Surfin' U.S.A.
by The Beach Boys
- 161
- BPM
- Eb major
- Key
- 5B
- Camelot
- 56
- Danceability
- 67
- Acousticness
Brian Wilson was dating Judy Bowles when he began humming the melody of Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" and thought of putting surf lyrics to it. Her brother Jimmy was a surfer who knew all the surf spots, and Wilson asked him for a list so he could name them in the song. The result was "Surfin' U.S.A." by the Beach Boys.
The single came out on March 4, 1963, backed with "Shut Down", and then opened the album of the same name. It peaked at number two on the Music Vendor chart and at number three on the Billboard and Cash Box charts. Billboard ranked it the number 1 song of 1963.
The credit changed over time. On the 1963 single only Wilson was listed as composer, but the publisher was Arc Music, Berry's publisher. Releases starting with Best of The Beach Boys in 1966 listed Berry, and later ones list both men. Arc Music has owned the copyright since 1963. Its drum style has been compared to a locomotive getting up to speed.
Surfin' U.S.A. runs at 161 BPM, the tempo of footwork, gabber and fast metal. In classical terms it sits in vivace territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 1.49 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 373 ms. It is in Eb major, Camelot 5B, which shares its notes with C minor and mixes cleanly with Ab major and Bb major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.