Surfin' USA
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Surfin' USA was released on Monday, March 25th, 1963 and was the second album released by The Beach Boys. The twelve songs present on this album were recorded between Wednesday, June 13th, 1962 and Tuesday, February 12th, 1963.
This was the group's second album to be credited with production from Capitol's Nick Venet, Capitol Records' representative for Artists and Repertoire.
The photo on the front of the album was captured by John Severson, representative of The Surfer Magazine, and features a surfer riding a tsunami alone in the middle of the ocean as well as the names of all twelve tracks on the album.
The back of this album again features some more interestingly nostalgic text about surfing, as well as a rather prescient opening headline, "Surf's Up!" (the name of one of the tracks in their early 1970s career).
A 1990 reissue of this album coupled it on compact disc with the first album, Surfin' Safari and included three bonus tracks from this era of the band's recording career.
Track Listing
Track 1: "Surfin' USA" (Brian Wilson, Chuck Berry)
- Lead vocal: Mike Love
- Released as single: Monday March 4th 1963
- Peak US chart position: #3
- Backed with: "Shut Down"
- Recorded: Thursday January 31st 1963
This track propelled The Beach Boys into America's national conscience, and was the first double-tracked song of The Beach Boys' career. The geographical surfing references courtesy of Jimmy Bowles, Brian's then-girlfriend's brother, and the song's melody courtesy of "Sweet Little Sixteen" (which it was later claimed Brian plagiarized and wanted to pass off for a new tune).
Previously credited as being solely written by Brian, the song then was credited (most notably on the Surfin' Safari/Surfin' USA two-for-one CD) as having been written solely by Chuck Berry. Currently, whenever this song appears in a Beach Boys compilation, greatest hits, or other packaged assortment, the track is credited to both writers.
Track 2: "Farmer's Daughter" (B. Wilson)
- Lead vocal: Brian Wilson
- Recorded: Thursday January 31st 1963
Most notably recorded as a cover version by Fleetwood Mac, this song shows a maturity in backing vocals unmatched on this album. This song is the first Beach Boys track to have been solely written by Brian Wilson.
Track 3: "Misirlou" (Milton Leeds/Nicholas Roubanis/Bob Russell/Fred Wise)
- Instrumental
- Recorded: Monday February 11th 1963
This, the first of five instrumentals on the album, showed great influence simply from previously covered material, this having been originally recorded by Dick Dale.
Track 4: "Stoked" (B. Wilson)
- Instrumental
- Recorded: Tuesday February 12th 1963
The first Brian Wilson instrumental to appear on a Beach Boys album, and one of nearly a dozen to be included in the Capitol years' albums of The Beach Boys.
Track 5: "Lonely Sea" (B. Wilson, Gary Usher)
- Lead vocal: Brian Wilson
- Recorded: Wednesday June 13th 1962
This song was the first which was written by Brian Wilson in collaboration with Gary Usher, starting and finishing the writing of the song on the first day they met. This song has been compared to Pet Sounds' "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)" as a song which, albeit in a different setting, strives, and strives well, to create the same kind of emotion.
Track 6: "Shut Down" (B. Wilson, Roger Christian)
- Lead vocal: Mike Love
- Released as single: Monday March 4th 1963
- Peak US Chart Position: #3
- B-side of: "Surfin' USA"
- Recorded: Thursday January 31st 1963
An automotive expert, an enthusiastic songwriter, and a local DJ for Los Angeles radio station KFWB, this was the first collaboration between Brian Wilson and Roger Christian, and features a saxophone solo by Mike Love.
Track 7: "Noble Surfer" (B. Wilson, M. Love)
- Lead vocal: Mike Love
- Recorded: Monday February 11th 1963
This song boasts possibly the only prominent vibraphone section in the Beach Boys' anthology, and is based upon the utopia of a mythical surfing figure.
Track 8: "Honky Tonk" (Bill Doggett)
- Guitar instrumental
- Recorded: Monday February 11th 1963
Originally a 1956 hit for writer Bill Doggett, this has been cited as the first instrumental rock 'n' roll hit, and The Beach Boys were one of the only groups to attempt a cover version.
Track 9: "Lana" (B. Wilson)
- Lead vocal: Brian Wilson
- Recorded: Thursday January 31st 1963
With a piano part played by Brian imitating George Gershwin, this is one of the songs which, had it have been recorded at a different session, or at a different time in The Beach Boys' recording career, could have, according to Brian, one of his great songs, had he have had time to create something larger from it.
Track 10: "Surf Jam" (Carl Wilson)
- Guitar instrumental
- Recorded: Tuesday February 12th 1963
The first song to be recorded on a Beach Boys album to be written solely by another member of The Beach Boys, although an earlier song, Beach Boy Stomp, was recorded by The Beach Boys and given to Hite Morgan, the man who, due to his wife's enthusiasm, produced "Surfin'". (Beach Boy Stomp has never been given an official release by a sanctioned Beach Boys source, instead having been exploited by ERA Records and released on a compilation of early Beach Boys hits there.)
Track 11: "Let's Go Trippin'" (Dick Dale)
- Guitar instrumental
- Recorded: Friday February 1st 1963
Another surf instrumental, written by Dick Dale, and featuring guitar work by Carl Wilson and David Marks.
Track 12: "Finders Keepers" (B. Wilson)
- Lead vocal: Mike Love
- Recorded: Tuesday February 12th 1963
With a chorus based on The Four Seasons' "Big Girls Don't Cry", this is often given the credit as one of the best songs on the album.