608 The Beach Boys “Surfin’ U.S.A.” 1963

The song “owed itself to a number of influences, including Chuck Berry, Chubby Checker, and Judy Bowle’s little brother, Jimmy….‘Surfin’ U.S.A.’ became the Beach Boys’ first Top 10 single. The original pressing listed me as the sole writer, but once it became a hit Chuck Berry claimed the melody was his, an inadvertent copy of ‘Sweet Little Sixteen.’ There are plenty of musicologists who’d argue otherwise. Perhaps feeling pressured and wanting to avoid trouble, my dad gave Berry the copyright without ever informing me. But what I didn’t learn for more than twenty-five years is that he also gave away my royalties for writing the lyrics, which clearly weren’t Berry’s” (Brian Wilson, Wouldn’t It Be Nice, 1991). 

The Beach Boys “Surfin’ U.S.A.”