Album and Alternate Releases
The song was first released on an album as the title track on the band's 1963 album Surfin' U.S.A.. In July 1963, a month after the song had been issued as a single in the United States, Capitol issued the Surfin' U.S.A. EP featuring "Surfin' U.S.A." & "Shut Down" on the A-side and "Surfer Girl" & "Surfin' Safari" on the B-side. The EP however, failed to chart. In May, 2003 Capitol again issued the song on an EP along with "Surfer Girl", "Don't Worry, Baby", and "The Beach Boys Medley". However, the record failed to make an impact on the charts.
A demo version of the song featuring only Brian Wilson singing and playing piano was released on the 1993 box set, Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys. A different demo version, in which Wilson is joined by drums was released on the 2001 archival release Hawthorne, CA. Both demos feature similar minor lyrical differences from the final recording. Both demos are played in the key of E major, in contrast to the final recording which was pitched in E♭.
The instrumental track of the final recording was also released on the Hawthorne, CA album. This version of the cut does not 'fade out', but continues on well past the original ending of the song until it ends abruptly.
Read more about this topic: Surfin' USA (song)
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