10 Great Surf Songs
July 2002
1. “Pipeline,” the Chantays (1963)
2. “I’m the Ocean,” Neil Young (1995) — The pipeline is what surfers used to call the space under the curl of a wave before it breaks; to ride it is to be simultaneously inside the water and suspended in the air. This instrumental, little more than a pulse, went to that spot and never left. But with an expanding whirlpool of a sound—in a song about the O.J. Simpson case, among other things—Young went farther, deeper, convincing you he’d never come back.
3. “Weinerschnitzel,” Descendents (1981) — But when you do come back, you’re hungry. Really hungry. Which is why this song is over and done with in just 11 seconds.
4. “Surf City,” Jan & Dean (1963) — Utopia. The touch of the sun, the kiss of the water was all very well, but against “two girls for every boy,” forget it.
5. “Surfin’ Bird,” the Trashmen (1963) — From Minneapolis: They didn’t have waves in the Midwest, so people rode this instead. All the way to California, down to Texas; over to Boston, back to the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
6. “Surfer Girl,” the Beach Boys (1963)
7. “Surfer Girl,” David Thomas and Two Pale Boys (1997) — As a surf band, the Beach Boys were always a better car group. (Which would you rather hear, “Surfin’ USA” or “I Get Around”?) This song, though, was touching, catching what happened on the beach when the waves went down with the sun. In Thomas’s version the feeling is desperate, as if inside the 20th-century reverie is the 19th-century folk ballad “Down on the Banks of the Ohio.”
8. “Surfin’ On Heroin,” Forgotten Rebels (1983) — “I’m swimming in a sea of puke,” says punk Mickey De Sadist. He wasn’t the first.
9. “Wipe Out” / “Surfer Joe,” the Surfaris (1962)
10. “Surfer Joe and Moe the Sleaze,” Neil Young (1981) — Guitars toss a surfer into the air and pound him under; by the numbers in the first two choruses, a cataclysm in the third. Flipside: A ditty about a hot dog named “Surfer Joe”—who turned up again nearly 20 years later, smuggling dope, beyond caring, inspiring both Young’s most laconic vocal and his most physical guitar playing—which is saying something. You’ll never hear it on the radio, but it’s the best thing here.
Originally published in the “Hot! Hot! Hot!” issue of Interview Magazine, July 2002
If you haven't seen it, I recommend the video of "Surfing' Bird"; it can be found on YouTube. As you say, it is the Midwest so there are no waves and so no there is no surfing, (not even sidewalk surfing), to be seen - only a cool-looking guy in a suit(!) doing a wild and crazy dance. And what a trip! Since you mention it, I think that "I Get Around" b/w "Don't Worry Baby" may be the best two-sided hit 45. And I'll throw out a sentimental nod to "Little Sidewalk Surfer Girl" by the Hondells, which didn't make the Top 100 but, boy, she was every Vancouver teen surfer-wannabe's dream. And Jack Nitzsche's "The Lonely Surfer": where you went when someone else stole away the LSSGirl. Different jams than the MC5.
Wow. I did not expect to see the Forgotten Rebels on this list. I worked road crew for a conference for all the staff who booked bands for Canadian universities and colleges in 1985. The Forgotten Rebels were one of the bands (i believe bands paid to be there). Mickey De Sadist warned his audience, he might be the person to pull a fun on them and shoot. I believe they closed their 30 minute set with "Surfing On Heroin".