Surfer girl
| Surfer girl | ||||
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| Studio album by The Beach Boys | ||||
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Publication |
September 23, 1963 |
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| Label (s) | Capitol Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
12 |
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running time |
25 min 30 s |
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| occupation |
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Studio (s) |
Western Studios, Hollywood , California |
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Surfer Girl is the third, published on September 16, 1963 album of the Beach Boys . The recordings lasted from June to July 1963.
History of origin
Surfer Girl is the first album to be produced by Brian Wilson alone, with the help of Chuck Britz, his sound engineer . The Beach Boys were one of the first bands to produce their own albums. Wilson established himself as the musical head of the Beach Boys. In addition to his role as producer, he wrote and composed almost all of the songs on his own.
Alan Jardine , who left the band in 1962, had represented Brian Wilson on the 1963 tour. In September 1963, when the album was released, the Beach Boys were back to five as David Lee Marks left the band and cleared the way for Alan Jardine again. On the cover photo of the LP, however, Marks and not Jardine is shown.
A mono and a stereo version of the album were released.
Surfer Girl reached number 7 on the US Billboard charts and spent 56 weeks on the charts. In 1967 the album was released in England and reached number 13 there.
The titles
- Surfer Girl (B. Wilson) - 2:26
- Catch a Wave (B. Wilson / Mike Love) - 2:07
- The Surfer Moon (B. Wilson) - 2:11
- South Bay Surfer (B. Wilson / D. Wilson / Jardine) - 1:45
- The Rocking Surfer (traditionally arranged by B. Wilson) - 2:00
- Little Deuce Coupe (B. Wilson / R. Christian) - 1:38
- In My Room (B. Wilson / G. Usher) - 2:11
- Hawaii (B. Wilson / M. Love) - 1:59
- Surfers Rule (B. Wilson / M. Love) - 1:54
- Our Car Club (B. Wilson / M. Love) - 2:22
- Your Summer Dream (B. Wilson / B. Norberg) - 2:27
- Boogie Woodie (Rimski-Korsakow, arranged by B. Wilson) - 1:56
Additional information about the songs
Surfer Girl was released as a single and reached number 7. It was the first song that Brian Wilson wrote and composed. Wilson was inspired by the writing of "Jiminy Grilles" When You Wish upon a Star from the Disney movie Pinocchio . The song has been covered quite often , including by Pere Ubu and Stan Kenton .
At Catch a Wave , Maureen, Mike Love's sister, played the harp . The song was released as a single in 1964 by the duo Jan and Dean under the name Sidewalk Surfin ' . Roger Christian had rewritten the text and referred it to skateboards . The song became a Top30 hit.
The Surfer Moon was published in 1962 by "Bob and Sheri". Bob Norberg, a college friend of Brian Wilson's, recorded the song with his girlfriend. The song was produced, as one of the first, by Brian Wilson. The Beach Boys version contains a string arrangement. Wilson's vocals were doubled at the beginning.
On the title South Bay Surfers (the South Bay was the stretch of beach where Dennis Wilson surfed), Dennis Wilson and Alan Jardine appeared as co-authors.
The Rocking Surfer is an instrumental that was originally called Good Humor Man .
Little Deuce Coupe was released as the B-side of Surfer Girl and peaked at number 15 on the US charts. Brian Wilson wrote the song with Roger Christian, a DJ and automobile fanatic. The song title also served as the name for the following album , a collection of songs about cars.
In My Room reached number 23 on the US charts as the B-side of the single Be True to Your School from the follow-up album. Brian Wilson and Gary Usher wrote this song together. There is a version with German text - written by a German love affair of Mike Love - which can be found on Beach Boys Rarities (1983) and the Surfer Girl / Shut Down Volume 2 re-release as Ganz alone .
Surfers Rule is an answer to the feud between surfers and the so-called "Hodads" or "Greasers" (in German comparable to the youngsters ). Brian Wilson, who did not belong to any of the groups, tried with this song against the rival band The Four Seasons .
Our Car Club is the first Beach Boys song in which a studio musician replaced an original member. Hal Blaine , who was supposed to play with the Beach Boys more often, replaced Dennis Wilson . The song's sound engineer was probably Larry Levine, who is not mentioned by name.
Boogie Woodie is based on a motif by the Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov . The instrumental piece closes the album.