is "Surf's Up" about them abandoning surf music?

[dwtherealbb]

the lyrics are incredibly abstract and I don't recall Brian ever talking about it in interviews. Considering they were done with surf music by that point yet the song uses the words "surf", I would assume that that's what BW had in mind. I've also heard that there are some references to Murry in it and how the song was basically a message to  him saying "don't worry about us".

[Jukka]

In their abstract way they are about it, too. In one interview VDP described how Denny came back from BB's 66 tour of England, and how people had laughed at their striped shirts. So that's when he thought of the title, Surf's Up. In a cheeky way of both embracing and abandoning their background.

Also, Brian has talked about the lyrics in detail. Can't remember where (the link and text are here somewhere), but he gave a very exact explanation, and seemed to have a good grasp on the lyrics' meaning.

[halblaineisgood]

.

[Andrew G. Doe]

the lyrics are incredibly abstract and I don't recall Brian ever talking about it in interviews. Considering they were done with surf music by that point yet the song uses the words "surf", I would assume that that's what BW had in mind. I've also heard that there are some references to Murry in it and how the song was basically a message to  him saying "don't worry about us".

Try harder - he goes into considerable detail in the key Smile text,,"Goodbye Surfing, Hello God" from 1966/7. Granted, it sounds like he's parroting what VDP told him, but even so...

Also, you are aware that Brian didn't write those lyrics ?

Oh, nd to answer your initial question - no, it's about something much, much bigger than that.

[Cabinessenceking]

In their abstract way they are about it, too. In one interview VDP described how Denny came back from BB's 66 tour of England, and how people had laughed at their striped shirts. So that's when he thought of the title, Surf's Up. In a cheeky way of both embracing and abandoning their background.

Also, Brian has talked about the lyrics in detail. Can't remember where (the link and text are here somewhere), but he gave a very exact explanation, and seemed to have a good grasp on the lyrics' meaning.

those shirst shoulda been gone before 1965 was through.

[Alan Smith]

It might be about spiritual enlightenment and awareness of God's love (not my words).

The Tom Nolan R/S article quotes a couple of paragraphs from Goodbye Surfing..where Brian explains the words but then talks about the spiritual nature of his music.  While suckin' rediwhip straight from the can.

[Micha]

It's about the surf being up.

[SufferingFools]

Although there was a bit of that sort of ironic wink in the title, I agree that Van Dyke Parks' lyrics were about something much bigger and more spiritual.

It's a tragedy of "typecasting," if you will, that the Beach Boys were still associated with "surf music" by then anyway, since they had released only one song about surfing since 1963 (the relatively obscure "Don't Back Down" from 1964).

[Dr. Tim]

Among other things, there are some direct references to Edgar Allan Poe - Brian and VDP were both fans.  "The Pit and the Pendulum" obviously, and "columnated ruins domino" refers to the Fall of the House of Usher.  In which, at the end, the mansion collapses, and the columns fall like dominoes.  (See! It all makes sense!)

[Awesoman]

http://gloriousnoise.com/2011/brian-wilsons-annotated-surfs-up-lyrics

Thanks.  The lyrics make even less sense now. 

[cablegeddon]

Among other things, there are some direct references to Edgar Allan Poe - Brian and VDP were both fans.  "The Pit and the Pendulum" obviously, and "columnated ruins domino" refers to the Fall of the House of Usher.  In which, at the end, the mansion collapses, and the columns fall like dominoes.  (See! It all makes sense!)

I don't like that. It's lame to rehash old poetry and go out there and present yourself as a some original genius.

[hypehat]

I think the only people who weren't calling Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks genius were Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks....

[cablegeddon]

why are you bringing Brian Wilson into this?

[hypehat]

Er, because it's his song too?

[cablegeddon]

this is about the lyrics. he had nothing to do with it.

[hypehat]

Ok, even ignoring how obtuse you're being there, if VDP references Edgar Allen Poe's short story (not a poem) The Fall of the House of Usher, that is not being lazy. Art does not exist in a vacuum, including literature, or indeed song lyrics. Is any reference inherently lazy? No.

[pixletwin]

I always thought Surf's Up was basically about throwing the baby out with the bath water and the consequences therefrom (minus the coda).

