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• Surfin' Safari Lyrics

The Beach Boys - Surfin' Safari Lyrics

Artist: The Beach Boys

Album: Anthology

Genre: Rock

Let's go surfin' now Everybody's learnin' how Come on and safari with me Come on and safari with me Early in the morning we'll be startin' out Some honeys will be comin' along We’re loadin' up our woody With our boards inside And headin’ out, singin' our song Come on baby wait and see (Surfin', surfin' safari) Yes I'm gonna take you surfin' with me (Surfin', surfin' safari) Come along girl wait and see (Surfin', surfin' safari) Yes, I'm gonna take you surfin' with me Let's go surfin' now Everybody's learning how Come on and safari with me Come on and safari with me Huntington and Malibu They're shooting the pier At Rincon they're walkin' the nose We're goin' on safari to the islands this year So if you're coming get ready to go Come on baby, wait and see (Surfin', surfin' safari) Yes, I'm gonna take you surfin' with me (Surfin', surfin' safari) Come along girl wait and see (Surfin', surfin' safari) Yes, I'm gonna take you surfin' with me Let's go surfin' now Everybody's learnin' how Come on and safari with me Come on and safari with me They’re anglin’ in Laguna in Cerro Azul They’re kickin' out in Doheny too I tell you surfing’s mighty wild It’s gettin' bigger every day From Hawaii to the shores of Peru Come on baby, wait and see (Surfin', surfin' safari) Yes, I'm gonna take you surfin' with me (Surfin', surfin' safari) Come along girl wait and see (Surfin', surfin' safari) Yes, I'm gonna take you surfin' with me Let's go surfin' now Everybody's learnin' how Come on and safari with me Come on and safari with me Surfin' safari (Yeah, me) Surfin' safari (With me) Surfin' safari (Yeah, me) Surfin' safari (With me)

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Surfin' Safari Lyrics as written by Michael E. Love Brian Douglas Wilson

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A great hit...No comments??? That's a bit strange...

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cool song, and there's STILL no comments?? You people are loco.

3 comments on this song, from 2 Floyd fans and an Elvis fan where are the Beach Boy fans, huh?

excelent song

Always makes me think of teen wolf.....

It's what I tell everyone whe"n they ask me what I do. "I'm on Safari to Stay"...(until my unemployment checks run out)

Im from Peru, and last weekend i went to Cerro Azul Beach, 133 KM's from my place (LIma) and when i was traveling on the car i listen this song (together with another "beach songs") and i hear the words about Cerro Azul and Peru and i feel myself so good. Beach boys rocks, and this song too!!! Every beach song its great!!! Thanks!!!

1 GREAT SONG—Helped Launch The Teenaged Years of The Then—LARGEST GENERATION EVER PRODUCED BY THE USA... until the sheer Numbers of Their Kids—THE MILLENNIALS SURPASSED The Boomers... tho... in a more spread out population wave... whose birth rates were much lower [40% lower at the peaks] than at any point of the Boomers' steep rates of birth... except that there were now far more (Boomer) Americans becoming Parents than at any previous time in our nation's history... en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post%E2%80%93World_War_II_baby_boom

2 some surfin' safari terms & phrases that may be unfamiliar....

Woody = Woodie Wagon (truck or station wagon used to portage Surfers & Equipment to & between beaches) hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2014/05/15/surf-city-here-we-come

Shooting The Pier = Surfing under a big Ocean Pier between it's numerous, cement pilings [NOT recommended] surfertoday.com/surfing/10875-how-to-shoot-the-pier

Walking The Nose = Moving to the front of the surfboard and maybe doing something like Hanging Ten toes over the nose of the board.

3 As for...

Huntington Malibu Rincón Laguna Cerro Azul Dohini (Doheny ??) Hawaii Peru

Go Google Map 'em—Yourself.

