"The Surfer Moon" (alternately known as "Summer Moon") is a song by American music duo Bob & Sheri that was released as a single in October 1962. It was written by

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...

and was the first record in which he was officially credited for production. In 1963, Wilson recorded the song with his band

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

for their album ''

Surfer Girl ''Surfer Girl'' is the third album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released September 16, 1963 on Capitol Records. The album reached number 7 in the US during a chart stay of 56 weeks. This was the first album by the group for which B ...

''.

Background

The song "Summer Moon" started out as a different title, "Surfer Moon" which was previously recorded by Bob Norberg & Sheri Pomeroy. In May 1963, Brian Wilson got together with some top

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

session musicians who would later become The Wrecking Crew. This time Norberg recorded it with a local singer and future actress Victoria Hale, the song was recorded at United Recorders. Jan Berry took care of the string arrangements. Victoria Hale was known as Vickie Kocher back then. Having already rehearsed their vocals at Norberg's Crenshaw Park apartment, they recorded the song at the Western Studio. Brian Wilson's vocals were also added to the recording. A three track recording was done and Wilson had made a rough dub was made. Wilson also gave Kocher an acetate to have as a keepsake.

Demo version

An early version of the song was released in 2013 for the compilation ''

The Big Beat 1963 ''The Big Beat 1963'' is a compilation album released on December 17, 2013, exclusively through digital distribution. It features selections of early demos and recordings made by Brian Wilson in the early 1960s with such acts as the Beach Boys a ...

''. According to the Friday Night Boys blog, Victoria Hale who possessed the only known acetate of "The Summer Moon" was contacted by Lee Dempsey of ''Endless Summer Quarterly'' magazine. He put Alan Boyd and Mark Linett in touch with her. It was arranged for her to hand-carry her acetate to a professional mastering studio to make a digital transfer from it.Friday Night Boys, Saturday, 14 December 2013
Brian Wilson and The Big Beat 1963
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References

Bibliography * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Surfer Moon, The 1962 songs Songs written by Brian Wilson Song recordings produced by Brian Wilson The Beach Boys songs