| Sidewalk Surfin' | |
| Cover: | Jan-and-dean-sidewalk-surfin-1964.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Jan and Dean |
| Album: | Ride the Wild Surf |
| B-Side: | When It's Over |
| Released: | September 1964 |
| Recorded: | July 29, 1964 |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Length: | 2:40 |
| Label: | Liberty Records |
| Producer: | Jan Berry for Screen Gems, Inc. |
| Prev Title: | Ride The Wild Surf |
| Prev Year: | 1964 |
| Next Title: | (Here They Come) From All Over The World |
| Next Year: | 1965 |
"Sidewalk Surfin'" is a song with music by Brian Wilson and lyrics by Roger Christian, which was recorded by 1960s American pop singers Jan and Dean. The song was recorded as a single and then appeared on the 1964 album Ride the Wild Surf, and later on the Little Old Lady from Pasadena album. The B-side of the single is "When It's Over."[1] "Sidewalk Surfin'" reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 31, 1964, which was Jan and Dean's lowest-charting single in a year and a half since the release of their number one hit single "Surf City."[2] Jan and Dean were known for their music of the 1960s surf era with songs like "Dead Man's Curve," "Drag City," and "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena."
Jan Berry, Dean Torrence's partner in the Jan and Dean duo, wanted to write and compose about a sport other than surfing. He came up with the idea to make music about skateboarding. After trying, unsuccessfully, to come up with a song about that sport by himself, he decided to parody the Beach Boys' song "Catch a Wave," a song drawn from the group's 1963 album Surfer Girl. Berry asked the composer, Brian Wilson and Wilson's then-current lyricist associate, Roger Christian, to rewrite it. They complied, and eventually came up with "Sidewalk Surfin'," which is "Catch a Wave" with different lyrics about skateboarding.[3]
When the original recording of "Sidewalk Surfin'" got reissued as a single 12 years later, in the summer of 1976, the single got radio attention once again. This time, the single hovered right under the Billboard Hot 100, eventually peaking at #107. It became their first, and only, single to get major radio attention, and come close to a placement on the charts, since 1967.[4]
Jan and Dean performed a lip-synchronized version of the song on American Bandstand on August 22, 1964.[5] On December 29, 1964, they performed the selection live at the T.A.M.I. Show.[6]
Jan Berry covered the song by himself as a single in 1976, rewriting some of the lyrics to keep up with the new names and tricks of skateboarding of the 1970s. The lyrics were also easier for Berry to sing after the aphasia Berry sustained from his car accident near Dead Man's Curve, on April 12, 1966.