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Surfin Safari

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Let's go surfin' now Everybody's learning how Come on and safari with me (Come on and safari with) Early in the morning we'll be startin' out Some honeys will be coming along We're loading up our woody With our boards inside And headin' out singing our song Come on (surfin') baby wait and see (surfin' safari) Yes I'm gonna (surfin') take you surfin' (surfin' safari) with me Come along (surfin') baby wait and see (surfin' safari) Yes I'm gonna (surfin') take you surfin' (surfin' safari) with me Let's go surfin' now Everybody's learning how Come on and safari with me (Come on and safari with) At huntington and malibu They're shooting the pier At rincon they're walking the nose We're going on safari to the islands this year So if you're coming get ready to go Come on (surfin') baby wait and see (surfin' safari) Yes I'm gonna (surfin') take you surfin' (surfin' safari) with me Come along (surfin') baby wait and see (surfin' safari) Yes I'm gonna (surfin') take you surfin' (surfin' safari) with me Let's go surfin' now Everybody's learning how Come on and safari with me (Come on and safari with) They're anglin' in laguna in Cerro Azul They're kicking out in dohini too I tell you surfing's mighty wild It's getting bigger every day From Hawaii to the shores of Peru Come on (surfin') baby wait and see (surfin' safari) Yes I'm gonna (surfin') take you surfin' (surfin' safari) with me Come along (surfin') baby wait and see (surfin' safari) Yes I'm gonna (surfin') take you surfin' (surfin' safari) with me Let's go surfin' now Everybody's learning how Come on and safari with me (Come on and safari with) With me Surfin' safari With me Surfin' safari With me Surfin' safari With me Surfin' safari

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Surfin' Safari by The Beach Boys

Songfacts®:

• Many of the early Beach Boys songs were about surfing, which was their niche (their first record label named the band; they were almost The Surfers). Only their drummer, Dennis Wilson, surfed, but they could fake it in photos and songs. "Surfin' Safari" is a travelogue of popular surf spots in California: Huntington, Malibu, Doheny State Beach, Rincon, Laguna Beach. They also mention Cerro Azul in Peru. Released June 4th 1962, this was the Beach Boys' first major hit. In his 1990 autobiography Brian Wilson said it sold 900,000 copies, and more overseas: #1 in Sweden, #13 in New Zealand, and a hit too in Italy and France, where it attracted cover versions.
• In the first verse, the band grabs some honeys and loads up the woody with some boards, setting the stage for the surfin' safari with some hip lingo. A woody is a funny looking wood-paneled vehicle popular with surfers. It also gets a mention in " Surfer Girl " with the line, "In my woody I would take you everywhere I go."
• Written by Wilson and lead singer Mike Love , this was the first recording to display the distinctive counterpoint harmonies for which the group became famous. The recording was also self-produced, and taken to Capitol complete with its B-side "409" which was a minor hit. This precedent made the Beach Boys the first total, self-contained artists of the rock era, not to be matched for many years to come.
• When the Chrysler corporation conducted a survey in 2004 on "What is the best song to cruise to?" - this won. >> Suggestion credit : Gary - Auckland, New Zealand, for above 3
• This was the second Beach Boys single, and their first with Capitol Records. Their first single, " Surfin' ," was issued on the independent label Candix Records. Group patriarch Murry Wilson sold the masters of "Surfin' Safari," along with two other songs, "Lonely Sea" and " 409 ," to Capitol for $100 each, with a 2.5% royalty for the group. With "409" issued as the B-side, the single proved successful, and Capitol signed the band. The group had already done a lot of work on their debut album by the time they got the deal.
• On the DVD Brian Wilson Songwriter 1962 - 1969 , Mike Love credits Murry Wilson - father of Brian, Carl and Dennis of The Beach Boys - with the distinctive treblelly guitar sound on this track. When Brian Wilson would leave the control room to record his bass parts, Murry, who fancied himself a producer, would switch the sounds on the guitars to the treble he preferred. Love feels that guitar sound really cut through and helped "Surfin' Safari" sell.
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• Lyrics to Surfin' Safari
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Comments: 6

