[1960-1964 Best Songs]
Billboard Top 100, 1963: #2
"If everybody had and ocean..."
Listening to this song for this list, it occurred to me for the first time that most people don't actually have an ocean, or at least one you can surf in. And it occurred to me that I, a Californian, sing that song first-person, if you will. The Beach Boys sound, and Surfin' USA specifically, is a California native sound. It didn't really inherit from anywhere else. Maybe there's a little Chuck Berry in the guitar, maybe there's some Polynesian influence in the rhythm, or maybe it all just came from outer space. Whatever it is, if you're not from here, it's not the same.
You could call it gloating. I call it appreciation.
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