Surfin' Safari (song)

"Surfin' Safari" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for The Beach Boys. It was released as a single with "409" in 1962. The song also appeared on the 1962 album of the same name, Surfin' Safari.

1 Recording
2 Single release
3 Album and alternate releases
4 See also

[edit] Recording

The band first recorded the song at World Pacific Studios on February 8, 1962 which was one of the band's first ever recording sessions. However, the recordings from that session, engineered by Hite Morgan, would ultimately remain unreleased until latter archival releases. The only difference instrumentally on this early version as opposed to the officially released version was the presence of Al Jardine on guitar instead of David Marks.

The instrumental track as well as the vocals for the officially released version were recorded at Western Recorders on April 19, 1962. The session, produced by Brian, featured David Marks and Carl Wilson on guitar; Brian Wilson on bass guitar and Dennis Wilson on drums. The song features Mike Love on lead vocals with backing vocals by Brian, Carl & Dennis Wilson and Mike Love. Also recorded during that session were "409", "Lonely Sea" and "Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring". This session was recorded and given to Capitol Records as a demo tape. The label was impressed and immediately signed the band to their first major label. "Surfin' Safari" and "409" would be the band's first single to be issued under Capitol Records.

[edit] Single release

The "Surfin' Safari" single backed with "409" was the band's second single and the first single to be released under their band's new label Capitol Records in the United States in June, 1962. The single would peak at the number 14 position on the Billboard charts, with "409" also charting at number 76 and thus making it the band's first double-sided hit single. In January 1970 the World Pacific Studios sessions recording of the song was issued on Trip Records as the B-side of a "Surfin'" single re-issue. This was the first official release of the early Surfer Girl recording. The single however failed to make any impact on the chart.

Released in October 1962 in the United Kingdom, the "Surfin' Safari" single was the first single to be released by the band in the U.K. However, the single failed to make any impact on the charts. In Germany, the World Pacific Studios recording of the song was used as the single release instead of the more well-known version. The single predictably failed to chart.

[edit] Album and alternate releases

The song was first released on an album in 1962 on the band's debut Surfin' Safari album. Three takes of the early World Pacific Studios recordings of the song were eventually released on CD in 1991 on the archival release Lost & Found (1961-62) as well as subsequent re-issues of that album which featured alternate album titles.

[edit] See also

List of songs by The Beach Boys

Surfin' Safari Track Listing
Surfin' Safari \| County Fair \| Ten Little Indians \| Chug-A-Lug \| Little Girl (You're My Miss America) 409 \| Surfin' \| Heads You Win - Tails I Lose \| Summertime Blues \| Cuckoo Clock Moon Dawg \| The Shift