A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

Aeder, Erik

aerial

Aguerre, Fernando

Aichner, Scott

Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Alexandre, João (Dapin)

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

Alter, Hobie

Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

Andersen, Lisa

Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

Angola

Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

Aragon, Janice

Arakawa, Eric

Archbold, Matt

Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

Atlantic Ocean

August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

backdoor

backside

backside attack, Pipeline

backwash

bail out

Bain, Rob

Baja California

Baker, Bernie

Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

Baker, Tim

Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

Baltic Sea

Banks, Jim

Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

Barland, Michel

Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

Barry, Michael

Bartholomew, Wayne

Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

Beach Boys, The

Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

beachbreak

Beachcomber Bills Grand Prix

Beachley, Layne

beavertail

Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Uptempo song by the Beach Boys, released in 1963. Head Beach Boy Brian Wilson wrote the lyrics, name-checking more than a dozen popular surf breaks, and set the words to Chuck Berry's 1958 single "Sweet Little Sixteen"—Berry and Wilson share songwriting credits. Mike Love sang lead vocal. Hedging their bets, the Beach Boys released "Surfin' USA" as a single with "Shut Down," a hot rod song, on the flip side. 

 is also the name of the Beach Boys' second album, also released in 1963.

"Surfin' USA," like "Sweet Little Sixteen" before it, peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts.

Apart from its bopping party-ready stop-and-start melody, "Surfin' USA" gave the landlocked masses what must have been a slightly confounding look into surf culture, as Love sang about things like "baggies" (surf trunks) and "huarache sandals" (cheap Mexican-made tire-tread sandals; a surf-fashion fave in the early '60s). Why "Australia's Narrabeen" was included in a song titled "Surfin' USA" remains a mystery.

The "Surfin' USA" LP remained on the charts for 78 weeks and, like the single, peaked at #2. As rock journalist Richie Unterberger later wrote, "The LP was a huge hit, vital to launching surf music as a national craze, and one of the few truly strong records to be recorded by a self-contained American rock band prior to the British Invasion."

"Surfin' USA" has been covered over the decades by dozens of bands and singers, including '70s teen idol Leif Garret, to '90s neo-punkers Pennywise, and Kermit the Frog. In 2013, "Surfin' USA" was voted the "Greatest Summer Song of All Time" in a Yahoo! Music poll. Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville" was runner-up.

If everybody had an ocean
Across the U.S.A.
Then everybody'd be surfin'
Like Californ-i-a
You'd see 'em wearin' their baggies
Huarache sandals, too
A bushy-bushy blonde hairdo
Surfin' U.S.A.

You'd catch 'em surfin at Del Mar (Inside, outside, U.S.A.)
Ventura County Line
Santa Cruz and Trestles,
Australia's Narrabeen,
All over Manhattan,
And down Doheny way

We'll all be plannin' out a route
We're gonna take real soon
We're waxin' down our surfboards
We can't wait for June
We'll all be gone for the summer
Were on safari to stay
Tell the teacher we're surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A.

At Haggerty's and Swami's
Pacific Palisades
San Onofre and Sunset
Redondo Beach, L.A.
All over La Jolla
At Waimea Bay

"Surfin' USA"

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Features

Videos

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Features

Videos