Surfing bird is a novelty song, something we don’t have on radio anymore. Novelty songs generally did very well but for a short time. Forcing it up the charts in the UK seems strange and artifical. Oh well to each his own but I miss the ocassional nonsense songs we used to get now and then.
A novelty song. Like Light My Fire or Hey Jude (a 7 minute single)? Something different?
Elvis was a novelty once too.
If the song was merely “novelty”, it wouldn’t have “worked” for the Cramps (who would extend it to 15 minutes of performance) and the Ramones (who asked permission from the Cramps to add it to their set since both were playing the same scene).
Does your chewing gum lose it’s flavor on the bedpost overnight. Now that is “novelty”. As are most Christmas songs. Yet Jingle Bell Rock (a subpar song) hit the charts repeatedly over the years.
The good thing about running a song like this up the charts, it is a world apart from the acutune voice effects of modern pop. Let’s see some programming director avoid an audio trainwreck with that playlist.