The Ramones - Surf City (Jan & Dean cover)

Content owner: UMG Type: Audio content

Category:

Music

Tags:

• ramones
• surf
• city
• punk
• rock
• music

[smitty5313]

Its actually a jan and dean cover, however the song was written by brian wilson of the beach boys

[nrico007]

@smitty5313 : Thanks! You're right. The song was performed by Jan and Dean. I changed the title

[pjsman5252]

@smitty5313 Surf City was written by Jan Berry and Brian Wilson. It was originally Brian's idea but was definitely a collaboration between Jan and Brian.

[bchbys]

@TheBeachboys4ever actually it was "Surfin USA"

[MansonLittle]

(L)

[jd11889]

not very good at all

[jameskwaka]

Gees...this is awful...what a travesty.

[TheBeachboys4ever]

@kevinkmny Here is the History Channel link:

history.com/this-day-in-histor­y/jan-and-deans-quotsurf-cityq­uot-hits-1

[TheBeachboys4ever]

@kevinkmny Here is an excerpt from History.com (History Channel): They (Jan and Dean) became good friends with the Beach Boys and with Brian Wilson in particular, and when they asked Wilson if they could record one of his songs, he declined to give Jan and Dean their first choice, the then-unrecorded "Surfin' Safari," but he did give them the instrumental track and opening line to "Surf City."

[TheBeachboys4ever]

@kevinkmny Brian was extremely generous in sharing credit -- see Mike Love. Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night fame talks about this indepth in Brian Wilson Songwriter (1962-69). and he was there. Jan contributed lyrically but it was Brian Wilson's song. With that said, we can agree that Brian isn't the most reliable witness, as you so aptly put it. Please see excerpt and link below for more on this subject.

[kevinkmny]

@TheBeachboys4ever With all due respect, and even with the caveat that Brian might not be the most reliable witness, I'm going to have to take his word over yours...watch "Brian Wilson Talks About Jan Berry: "Encomium In Memoriam Vol. 1" here on youtube and you can hear what Brian and Jan have to say about how the song was created.

[TheBeachboys4ever]

@kevinkmny I adore Jan and Dean, but this was a Brian Wilson song. Capitol Records blew a gasket when Brian gave it to them. And there's the well-documented story of Jan dressing up as a pirate at a Beach Boys recording session (all good fun, the guys didn't care) and Murry Wilson going ballistic (Danny Hutton was there and tells the story). Jan and Dean made a ton of great music and deserve to be the R&RHOF.