Brian Wilson....
The title track of a 1971 Beach Boys album (released originally on their Warner-distributed label Brother Records), but the song (and the recording) dates back to the abandoned Smile LP of 1966/67. Music by Brian Wilson, and lyrics by Van Dyke Parks, whose inability to write songs about kars and gurls was a source of friction with the non-Brian members of the band. Wilson stretched the music in those days as Parks stretched the possibilities of what could come out of the mouths of Boys named Beach. But cousin Mike was well pleased here at the sight of some words about surfin'.(what a dick)
The song 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 Woody Woodpecker cartoon series. 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").
"Surf's Up" although regarded as a teaser to the coveted and mysterious "Smile" is a great Lp. Two of my favorite tracks lie here! (Surf's Up and Til I Die)
Surf's Up Lyrics...
And as for Smile? A full post needs it's attention.
Ck. "The Story of Smile".