• John from Cleveland "This precedent made the Beach Boys the first total, self-contained artists of the rock era, not to be matched for many years to come." self-contained: "Not dependent on others; self-sufficient." Despite the massive effort that came from within included production, since studio musicians recorded a great deal of their music, I do not think this description is accurate, particularly when contrasted against bands that played all of their own parts.
• Tim from San Mateo In response to the comment about different lyrics between the Candix era version and the version released by Capitol: those lyrics were obviously changed before Capitol ever heard the newer version, so insinuating that Capitol objected to "honeys will be making the scene" is complete rubbish. There are numerous examples where lyrics to Brian Wilson penned tunes get revised, usually by Mike Love, when they are being recorded. My guess is that Mike with Brian changed it to "some honeys will be coming along" since it just flows better.
• Steve Dotstar from Los Angeles, Ca Spencer-Brian Wilson opens the song with his high voice stacked on the top of harmonies "let's go surfin'now"...etc..then when the solo voice comes on,it's Mike Love.("early in the morning,.."etc)
• Boogiespencer from Bethesda, Md who opens with lead vocals on this track?
• Gary from Auckland, New Zealand This has been sales-ranked above known 1962 million-sellers 'Return to Sender' and 'Twistin' the Night Away' by the analysis of Classicbands.com. It broke Capitol sales records in New York City, was ranked #1 in LA, San Diego and the Twin Cities, #3 in San Francisco, #5 in Chicago, etc, etc -- but only #14 by Billboard. This might have been partly because it wasn't guaranteed as much airplay as Dick Clark favorites the Four Seasons, but probably mainly because each regional market was left to take it up individually -- its flip, '409', was first promoted by Capitol as the A-side. 'Surfin' Safari's regional chart runs extended over a period of nine months, from June 1962 to February 1963, not falling all within three months as national hits normally do.
• Rick from San Juan, United States The early Candix version began with the phrase "some honeys will be makin' the scene" ... ". It was watered-down by Capitol as "some honeys will be coming along" to avoid controversy that would affect airplay and sales.

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• Surfin' Safari
• The Beach Boys

The Story Behind “Surfin’ Safari” by The Beach Boys and How Two Crucial Changes Helped Make the Song a Hit

by Jay McDowell May 30, 2024, 6:30 am

After The Beach Boys tasted success with “Surfin'” on the Candix label, songwriter Brian Wilson’s father Murry set about getting the young group a proper record deal. He took a mortgage on his house and arranged several recording sessions. Brian wrote a couple of songs with Gary Usher, a pair with lead singer Mike Love, and a single song by himself. Armed with this new material, The Beach Boys went into World Pacific Studio and recorded these songs on February 8, 1962.

Videos by American Songwriter

The band would go on to record all of the songs again later, but those recordings were good enough to get Nick Venet of Capitol Records to sign The Beach Boys to a recording contract. Just over two months later, they went to Western Studios and rerecorded two of the songs—and both would enter the U.S. charts. Let’s take a look at the story behind one of them, “Surfin’ Safari” by The Beach Boys.

Let’s go surfin’ now Everybody’s learnin’ how Come on and safari with me (Come on and safari with)

The Record Deal

Murry Wilson was not confident in his son Dennis’s drumming abilities. Brian arranged for Gene Krupa to play the session. They wanted Dennis to provide vocals, but he stormed out of the studio when Krupa showed up. As the session continued, Krupa’s playing was not what they were looking for, and Dennis came back and played. On April 19, the band recorded “Surfin’ Safari” (written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love), “409,” and “Lonely Sea” (written by Brian Wilson and Gary Usher).

Murry Wilson took the tapes around to several labels with no success. He then reached out to his old friend Ken Nelson, the country music A&R man from Capitol Records. He put Murry in touch with 22-year-old Nick Venet. Murry, Brian, Usher, and Venet met at the Capitol Tower, and the young executive instantly believed “Surfin’ Safari” was a No. 1 single. Venet told author William McKeen, “Before eight bars had spun around, I knew it was a hit record. I wasn’t one to hide my feelings. I got all excited, and of course, [Murry] got excited because he wasn’t one to hide his feelings either. I knew the song was going to change West Coast music.” Capitol offered $300 per song master, plus 2.5% royalties, with proceeds split between Brian, Usher, and Murry.

Early in the mornin’, we’ll be startin’ out Some honeys will be comin’ along We’re loadin’ up our Woody with our boards inside And headin’ out singin’ our song

A New Guitarist

The only difference in personnel between the first and second recording was the guitarist. Al Jardine was on the earlier version, but just as the band was signing with Capitol Records, he decided to leave the group as he felt they had little chance of success. Wilson’s neighbor David Marks took over guitar duties and appeared on the second recording of “Surfin’ Safari.” Marks told author Keith Badman, “When Brian sat down at the piano and played ‘Surfin Safari’ and said this is our next hit, I got chills. Got goosebumps, man. We jumped around and pounded him on the back, ‘God, you’re a genius, man!'”

Come on, baby, wait and see (surfin’, surfin’ safari) Yes, I’m gonna take you surfin’ with me (surfin’, surfin’ safari) Come along, baby, wait and see (surfin’, surfin’ safari) Yes, I’m gonna take you surfin’ with me (surfin’, surfin’ safari)

Murry Suggests Two Changes

During the recording session at Western, Murry encouraged the band to move up the song’s key a whole step to make it younger-sounding. He also adjusted the guitar tone, rolling off the bass to give it more treble. Brian was pushing for more low-end, but Mike Love later attributed the record’s success to the thin-sounding guitars that cut through the airwaves.

