A diamond necklace played the pawn
Hand in hand some drummed along, oh
To a handsome man and baton
A blind class aristocracy
Back through the op'ra glass you see
The pit and the pendulum drawn
Columnated ruins domino
Canvass the town and brush the backdrop
Are you sleeping?
Hung velvet overtaken me
Dim chandelier awaken me
To a song dissolved in the dawn
The music hall a costly bow
The music all is lost for now
To a muted trumperter swan
Columnated ruins domino
Canvass the town and brush the backdrop
Are you sleeping, Brother John?
Dove nested towers the hour was
Strike the street quicksilver moon
Carriage across the fog
Two-Step to lamplight 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
Surf's Up
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
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
If you find some error in Surf's Up Lyrics, would you please submit your corrections to me? Thank You.
Review about Surf's Up not brian???? | Reviewer: doug | 8/18/2008
javawave writes;
I wish to add to the wonderfully prosed reviews one salient point. Carl sings this song not Brian. His vocal range is sweetly stylized and sympathic to the lyrics. I recommend track 28 on disc 2 of the Good Vibrations Thirty years of the Beach Boys compilation to hear Carl's backing vocal and piano."
Sorry, but the surf's up version has Carls vocals on the first part, then brians vocals from his 1966 demo on the second part. The track referred to in the box set is brians vocal and piano solo demo from 66.
ode to the flower children | Reviewer: bill | 1/1/2008
this is a song about giving up materialism and joining the flower children AKA hippies circa late sixties until early eighties northern california often found in communes that for the most part no longer exist. as he says the laughs come hard when we are living in the past.
Reading into it. | Reviewer: Anonymous | 12/25/2007
To Armands' review. V.D.Parks wrote the lyrics after B.W. explained what he felt and was trying to convey. Both young men had LSD experience which lead them to mysticism and esoteric wisdom as was the case with many youth of the day and most musical artist. The lyrics most certainly have great depth and are allegorical and part of the enjoyment for some is to decipher what is being implied. They are musical riddles.
surfs up not Brian | Reviewer: javawave | 8/24/2007
I wish to add to the wonderfully prosed reviews one salient point. Carl sings this song not Brian. His vocal range is sweetly stylized and sympathic to the lyrics. I recommend track 28 on disc 2 of the Good Vibrations Thirty years of the Beach Boys compilation to hear Carl's backing vocal and piano.
If you like "Surf's Up" | Reviewer: Paul | 8/24/2007
Listen to the alternate version of "Til I Die"...Brian's theme song.
It doesn't get any better than this one.
Lyrics Not Brian's | Reviewer: Anonymous | 7/29/2007
To the last reviewer Armand Obraize:
It's doubtful that Brian could have composed such intricately complex, ethereally beautiful music all that 'stoned'. It would be awesome to hear a purely instrumental version without the weird lyrics, which aren't his anyway; they're by Van Dyke Parks, who very well could have been stoned (Columnated ruins domino, WTF?).
Brian was just stoned again... | Reviewer: Armand Obraize | 5/1/2007
Either he was stoned or they just got out a ryhming dictionary. You guys read too much into it.
It will be decades before this piece of music is heard by listeners in the spirit in which it must have come to its composor. The feeling for Brian Wilson must have been like one of discovering a new country or region, like Mongolia, that no one ever saw before. But Wilson's new region of music is all about the all-too-familiar late 1960's fading dream of glittering early 60's sun-drenched surfer-haven California and, by extension, the good old USA. It's amazing the Beach Boys, not just Wilson, were able to master and throw themselves into the complexity and the transcendant sadness of this music. How could they do it? This song pushed the limits of their vocal abilities. Not hard to answer. Wilson sold to them cause it's just plain beautiful from start to finish. I bet he first got them in the final majestic (and optimistic) chorus - then got them working on the hard stuff that precedes it. Here's the chorus for ya -
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
Surf's Up | Reviewer: Anonymous | 11/20/2006
Probably one of the most beautiful songs ever written.From this you can hear why people say that Brian Wilson was ahead of everyone at that time.The last part of the song is just fantastic.
Review the song Surf's Up
The area is only for review, if you want to submit the lyrics or the corrections of the lyrics, please click the link at the end of the lyrics.
The SURF'S UP LYRICS are the property of the respective authors, artists and labels, the lyrics are provided for educational purposes only , If you like the song, please buy relative CD to support Beach Boys.