"Walk on the Ocean" is a song by American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

group

Toad the Wet Sprocket Toad the Wet Sprocket is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Barbara, California, in 1986. The band at the time consisted of vocalist/guitarist Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss, ...

from their third studio album, ''

Fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...

'' (1991). Two different versions of the song were released: the album version with a cold ending (timed at 2:59) and the single version with the chorus repeated until fade (timed at 3:32). Commercially, "Walk on the Ocean" peaked at number 18 on the US '' Billboard'' Hot 100 and reached the top 40 in Canada, New Zealand, and Norway.

Composition

The song was written after singer Glen Phillips and his wife were vacationing on

Orcas Island Orcas Island () is the largest of the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest, which are in the northwestern corner of San Juan County, Washington. History and naming of the island The name "Orcas" is a shortened form of ''Horcasitas,'' fro ...

in Washington's San Juan Islands after hanging "out at Doe Bay hot springs with a bunch of hippies." The lyrics were written as placeholders, but Phillips could not come up with anything better. "I wrote down literally the first thing that came across my mind. The lyric and the chorus, I have no idea what it means, unfortunately. Then I tried rewriting it and nothing ever really worked. I tried to make the chorus mean something, and eventually said, 'Well, it sounds like I know what I'm talking about.' So we just left it as is. It was the least-conscious, least-crafted lyric," he said.

Track listings

US CD and cassette single # "Walk on the Ocean" (single version) – 3:32 # "All in All" – 4:02 # "Walk on the Ocean" (album version) – 2:59 European CD and cassette single # "Walk on the Ocean" (single version) – 3:32 # "All in All" – 4:02

Charts

Use in media

The song appears on the soundtrack of the 2013 American film ''

Jobs Jobs may refer to: * Job, an activity that people do for regular income gain People * Steve Jobs (1955–2011), co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc ** Steve Jobs (disambiguation) * Laurene Powell Jobs (born 1963), widow of Steve Jobs * Lisa ...

''. The song appears on the soundtrack of the 2014 American film ''

Adult Beginners ''Adult Beginners'' is a 2014 American comedy drama film directed by Ross Katz and written by Jeff Cox and Liz Flahive based on a story by Nick Kroll. The film stars Rose Byrne, Kroll, Bobby Cannavale, and Joel McHale. RADiUS-TWC acquired the Nor ...

''. The song appears on the soundtrack of the 2015 American television series ''

Hindsight Hindsight bias, also known as the knew-it-all-along phenomenon or creeping determinism, is the common tendency for people to perceive past events as having been more predictable than they actually were. People often believe that after an event ha ...

''.''Hindsight'' Soundtrack
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References

{{Authority control Toad the Wet Sprocket songs 1991 songs 1992 singles Columbia Records singles Songs written by Glen Phillips (singer) Songs written by Todd Nichols (musician)