“409”

The B-side was “409.” There have been conflicting accounts of whether or not Capitol wanted it to be on the A-side. Murry felt strongly about continuing the surfing theme but seemed to believe the record company was pushing for the hot-rod song to be the lead single. Venet later claimed, “If it was ‘409’ I was interested in, why did I have the group take pictures at the ocean with a surfboard?” Sales of “Surfin’ Safari” first spiked in New York and the midwest, rather than on the West Coast. Said Venet, “We were getting reports from spots like Phoenix, Arizona, where you couldn’t go surfing if you tried.”

Murry Pulls It off

It’s well documented how many troubles came from Murry’s actions as The Beach Boys’ manager. However, when it came to getting a record deal, the senior Wilson pulled it off when Capitol Records began their long-term relationship with the band. The Beach Boys would have one of the most successful careers of any American band of their time. Unbeknownst to the Southern California teens, four long-haired fellows on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean released a song in England called “Love Me Do” just four days after “Surfin’ Safari debuted in America. The two bands would cross paths many times in the future, inspiring each other and pushing each side to higher levels.

They’re anglin’ in Laguna in Cerro Azul They’re kickin’ out in Doheny too I tell you, surfing’s mighty wild. It’s gettin’ bigger every day From Hawaii to the shores of Peru

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Me and My Chimp: Paul McCartney Reveals the Surprising Beatles Fan He Recently Discovered Hidden in a 1964 Photo He Took

© 2024 American Songwriter

The Beach Boys and Director Frank Marshall on the Band’s Disney+ Doc: ‘We May Not Have Been Great Surfers, but We Sang About It Really Well’

By Chris Willman

Chris Willman

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If Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer on most Americans’ calendars, then it makes sense that the real tentpole kicking off tent season for a lot of people is not “Furiosa” or “Garfield” but “The Beach Boys ,” a streaming documentary devoted to the least wintery group of all time.

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What was the instigation of this project? Because there have been, in the far distant past, a Beach Boys mini-series and some documentaries, but we’re talking like the ‘80s or 2000 for the last time we saw anything significant. Was there a desire to say, we need to have a really definitive documentary, and a timely one?

Marshall: No, I think it was kind of my fault, that Thom Zimny and I were sitting around after we did Johnny Cash [“The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash,” which they also co-directed, released in 2019] and talking about what musical doc would we like to do together next. He started talking about the Beach Boys, and I said, “Well, I grew up in Newport, yeah, I love them.” And then as life does, things change; he did something else, I did something else. [When not directing music docs like “The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,” Marshall is a producer of major Hollywood and Broadway projects.] But we still kept at it.

But the problem was that the Beach Boys were not one unit. If you went to get the rights or approvals on everything, it would’ve taken forever. But then Irving Azoff and Iconic Artists brought them all together — one-stop shopping — and then I said, “I know Irving. I’m going in.” And that’s how it happened.

Love: We owe a lot of gratitude to Irving and to Frank for picking up the gauntlet.

Marshall : And now there’s a book, and everything’s coming together to celebrate this music that’s had such an impact on the world for so many years. 

Love: Genesis, they make some beautiful books, and they did one for us [“The Beach Boys by the Beach Boys”] and it’s amazing.

It’s literally the heaviest book I own.

Love: The big one is, like, literally 11 pounds. I weighed it with my little weighing thing because, you know, if you go on Southwest Airlines, you can only have 50 pounds.

Jardine: Only Mike would know. He wants to read about himself.

Looking at the book, there are thousands of pictures, which would lead somone to believe the archives are really well-kept. Was that the same case with film clips for the doc, or were there any hurdles to overcome?

Marshall: No, it’s always a challenge because, first of all, there have been so many articles, books, movies, and I always try to find stuff that’s never been seen before. But once I got to know everybodyand say, “Have you got any home movies under (the bed)?” And sure enough, there’d be a shoebox with 8mm film, and that’s how we got Dennis. Both Carl and Dennis’s families were great in helping us represent their dad and their husband in the right way. So it was like a little treasure hunt where there’s gold bullions every once in a while.

It’s easy to forget, until this film reminds you, that Glen Campbell was briefly in the group, before he had to take off and got replaced by Bruce Johnston.

