54 ContributorsSurf’s Up Lyrics

Lyricist Van Dyke Parks was sort of the Cam'ron of the Laurel Canyon psychedelia scene, treading a fine line between playful brilliance and cloying nonsense. In case you still needed convincing VDP is a… Read More 

[Part I]

[Verse 1: Carl Wilson]

A diamond necklace played the pawn

Hand in hand, some drummed along, oh

To a handsome mannered baton

(Bygone, bygone)

A blind class aristocracy

Back through the opera glass, you see

The pit and the pendulum drawn

(Bygone, bygone)

[Bridge: Carl Wilson]

Columnated ruins domino

Canvass the town and brush the backdrop

Are you sleeping?

[Verse 2: Carl Wilson]

Hung velvet overtaken me

Dim chandelier awaken me

To a song dissolved in the dawn

(Bygone, bygone)

The music hall, a costly bow

The music all is lost for now

To a muted trumpeter swan

(Bygone, bygone)

[Bridge: Carl Wilson]

Columnated ruins domino

Canvass the town and brush the backdrop

Are you sleeping, Brother John?

[Part II]

[Verse 3: Brian Wilson]

Dove nested towers, the hour was

Strike the street, quicksilver moon

Carriage across the fog

Two-step to lamp lights cellar tune

The laughs come hard in "Auld Lang Syne"

The glass was raised, the fired rose

The fullness of the wine, the dim last toasting

While at port, adieu or die

A choke of grief, heart hardened, I

Beyond belief, a broken man, too tough to cry

[Verse 4: Brian Wilson]

Surf's up, mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm

Aboard a tidal wave

Come about hard and join

The young and often spring you gave

I heard the word

Wonderful thing

A children's song

[Outro: Group, Al Jardine and Jack Rieley]

Child, child, child, child, child

A child is the father of the man

Child, child, child, child, child

A child is the father of the man

A children's song

Have you listened as they played?

Their song is love

And the children know the way

That's why the child is the father to the man

Child, child, child, child, child

Child, child, child, child, child

Na na na na na na na na

Child, child, child, child, child

That's why the child is the father to the man

Child, child, child, child, child