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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Musician »

Permalink Good subject material for surf vocals?

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My group does a great deal of vocal surf as well as instrumental, and I was just wondering what kinds of things you think surf vocals should be about. Right now we do a lot with songs about movies and things (Indiana Jones, the Hobbit, Star Wars) and we also like monsters (aliens, zombies). But what should surf songs be about? Lyrically?

You mean girls, surfing, and cars weren't enough? Wink

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"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

Marx, seizing the means of production, and greed of the petit bourgeois pretty much define surf IMO.

Hot Summer Comes Again!
Let's Go Beach! Let's Go Beach!

Beer..ok it's Love (chick, cars, surfing...beer)....

www.northofmalibu.com

SpaceFargo wrote:

Marx, seizing the means of production, and greed of the
petit bourgeois pretty much define surf IMO.

Priceless...

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

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kenposurf wrote:

Beer..ok it's Love (chick, cars, surfing...beer)....

+1

Lyrically?

About... water, abyssal landscapes, giant waves, secret archipelagos, exotic beaches, cannibal tribes dancing around tikis of evil deities, cannibal tropical tribes eating hobbits, tropical strange fruits, lost treasures, pirogue trips, mystical reverb and... beer.

Not that historical precedent matters much in art, but I thought we had established that the true vocal sound of surf bands was more or less early garage, so on those grounds presumably anything.

I think the Boss Martians have already demonstrated that with Jetaway Sounds anyway. My Favorite Planemaker is more or less a promotional brochure for Boeing.

Be wary about overthinking the source material.

Next time you're down the beach note the first three things that catch your attention and start writin' (probably it will be cars, girls and surf !)

Freshwater Surfin'

The Murray Basin
Australia

SPACE!

FIRE!

Pick something surfers hold dearest: board wax, messed up haircuts their girlfriends gave them, melanoma, and walking around with a hole in the seat of your board shorts for three hours without anyone saying anything.

Anything you think is funny. Others may not agree with what you think is funny but its worth a shot. Here are two examples we attempted to not so great success. One is about a guy driving down the road imagining something is going on that really isn't (Route 69), and the other is after a Plutonium Sunrise (Run from the Blast).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgrMHn4o_Do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOwgaLl0k4k

The road that leads to the beach is always better than the one that takes you to work.

Making a smooth bottom turn is always better than making a turn into a parking lot.

Being alone on a wave is better than walking a busy sidewalk in the city.

Happy Sunsets!

image

Listen to this album and just copy all their ideas...for the surf stuff Side B. Groundbreaking lyrical content. Laughing

Science friction burns my fingers.

Agree I couldn't stop playing that record in the summer of 1984. (granted it was 3 years old but 3 years previous I was 15 and still into classic rock (before it was called classic rock)). I was so lucky to live near 2 college radio stations and discover great pop music. But that's another thread...

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

you should write a surf tune about an abused autistic child whose father dies in the war and later becomes the leader of a cult dedicated to worshiping pinball games: of course, your pinball messiah would need to meet an ignoble end...

Or you could write a whole concept album along those lines and call it the Surf Operetta Gidget. But a more plausible idea might be a double album about drug abuse and Surfer-Hodad rivaltry called Quadroverbia. (How many springs is it, four?) At the end the antigremmie would ride his somebody else's board off a major wave at the Cortez Banks in a metaphor for the overwhelming desire of sane men everywhere to run shrieking from the possibility of yet another rock opera.

Actually, as far as I can tell the plots or real operas and rock operas are about equally inane, so how about a remake of Carmen called Karmann Ghia?

Last edited: Apr 18, 2011 13:25:20

Mama, drinkin', cheatin', trucks, trains, prison, dogs, mobile homes..................oops, sorry! That's country.

elreydlp wrote:

Mama, drinkin', cheatin', trucks, trains, prison, dogs,
mobile homes..................oops, sorry! That's
country.

Mama was a lyin', drinkin' cheat.
She drove a truck and pissed out in the street.
She never heard a train come down the line
Without rememberin' prison doin' time.

Or maybe "swaggered down the street."

I was havin' trouble with dogs and mobile homes, but I see the problem. It's trailers. Mobile homes are for yuppies. The only thing that moves a trailer is a twister.

Last edited: Apr 18, 2011 17:12:12

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