Jardine: Glen had a burgeoning career about ready to happen, so he had to leave the band early. I think he only did one summer with us while Brian was out of action. And then I think you (Love) found Bruce…

Love: We called 12 people to find somebody who could play bass. Bruce could sing high, but he didn’t play bass and we needed the bass player, so he said, “Oh, I play bass.” And he went and learned it, you know…

Jardine: …on the way to the airport…

Love: Kind of!

Is there anything that you dug up archivally that was a little bit surprising, or just that you hadn’t seen in a long time, that you’re kind of delighted is in the documentary?

Love: Well, I hadn’t seen certain people’s home movies. Why would I have, you know? The Wilson stuff, yes, the Love stuff, yes. But the Jardines, the Marks, the other people involved…

Jardine: How about the photo of Bruce and Keith Moon? Those are the ones I went, “I can’t believe that.” And you know, nobody knows that story, really.

Love: Derek Taylor, the Beatles’ publicist who came to America and became our publicist, actually set up Bruce with about 15 interviews in England and introduced him to Keith Moon, who introduced Bruce to Paul McCartney and John Lennon. They were in Bruce’s suite, and Bruce was able to play them the “Pet Sounds” album before it even came out in Great Britain, and they played it through twice. So those guys became our promotion men.

The Beatles/Beach Boys “rivarly” circa 1966 has been talked about so much over the years, but someone in the film makes the statement that it wasn’t a rivalry so much as a collaboration, in a way.

Jardine: It was a mutual adoration, I think. And they inspired each other, because I don’t think we’d have “Sgt. Pepper’s” without “Pet Sounds,” and I don’t think we’d have “Pet Sounds” without “Rubber Soul.”

Frank, you said that growing up in Newport helped your love of the Beach Boys develop in the early ‘60s. Can you talk about what your first point of connection was?

Of course it’s part of the Beach Boys’ legend that Dennis Wilson was the only real surfer in the group. In those first years, Mike and Al, did either of you guys think, gosh, maybe we need to try a little harder to do this, just so we fit in and actually live the lifestyle we’re singing about?

Love: Well, a couple of the guys never surfed at all. A few of us tried to do it. But it’s harder than Chinese arithmetic. I mean, it really is. So I really appreciate the fact that those guys would get up and before class go surfing and then go to school and then after school they’d surf until it got dark. That was a way of life. [He quotes the lyrics to “Surfin’,” from 1962.] “Surfing is the only life, the only way for me now, now surf, surf [claps hands] with me.”

Jardine: I used to take Dennis to the beach to go surfing. I had an old ‘49 or ’50 Ford, and he needed wheels. So we went down to El Porto in Manhattan Beach, and he taught me how not to surf. I hit the sand straight, the very first wave, right down to the bottom. That was probably my last experience. He was a natural athlete. He knew how to do it. And he wrote the story on surfing.

Love: Well, we may not have been great surfers, but we sang about it really well.

To ask about the interviews that were done for the film: Beyond the Beach Boys themselves, past and present, there’s just a very small list of people who you got for this. It’s a very tight film, so it’s for the best that you didn’t go out and interview 50 talking heads for it. You’ve got Marilyn, Brian’s first wife, who may be better to represent his feelings from back in the day that he could at this point…

Marshall: Yeah, she did. Good job, too.

How did that selection process go, picking interview subjects?

Marshall: One of the things that I love about documentaries is the freedom. You know, in my day job [producing dramatic feature films], I get a script and I know exactly where I am all the time. But it’s a team effort. I have archivists and I put it out there: OK, who’s talked about being influenced and inspired by the Beach Boys’ music? And then I’d have to narrow ’em down depending on where they were (growing up) — you know, Don Was was in Detroit, and Janelle Monae was in Kansas City, and Ryan Tedder was in Oklahoma, and he wanted to go someplace where it was warm. So they had different areas of influence, but they recognized the power and how brilliant the music was. So Thom and I split it up. Thom did a lot of the audio interviews, and then I came in with the camera and did the on-camera stuff.

With Brian, it was a useful workaround to have some good archival interviews as well as the little bit you have of him in the present day. Anyone who has interviewed him in recent years knows he is not loquacious, and the diagnosis that recently went public helps explain why he’s a man of fewer words.

Marshall: And that was kind of my dream come true. I had always wished as we were going along: Maybe I can get ’em together. And what a perfect spot, where the first album (cover was shot). But it wasn’t an interview. So Brian was able to just be himself, with the guys he spent 60 years with, and it was like a family reunion, laughing, crying, singing, telling stories. It was incredible. There wasn’t the pressure of “Tell me about when you did this or that.” So that was part of what made it special.

