boy And if my woodie breaks down on me somewhere on the surf route (Surf City, here we come) I'll strap my board to my back and hitch a ride in my wetsuit (Surf City, here we come) And when I get to Surf City, I'll be shootin' the curl And checkin' out the parties for a surfer girl And I'm going to Surf City 'cause it's two to one You know, we're going to Surf City, gonna have some fun You know, we're going to Surf City 'cause it's two to one You know, we're going to Surf City, gonna have some fun, now Two girls for every Two girls for every boy Songwriters: Jan Berry / Brian Wilson
Note: The title for this article was taken from the title of another Jan and Dean song, “Ride the Wild Surf“.
Contains prompt from
Jim Adam’s Song Lyric Sunday.
Date: 2022-04-16 | Theme: Beach / Surf / Swimming
Sources: 1. Excerpt from Wikipedia for “Surf Music“
Photo Credit: Unknown / Album Art: discogs.com
Copyright 2022 Greg Glazebrook, All Rights Reserved.
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Very nice Greg, classic beach song.
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I had thought about this song for my pick, but ended up with “Surfer Girl.” It was close, though.
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A surf classic! 😎🤙
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What can I say – super surf song sure deserved to be high-lighted more than once this week! Great choice. 🙂
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Nice pick, a very classic beach tune!
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