Surf's Up (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Surf's Up" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Single by The Beach Boys | ||
| from the album Surf's Up | ||
| Released | November 8, 1971 | |
| Format | Vinyl | |
| Recorded | Unknown | |
| Genre | Pop music | |
| Length | 6 min 51 sec | |
| Label | Capitol Records | |
| Producer(s) | The Beach Boys | |
| The Beach Boys singles chronology | ||
| "Long Promised Road"/"'Til I Die" (1971) |
"Surf's Up"/"Don't Go Near The Water" (1971) |
"You Need A Mess of Help To Stand Alone"/"Cuddle Up" (1972) |
"Surf's Up" is the title of a song written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks. The song was intended as the centrepiece for the aborted Beach Boys' album Smile, which was begun in late 1966 but shelved in mid-1967.
The original studio recording of the song was never completed. A fully finished (or near-complete) backing track for the first section was recorded in late 1966 and early 1967, and other vocal and instrumental segments were also recorded, but a final edit was apparently never made. Wilson also recorded a complete 'demo' solo performance of the song in late 1966, accompanying himself on piano; this was apparently made for a CBS television special on pop music hosted by composer Leonard Bernstein.
A later composite version of the song was completed by The Beach Boys under the supervision of Carl Wilson in 1971. The first section featured a new lead vocal by Carl dubbed over the original 1967 backing track; the second section section featured mainly Brian's vocal and piano from the demo recording plus new vocal and instrumental overdubs; the third section combined the closing scetion of Brian's demo with newly-recorded vocals and other additions, and possibly also some of the 1967 vocal fragment called "The Child is the Father to The Man". It was released as a single and also appeared on the 1971 album of the same name, Surf's Up. The B-side of the single is "Don't Go Near The Water".
Evidently referring to the solo 'demo' version, Brian stated "The vocal on that [Surf's Up] was a little bit limited. It's not my favourite vocal I ever did, but it did have heart. Nevertheless, it'll be out there again with this reissue, and I'll be naked to the world!" In fact, on the original Surf's Up release, Brian Wilson did sing and overdub new parts, such as the lead vocal tag at the end; however, he was unwilling to work on the song for the most part. Also noticable is that his voice was already torn apart from heavy cocaine and cigarette use, and that he was possibly unable to sing Surf's Up at all from that point: According to the book "Catch a Wave," Brian Wilson's voice had gotten dramatically lower and Carl Wilson overdubbed his voice onto Brian Wilson's solo to help correct the limitations in the vocal.
Brian continues, "The lyrics for 'Surf's Up' were very Van Dyke; only he could have done that - only Van Dyke could have written those lyrics. We wrote that at my Chickering piano, I think, in my sandbox and it took us about an hour at most to write the whole thing. We wrote it pretty fast; it all happened like it should."
"Surf's Up" was written in a single night. It was certainly fully composed by November 1966, when Brian Wilson was filmed performing the song on piano for a CBS News special on popular music, hosted by Leonard Bernstein. An apparently complete backing track for the first (2:20) section was recorded and mixed in November 1966, but vocals and other overdubs were still to be added, and work on the middle and closing sections was either never undertaken, or never finished. It is notable that the flourishes played on muted trumpet in the verses of "Surf's Up" are almost identical to the familiar 'laughing' refrain of the theme for the cartoon series Woody Woodpecker. This musical reference recurs in the instrumental piece "Fall Breaks And Back To Winter" on the album Smiley Smile, (which was in fact subtitled "Woody Woodpecker Symphony").
Leonard Bernstein once expressed his admiration for the song: "There is a new song, too complex to get all of first time around. It could come only out of the ferment that characterizes today's pop music scene. Brian Wilson, leader of the famous Beach Boys, and one of today's most important musicians, sings his own 'Surf's Up.' Poetic, beautiful even in its obscurity, 'Surf's Up' is one aspect of new things happening in pop music today. As such, it is a symbol of the change many of these young musicians see in our future."
In Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile, when asked by Van Dyke Parks what Wilson was feeling when he wrote the music for "Surf's Up," he responded with "I just felt some love, I felt a whole lot of love, there was a whole lot of love going on at the time."
[edit] Details
- Written by: Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks
- Album: Surf's Up
- Time: 4 min 12 sec
- Produced by: The Beach Boys
[edit] Performers
- Carl Wilson: Lead Vocals (first part of the song)
- Brian Wilson: Lead Vocals (second part of the song)
- Carol Kaye: Electric Bass
