"Surfin' Bird"

Gibbering debut single by the Trashmen, a Minneapolis–St. Paul quartet; #4 on the American charts in February 1964. "Surfin' Bird" was a hybrid of two 1962 songs by Los Angeles R&B group the Rivingtons, "The Bird's the Word" and "Papa-Oom- Mow-Mow" (the Rivingtons rightfully sued the Trashmen for copyright infringement). The chord progression is simple; the lyrics are essentially "The bird is the ...