Fifty Sides of The Beach Boys

The Songs that Tell Their Story

By Mark Dillon, Jennifer Hale, Jennifer Knoch

ECW PRESS

Copyright © 2012 Mark Dillon
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-77041-071-8
CHAPTER 1

DAVID MARKS ON ... SURFIN' U.S.A.

Written by: Chuck Berry

Lead vocal: Mike Love

Produced by: Nick Venet

Recorded: January 5, 1963

Released: March 4, 1963

Chart peak: U.S. #3, U.K. #34

Appears on Surfin' U.S.A.

"Surfin' U.S.A." not only established The Beach Boys as a top American group on par with The Four Seasons, but the song's clever lyrics also helped take surfing from a Southern Californian craze to something kids all over the country could do — if they only had an ocean. Brian's early influences are all over the classic track, from Chuck Berry to The Four Freshmen, while Carl and David cop some guitar licks from pioneering rock 'n' roll instrumentalist Duane Eddy.

"That's really what made the band unique — the combination of those things," says David. "The way Carl and I married our electric guitars with Brian's jazz voicings and vocal harmonies was the key — something that blended so well and created such a unique sound." In this case, the result was a #3 smash hit in America.

David's role on "Surfin' U.S.A." — and in The Beach Boys' development in general — is sometimes reduced to a footnote, but he helped author Jon Stebbins set the record straight in the 2007 biography The Lost Beach Boy. David was part of The Beach Boys' initial wave of success, playing on their first four albums and seven top 40 singles. He believes one of the biggest misconceptions about him "is that Al Jardine and I are somehow adversaries. The fact of the matter is we were in The Beach Boys at the same time. I would say, technically, there were six Beach Boys in the beginning."

Alan has said that "Surfin' U.S.A." was in the works before he left. Brian took the melody from Chuck Berry's 1958 hit "Sweet Little Sixteen" and also used Berry's idea of rhyming off the names of cities where, in the original, all the rockin' was going on. In the commonly accepted version of the story, Brian substituted in the names of surfing hotspots like Del Mar and Doheny, drawn from a list supplied by Jimmy Bowles, brother of his then-girlfriend Judy. However, in a 1994 interview on U.S. TV newsmagazine A Current Affair, Mike claimed to have written the words, referring to himself as the group's "surf word man."

Regardless of who devised the lyrics, Brian then approached Carl and David to work out the guitar sound on their Fender Stratocasters. David gives a tip of the hat to Duane Eddy. "He was one of the people we were studying when we were starting off playing guitars," he explains. "The opening riff to 'Surfin U.S.A.' came from the Duane Eddy song 'Movin' N' Groovin,' which has in its middle part a half-step twang riff that we used in a lot of our other songs."

Although Nick Venet gets producer credit on the Surfin' Safari and Surfin' U.S.A. albums, there is little doubt Brian was already the band's main creative force and that Murry was also exerting his influence from the control room. "Surfin' U.S.A." demonstrated Brian's growing record-making skills. Despite its borrowed elements, it is far from a mere knock-off. His colorful production makes "Sweet Little Sixteen" sound downright monochromatic by comparison. It was the first song where he double-tracked the lead vocal, which was sung with newfound authority by Mike. Layering two separate performances of the vocal created a fuller sound and would become a signature Brian technique. The song also features Brian's rollicking organ segment followed by Carl's stinging solo, arguably his most memorable ever. David's fills, meanwhile, keep things marching forward. It all adds up to the group's first anthem — a clarion call for kids everywhere to catch a wave.

David likens the way he and Carl gelled instrumentally to the way the group harmonized. "It sounded usually like one guitar when we played together," he says. "We were tight and we learned from the same influences. We listened to the same records and we played together every day after school."

While the pounding drums on "Surfin' U.S.A." sound like Dennis' handiwork, according to David, Dennis was unavailable for the session after breaking his ankle while getting off a drum riser. Veteran player Frank DeVito was enlisted in his place, although some Beach Boys historians insist Dennis plays at least a portion of the final drum track. "He did a really great job," David says of DeVito. "He was trying to play like Dennis, who invented his own drum style, more or less. Dennis had his signature drum riff on 'Surfin' Safari,' so Frankie put that in at the beginning of the choruses of 'Surfin U.S.A.' It was like a high-tech version — a single-stroke buzz roll with that riff."

David rates the early Beach Boys' musicianship as "just as adequate as any other band in the area." Initially they were considered just one of several SoCal surf acts — alongside Dick Dale, The Marketts, The Bel-Airs and The Challengers — but they also had the vocal chops, Brian's writing and Murry's indomitable drive on their side. Because they were a self-contained unit, they were sometimes hired to back up performers appearing on the same bill, including, incredibly, Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls and bluesman Jimmy Reed.

"Surfin' U.S.A." was released with the drag-race number "Shut Down" on the B-side. The latter song also got ample radio play, and the double-sided hit single made the boys stars. "We started getting calls from the Midwest to do tours and shows," David recalls. "When we embarked on our first tour, it really did change our lives. Carl and I had to go to a private school. It wasn't a hardship by any means. We were going with the flow and loving every second of it."

Understandably, Arc Music, Chuck Berry's publishers, pursued the matter of Brian's apparent act of creative borrowing, and in the end Arc got the publishing rights and Berry the songwriting credit. (Berry's name is the only one credited on some releases, and on others it's shared with Brian.) The duck-walking rock 'n' roll legend's alleged anger over the artistic appropriation is dramatized in the 2009 Chess Records biopic Cadillac Records.

Just as "Surfin' U.S.A." was enjoying a bitchin' ride on the charts, the group followed up with an LP of the same title. The Surfin' U.S.A. album was more than just a quick cash-in on a couple of hit singles. Tracks such as "Farmer's Daughter," "Noble Surfer," "Lana" and "Finders Keepers" exhibit a delightful innocence and show 20-year-old Brian finding his studio legs. The stark "Lonely Sea," written mostly by his friend Gary Usher, was a harbinger of the melancholy to come. Brian's arrangements do laps around his efforts on Surfin' Safari, his symbiotic relationship with the rest of the guys quickly evolving. He knew exactly who was best suited for each part, and they each had a knack for memorizing, playing and singing back those parts. And the family harmony blend is magical. Brian soars on the high end while Mike holds down the bottom and his brothers fill the middle. Brian wasn't happy with David's inconsistent vocals — he was going through puberty, after all — and limited his participation in the harmonies. David did handle the leads, however, in concert performances of covers "Louie, Louie" and "Kansas City."

The Beach Boys became famous mostly for their singing, but Surfin' U.S.A.'s five...