Jardine: Exactly. He doesn’t forget lyrics. We go way back and we’ll do songs like the stuff we did out at Paradise Cove. He remembers everything, just like that. The current stuff, not so much. But he’s got musical integrity, let’s put it that way.

Marshall: But you’re right about the interview. It was difficult.

When did you film the bit at the end with everyone together on the beach?

Marshall: In September.

Jardine: Maybe we’ll hear some more about it in part two.

Is there a story you wanted to tell with this film, where in any way you feel like the Beach Boys’ story isn’t totally understood? Some of us are a part of friend groups where it might be a natural thing to talk about the Beach Boys in any given week, but not the whole world is like that.

Love: I think that everybody doesn’t know the Beach Boys’ story, because it hasn’t been told comprehensively enough, giving enough attribution to various individual members and experiences. At one time we had two jets on tour , the non-smoking jet and the smoking jet, going on tour. Alan and I, along with Bruce, were on the non-smoking, and the Wilson boys were on the smoking, and that may be a euphemism for certain lifestyle choices. So, I mean, there was division, there was a schism, and all that stuff. But when it came time to get on stage together or get around the microphone together, then all those things disappeared. And what manifested was that harmony and that blend and that sound that’s known around the world.

Marshall: And I think one of the keys was that Brian didn’t like touring and came back here (to L.A.) and was just able to create, with none of the pressures of touring, and then their touring energy would come back and sing these parts, and that’s something that no other group did.

Love: There’s a huge amount of information, from pre-group to early group to Brian leaving, and then the two groups, the recording group and the touring group, and then the different changes and…

Marshall: You know, they’ve adapted at every turn. But then, you know, losing Carl and Dennis, it was a different sound.

Love:  So when people ask me, how do you feel (watching it)? I felt nostalgic, and I felt sad that a couple of the guys aren’t with us.

Marshall: Yeah. I wanted to celebrate “America’s band,” to be honest. And that was, in my opinion, one of their greatest performances, with 400,000 people in Washington, D.C. (at the National Mall). It was one of the best recorded performances we had, and they were all there, reunited, so I just felt, “That’s the way to go out.” It was kind of poetic, I thought.

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The Beach Boys, going into the sunset, look back on years of harmony and heartache in documentary

FILE - Bruce Johnston, from left, David Marks, Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine of The Beach Boys pose backstage at the 54th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 12, 2012. A new documentary about the band premieres May 24 on Disney+. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)

This image released by Disney+ shows promotional art for the documentary “The Beach Boys,” directed by Frank Marshall. (Disney+ via AP)

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Both the Beach Boys and “The Beach Boys” — the new documentary dropping Friday on Disney+ — are all about blending a range of voices.

The three Wilson brothers — Brian , Carl and Dennis — along with cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine, brought a harmonic revolution to group vocals with their Southern California sound that brightened the 1960s with songs like “I Get Around,” “Good Vibrations” and “God Only Knows.”

In his documentary on them, director Frank Marshall took oft-told tales of the band’s six decades of heartache and harmony, and tried to make them broader, and brighter, by mixing as many voices as possible.

“It was the blend of everything,” Marshall told The Associated Press in a joint interview with Love and Jardine at a Hollywood recording studio. “It’s the blend not only of the family story, but the blend of the harmonies. If you took one element out, you wouldn’t have the Beach Boys.”

The 83-year-old Love said Marshall’s project was “a monumental effort” for all involved and that they’ve “never done so much promotion in our entire lives.”

“This fella here, Frank, is able to take all that ridiculous amount of information and make it into a coherent, wonderful, documentary that really gives not only a look into the individuals, but the collective impact,” he said.

The film includes extensive new interviews with the singer Love and singer-guitarist Jardine, 81. And it draws from many archive interviews to give the perspectives of singer-guitarist Carl Wilson, who died from cancer in 1998 at age 51, singer-drummer Dennis Wilson, who was 39 when he drowned in a Los Angeles-area harbor in 1983, and their older brother Brian, mastermind of the band’s sound.

The 81-year-old Brian Wilson makes current-day appearances in Marshall’s film, including in an emotional scene at the coda whose details remain best unspoiled. But the mental decline that recently led to his loved ones establishing a court conservatorship for him left his contributions limited.

