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Surfin' Bird

"Surfin' Bird"
Surfin' Bird.jpg
Cover art for the 7-inch single "Surfin' Bird"
Single by The Trashmen
from the album Surfin' Bird
B-side "King of the Surf"
Released November 13, 1963 (1963-11-13)
Format 7"
Recorded 1963
Genre
Length 2:20
Label Garrett
Writer(s)
  • Al Frazier
  • Carl White, Sonny Harris
  • Turner Wilson Jr.
Producer(s) Jack Bates
The Trashmen singles chronology
"Surfin' Bird"
(1963)
"Bird Dance Beat"
(1964)

"Surfin' Bird" is a song performed by American surf rock band The Trashmen, and it is also the name of the album that featured this hit single. It was released in 1963 and reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is a combination of two R&B hits by The Rivingtons: "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" and "The Bird's the Word".

The Rivingtons followed up their 1962 Billboard Hot 100 hit "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" with the similar "The Bird's the Word" in 1963. The Trashmen had not heard this version but saw a band called The Sorensen Brothers playing it. They decided to play the song that night at their own gig. During this first performance, drummer and vocalist Steve Wahrer stopped playing and ad-libbed the "Surfin' Bird" middle section. Despite not knowing "The Bird's the Word" was a Rivingtons song, the similarity to "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" was obvious and The Trashmen added the chorus to the end of their new track.

A local disc jockey, Bill Diehl, was at the gig and convinced the band to record the track. It was recorded at Kay Bank Studios in Minneapolis. Diehl entered it into a local battle of the bands competition and it won. It was then sent to a battle of the bands competition in Chicago where it also won. This led to the group being signed to Garrett Records with the single being quickly released. It reportedly sold 30,000 copies in its first weekend before going on to national success, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Wahrer was originally credited as the song's writer, but that was changed to the Rivingtons (Al Frazier, Carl White, Sonny Harris, and Turner Wilson Jr.) after the group successfully sued The Trashmen for plagiarism.

A man lip-synchs his anus to the tune of this song in one scene of John Waters's 1972 exploitation comedy.

In the second half of 1987 Stanley Kubrick film Full Metal Jacket, when a journalist news team records and interviews the platoon sent to Phu Bai, "Surfin' Bird" can be heard playing on both the soundtrack and in the background on a radio.


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Wikipedia

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