Surfin’ USA – Rip that Curl wide open

Most of the time I’m not a fan of covers.  They almost never, ever work or surpass the originals.  The Clash were a bit unique in that regard—the way Joe Strummer basically destroyed Vince Taylor & the Playboys’ “Brand New Cadillac”—that was epic brutal nasty, and also a bit disrespectful.  Anyone who has only heard the Clash should also hear Vince, that very crazy man; his Cadillac was also new, and obviously Strummer did love it, and of course he wasn’t disrespectful, but the Clash’s version does kind of just steamroll that whole song.  That was a case of British on British.  Speaking of steamroll, when Strummer turned, earlier (it’s a blog), to Texan Bobby Fuller’s “I Fought the Law,” you would have said “how can you make a simple stripped-down pop song like that any better?”  Strummer did, just by amping it totally up and finding the soul in the very title, the idea of the person who fought the law.  Amazing.  In the “who would have ever thought of that” department, that cover just scores a triple AAA rating. 

[If you can think of a good--no incredible--cover, without having to open the fridge first, then kindly do respond to the "Greatest Covers" link under Music - General.]

The point of this post is to urge what I’ve always viscerally felt—that someone ought to just go in there and destroy “Surfin’ USA” by the Beach Boys.  I’m expecting—hoping—that someone will point out that this has been done, that a JFA, for example, did it in ’81 when I was too busy snorting derivatives, or something.  You let me know. 

The more you see footage of the Boys, the nerdier it becomes (that wonderful recent T.A.M.I. show film re-release comes to mind).  And oh yes, there is the Ramones doing “Surfin’ Safari.”  Even more incredible is _Blondie_ and the Ramones doing “Surfin’ Safari,” but bizarrely I didn’t even see that on youtube.  If you can’t hear Blondie and the Ramones doing the Beach Boys, then you just missed a 60s/70s/80s cultureknot that makes snakes look Como.

But I come back to my original premise.  If you took away the nerdy local lyrics, if you took away the softy softy bubblegum “ooooo”s, you’d find a repressed great song trying to get out.  Watch the 60s video of them in their striped shirts (and the pants!!) on youtube.  Listen to the buildup to the bridge, and hear the breakoff.  So much media ink has been spilt in recent decades to insist that the Beach Boys really were the rivals of the Beatles, that Pet Sounds was actually the world’s greatest rock n’ roll album—well, look at a vintage video of the Beach Boys, and be humblingly and despairingly disabused.  These guys were so McCarthy they made Pat Boone look like Casper. 

And it’s not that I’m a Beatles fan; I think they destroyed music.  However, I still do believe that someone, somewhere, has to just go in and tear apart “Surfin’ USA” and make it the tune it always had the potential to be.  Yes, maybe the lyrics may be changed; yes, maybe the locale may be changed; yes, maybe the language may be changed; but whatever!!: free this great song from its inane preppie bondage and make it a rock n’ roll anthem like it could be!!!

Again, I know many people, if they read this, will instantly think of great versions and so on that they know that I don’t—good, great—that’s the whole point.  Lay ‘em on—just make sure they’re good, and not Aunt Hanna in Cape Verde or something.

Let’s rip the curl right out of this great stupid song.

zr