Often, the media admiration of the group’s music focuses entirely on the eldest Wilson boy with what many consider his unmatched musical imagination and innovation. Marshall’s documentary does nothing to downplay his genius, but emphasizes he was not alone.

It is rarely acknowledged, for example, that Love wrote the lyrics to dozens of songs, including “I Get Around,” “California Girls,” “Help Me Rhonda,” and the sweetly poetic “Good Vibrations,” penned in the car on the way to the recording session: “I love the colorful clothes she wears, and the way the sunlight plays upon her hair.”

The Wilsons’ father and early band manager Murry Wilson, in one of many moments of mismanagement depicted, sold the Beach Boys’ song catalog for $700,000 in 1969 without consulting the band members, and left Love’s name off as a contributor.

“That’s rough,” Love told the AP, “when your uncle sells your songs without giving you any credit. And it really hit Brian hard.” But, Love added, “the upside is that I did contribute. My cousin and I together wrote some great songs.”

The surreptitious sale led to the song rights becoming a tangled thicket that, for years, kept Marshall — who made similar documentaries on the Bee Gees in 2022 and Carole King and James Taylor in 2020 — from making the Beach Boys film he’d long dreamed of. But the recent purchase of the rights by his friend Irving Azoff gave him a green light.

Marshall’s film also includes the voices of David Marks, who was briefly in the group at its inception; Bruce Johnston, who became a Beach Boy in 1965; and famous fans from several generations including Don Was, Lindsey Buckingham , and Janelle Monae .

“The Beach Boys” doesn’t shy away from the unsunny moments in their history, including Dennis Wilson’s dalliances with the Charles Manson Family (before their notoriety as a murderous cult) and his dark and devastating drowning.

It also examines the mental health struggles that left Brian Wilson unable to make music for long stretches, and the bitter, band-related disputes that became broader family disputes.

Love is reduced to tears in the film when he talks about his estrangement from his cousin Brian, and desire to tell him he loves him.

Happier moments are plentiful, too, especially from the earliest years. Jardine gets emotional in the film when he talks about the boys auditioning a cappella for his mother, singing her a Four Freshmen tune and the first Beach Boys original, “Surfin,” so they could buy instruments and become a real band.

“She worked at a Macy’s up the street and made about 300 bucks a month,” Jardine told the AP. “She turned the whole 300 over to us.”

That would make possible The Beach Boys — a name, Jardine said, that he never liked.

Love said he tries to set aside the bitterness and focus on those moments.

“I mean, we know the impact of the music of the Beach Boys. It’s been felt all over the world,” he said. ”We have far more to be grateful for than to be regretful about.”

This story has been corrected to report that Dennis Wilson died in 1983 at age 39, not 1984 at age 30.

The evolution of the song of the summer, from 'Afternoon Delight' to 'I Had Some Help'

While songs of the summer often talk about beach trips, pool days or driving with the top down, they can be about anything, even something as melancholy as the tragedy of war..

The Grammys are in the winter but the best music is celebrated in the summer.

With the release of lively hits like Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso" and Tommy Richman's " Million Dollar Baby ," the conversation surrounding the Song of the Summer has started. An unofficial honor, determining which tracks become the season's anthem can be complicated.

Unlike summer blockbuster movies , the Song of the Summer can be released earlier in the year, and a true contender must be consistently popular throughout the season, which is measured by streams and radio play. The track must also be a summer song, a factor far more difficult to define.

USA TODAY talked with experts to help pin down what makes a song of the summer, what past unofficial honorees had in common, and what we can expect to rise to the top of the heap in 2024.

Songs of the summer are time capsules of youth

For younger people, summer allows for more time to listen to music, as many students are out of school and going out more, said Philip Scher, a University of Oregon anthology professor with academic expertise in pop culture.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

But their impact doesn't end there, as true songs of the summer live within listeners forever. When Scher hears " Afternoon Delight " by Starland Vocal Band, he is instantly transported back to the summer of 1976.

"Once you're older, really when you think of songs of the summer, you're thinking of the songs of the summers of your youth more than anything else," Scher said.

The masses get to determine the winning song twice, once by its hold over that specific summer and again years later.

'Song of the summer' concept emerges around 90s

Summer songs have existed for as long as there's been music, notes Robert Thompson , founding director of the  Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture  at Syracuse University.

"We Have No Bananas" by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn sold sheet music to the masses ahead of the summer of 1923. " Dancing In The Street " by Martha and the Vandellas came out the summer of 1964 and quickly became a classic, serving as a street anthem for the civil rights and anti-Vietnam war movements.

