Music / Surfin' Safari

In case you coudln't notice, there are boys on a beach.

Surfin' is the only life

The only way for me

Now surf

Surf

With me

— Opening lyrics of Surfin'

Surfin' Safari is the first album released by The Beach Boys back in 1962. This album came out after the californian band's first single Surfin' which was the first step in establishing the surfing music they would be known for (among other themes related to California and the US as a whole).

Following the release of Surfin' , Murry Wilson (father of 3 members Brian, Dennis and Carl, and uncle of lead singer Mike Love) took on his role as the band's manager/producer/publisher. Founding member and family friend Al Jardine left the band in order to study dentistry, which left a seat available for another family friend, David Marks, to take rhythm guitar duties and become a Beach Boy. Touring across the US ensued.

Surfin' Safari was recorded after Capitol Records' executive producer Nik Venet saw potential in the band and considered it "teenage gold". While Nik was the album's producer (as well as Murry who produced 409 and Surfin' Safari), biographers would recall that Brian (who co-wrote a majority of the songs along with Mike and Gary Usher) had a major involvement in the album's recording. Themes include surfing, hot-rods, girls, and hands or tails. Brian wanted to write about novelty subjects on top of surfing.

While Surfin' Safari remains historically important as the first LP in their career, deeper discussion about the album is rare. Aside from concert staples like 409 and the title track, the band would not revisit other songs as often.

Tracklist:

Side One

1. "Surfin' Safari" (2:05)
2. "County Fair" (2:15)
3. "Ten Little Indians" (1:26)
4. "Chug-A-Lug" (1:59)
5. "Little Girl (You're My Miss America)" (2:04)
6. "409" (1:59)

Side Two

1. "Surfin'" (2:10)
2. "Heads You Win - Tails I lose" (2:17)
3. "Summertime Blues" (2:09)
4. "Cuckoo Clock" (2:08)
5. "Moon Dawg" (2:00)
6. "The Shift" (1:52)

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Principal Members:

• Al Jardine - double-bass
• Mike Love - lead vocals, saxophone
• David Marks - rhythm Guitar
• Brian Wilson - lead vocals, bass,
• Carl Wilson - lead vocals, guitar
• Dennis Wilson - lead vocals, drums

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Let's go tropin' now, everybody's learning how, come on and trope with me:

• Album Title Drop: On the outro of the Title Track.
• Car Song: "409".
• Cover Version: "Summertime Blues" (by Eddie Cochran) and Little Girl (You're My Miss America) (by Dante & His Friends).
  • While "Ten Little Indians" is written by Brian and his friend Gary Usher, it is based on the children's rhyme of the same name.
• Covers Always Lie: It is known among Beach Boys fans that Dennis was the only Beach Boy who actually practiced surfing (and was an inspiration for the song "Surfin'"). Seeing Brian and Mike holding the surfing board (especially Brian who had some sort of phobia about the ocean) is the biggest hypocrisy here.
• Demoted to Extra: Al Jardine only plays double-bass on "Surfin'". Since he left the band after that song's recording, he is not featured on the rest of the album (and wouldn't come back until a year later on "Shut Down Volume 2".
• Downer Ending: County Fair is about a guy who wants to earn a prize for his girlfriend at a county fair. He doesn't win anything and her girlfriend goes away with a stronger guy.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: It's fair to say that the whole band didn't have a professional sound yet. Aside from Brian who was a musically gifted prodigy, his brother Dennis was an average drummer who could pull out an effort if he felt like it. David was only 14 and did minimum guitar and Mike, whose only instrument was the saxophone, did little practice on it. "Surfin'" (which is also the very first track they recorded) is an obvious example of that.
  • In addition, some themes on the album seem extremely trivial and wouldn't reappear on other Beach Boys albums (particularily "Heads You Win - Tails I lose" and "Cuckoo Clock").
• Face on the Cover: Even though this is The Beach Boys' first album, the cover shows the second lineup which has David Marks replacing Al Jardine.
• Fixing the Game: "Heads You Win - Tails I Lose":
  I'm going to make some changes with this gambling game
  From now on I'm the dealer and I'll do the same
  I'll load my dice and stack the deck and fix the odds again
  So if you want to flip to see who's right I know I'll win
• Heads or Tails?: Heads You Win, Tails I Lose:
  Every time
  We have a fight
  We flip a coin
  To see who's right
• Hollywood Natives: "Ten Little Indians" didn't age well with its lyrics referencing typical native american stereotypes.
• Instrumental: "Moon Dawg".
• One-Word Title: "Chug-a-lug" and "409"
• Product Placement: Chevrolet's "409" gets a nice promotion as a Beach Boys song which would turn out to become a classic concert staple for the band.
• Serious Business: "Surfin'" opens up with "Surfin' is the only life, the only way for me."
• Special Guest: David's aunt Andrea acts as the girlfriend on County Fair
• Spoken Word in Music: "County Fair" has a county fair barker and a girlfriend speaking during an interlude and through the outro.
• Step Up to the Microphone: Dennis sings lead on "Little Girl" while Carl (and what could possibly be Nik Venet) sing on "Summertime Blues".
• Surf Rock
• Title Track
• 12-Bar Blues: On "409".