[SMiLE Brian]

 

[rab2591]

Among other things, there are some direct references to Edgar Allan Poe - Brian and VDP were both fans.  "The Pit and the Pendulum" obviously, and "columnated ruins domino" refers to the Fall of the House of Usher.  In which, at the end, the mansion collapses, and the columns fall like dominoes.  (See! It all makes sense!)

I don't like that. It's lame to rehash old poetry and go out there and present yourself as a some original genius.

funny, I never recall a story where Parks presented himself as such.

Taking another artists entire work and presenting it as your own would be lame. Using 5 words from a poem to help elicit some of the greatest imagery of opulence known to any song is not lame.

[SMiLE Brian]

Among other things, there are some direct references to Edgar Allan Poe - Brian and VDP were both fans.  "The Pit and the Pendulum" obviously, and "columnated ruins domino" refers to the Fall of the House of Usher.  In which, at the end, the mansion collapses, and the columns fall like dominoes.  (See! It all makes sense!)

I don't like that. It's lame to rehash old poetry and go out there and present yourself as a some original genius.

funny, I never recall a story where Parks presented himself as such.

Taking another artists entire work and presenting it as your own would be lame. Using 5 words from a poem to help elicit some of the greatest imagery of opulence known to any song is not lame.

Having a "pop" song reference such works was revolutionary for 1966.

[guitarfool2002]

Keep in mind Van Dyke was *not* and never claimed to be a lyricist or poet when Brian approached him to collaborate on Smile. He wasn't like a Rod McKuen or Leonard Cohen who would build an image around being the traveling bard, the melancholy man of words and verses...he was a studio musician, and didn't he even tell Brian he wasn't a lyricist?

This turn in discussion came at a great time, I was just reading a new interview with John McLaughlin where he remembered getting called to play with Miles Davis on "In A Silent Way". Miles gave him sheet music which was Joe Zawinul's piano part, naturally scored for piano. He asked McLaughlin to play that part, McLaughlin was sweating it out and told him it's a piano part, suggesting he wasn't able to do it. Miles then told him to play the part like he didn't know how to play the guitar. That was a genius move: And what McLaughlin did was what Miles wanted all along, a total shift in the approach to the music, a revision of what a jazz guitar part should be and how it would normally be approached.

Brian, I think, wanted the same thing with Van Dyke: He was not a lyricist by trade or by reputation or claims to be skilled in the field, as some other BW collaborators had been. Therefore his outlook and methods would be new and fresh, along with the music. And it worked. But I don't think you'll find any reference to Van Dyke claiming to be a poet or a McKuen-styled man of words, rather he is most often very humble about working with Brian on Smile.

[Andrew G. Doe]

To my mind, the Poe work Parks had in mind was more likely the poem "The Conqueror Worm" than "The Fall Of The House Of Usher".

[The Heartical Don]

To my mind, the Poe work Parks had in mind was more likely the poem "The Conqueror Worm" than "The Fall Of The House Of Usher".

I think you hit bull's eye here. I knew there was a different title of Poe's that cropped up several times, but could not remember its name.

[SMiLE Brian]

Keep in mind Van Dyke was *not* and never claimed to be a lyricist or poet when Brian approached him to collaborate on Smile. He wasn't like a Rod McKuen or Leonard Cohen who would build an image around being the traveling bard, the melancholy man of words and verses...he was a studio musician, and didn't he even tell Brian he wasn't a lyricist?

This turn in discussion came at a great time, I was just reading a new interview with John McLaughlin where he remembered getting called to play with Miles Davis on "In A Silent Way". Miles gave him sheet music which was Joe Zawinul's piano part, naturally scored for piano. He asked McLaughlin to play that part, McLaughlin was sweating it out and told him it's a piano part, suggesting he wasn't able to do it. Miles then told him to play the part like he didn't know how to play the guitar. That was a genius move: And what McLaughlin did was what Miles wanted all along, a total shift in the approach to the music, a revision of what a jazz guitar part should be and how it would normally be approached.

Brian, I think, wanted the same thing with Van Dyke: He was not a lyricist by trade or by reputation or claims to be skilled in the field, as some other BW collaborators had been. Therefore his outlook and methods would be new and fresh, along with the music. And it worked. But I don't think you'll find any reference to Van Dyke claiming to be a poet or a McKuen-styled man of words, rather he is most often very humble about working with Brian on Smile.

Van Dyke should write an autobiography, it would be one hell of a read with his unique personality and wide work in the music industry.

[hypehat]

Apparently he has no interest in writing one, which is a damn shame.