But society didn't begin to latch onto the idea of a Song of the Summer until the 1990s, a time when a single tune could shape an entire culture across demographics, Thompson said.

By then the New York Times had begun covering what songs met the seasonal criteria. Around 2010, Billboard began listing the songs of the summer. In 2013, the MTV Video Music Awards introduced its Song of Summer category, first won by One Direction's "Best Song Ever."

Summer songs abide by no rules

When reflecting on the summer of 1983, Thompson refers to " Every Breathe You Take " by The Police as the song. While not being as upbeat or danceable as other summer tracks, it had a catchy enough riff to ride the culture. The next year, Prince's synth and drum heavy " When Doves Cry " would do the same.

Summer songs often feature an rhythmical hook and lyrics about beach trips, pool days or driving with the windows down. Many are quick to single out The Beach Boys discography, with hits like " Surfin' U.S.A " and " Good Vibrations " that embodied the seasonal genre sonically and lyrically.

"That's all true as family resemblances," Thompson said. "If you go through summer songs, a lot of them have a lot of that stuff. But there are actually no rules. A summer song can become a summer song if it penetrates the culture during the summer."

The emotional tones for summer songs are also diverse, even being about heartbreak at times, Scher notes. He recalls the melancholy 1974 track " Billy, Don’t Be a Hero " by Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods as a summer song despite being about a man who is killed in war.

"The number one hit of the summer doesn't actually have to be a summer song," Scher said.

Songs of the summer don't need to fit a mold. This year's contenders span across genres, from Kendrick Lamar’s diss track "Not Like Us" to Post Malone's and Morgan Wallen's country collaboration " I Had Some Help " − further proof that summer anthems are whatever listeners decide they are.

Who really decides the 'song of the summer' in 2024

Summer tracks have always thrived in a season particularly welcoming for the pop and rock ’n’ roll genres, and played at public spaces like shopping malls and roller skating rinks.

But with the rise of streaming services and social media, music's cultural zeitgeist has shattered into a million pieces. Same goes for the song of the summer, where anything reminiscent of a consensus is long gone. The number of spaces to support a summer song have been significantly reduced, according to Thompson.

"Radio has completely changed the way we consume it. In one way it used to be you go on out onto a beach or down a fraternity row or whatever, and you'd hear the same songs coming out of speakers," Thompson said. "Now it's more likely that you'll hear the birds chirping or the waves breaking, everybody's listening to their own music through earbuds."

That's not to say that the discussion has dissipated or ever will but the answer to what is the song of summer is up to each person.

"Music ultimately is consumed by individuals," Thompson said. "One individual is going to find some songs emblematic of Summer of 2024 in ways that other don't."

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Surfin' Safari

The beach boys.

About Surfin' Safari

"Surfin' Safari" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys, written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love. Released as a single with "409" in June 1962, it peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also appeared on the 1962 album of the same name.

 The easy, fast & fun way to learn how to sing: 30DaySinger.com

The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, the Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962. The band's early music gained popularity across the United States for its close vocal harmonies and lyrics reflecting a Southern California youth culture of surfing, cars, and romance. By the mid 1960s, Brian Wilson's growing creative ambition and songwriting ability would dominate the group's musical direction. The primarily Wilson-composed Pet Sounds album and "Good Vibrations" single (both released in 1966) featured a complex, intricate and multi-layered sound that wa… more »

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Written by: BRIAN DOUGLAS WILSON, MIKE LOVE

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"Surfin' Safari Lyrics." Lyrics.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 May 2024. < https://www.lyrics.com/lyric-lf/902381/The+Beach+Boys/Surfin%27+Safari >.

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Know any other songs by the beach boys don't keep it to yourself, image credit, the web's largest resource for, music, songs & lyrics, a member of the stands4 network, watch the song video, top hot 100 songs 1962, billboard #14, more tracks from the album, all seasons.

• #1 Surfin' Safari
• #3 Girls on the Beach
• #4 Let's Go Trippin'
• #5 I Get Around
• #6 Hushabye
• #7 Summertime Blues
• #8 This Car of Mine
• #9 Be True to Your School
• #10 Surfer Girl
• #11 Louie, Louie
• #12 Finders Keepers
• #13 Wouldn't It Be Nice
• #14 Don't Worry Baby
• #15 Devoted to You
• #16 Why Do Fools Fall in Love?

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