"Surferboy in New York"
Hey everyone,
I wanted to share a song lyric I wrote many years ago – way before AI tools and all that even existed. Back then I was just writing for fun, messing around on guitar, and this one kind of stuck with me. It’s called “Surferboy in New York”.
The lyrics are pretty straightforward, not overly poetic or fancy. But that’s always been part of my style – I write a lot of indie rock and indie folk, and I like keeping things direct and honest rather than too abstract. Sometimes a simple line says more than trying to be clever, you know?
I’ve also written music for it, so it’s not just a lyric on paper – it actually lives as a full song. Would love to hear what you think about the vibe, the lyrics, or anything else that comes to mind.
Here’s the text:
Surferboy in New York
Born in seventy-nine on the old West Coast
Ocean waves and sun, what I loved the most
Every day out on the sea, surfin’ with the guys
With the girls we lay under endless skies
Moved into the city, full of dust and rain
No woodies on the street, no one knows my name
Taxis on the corners, strangers passing by
When I think back to you, it keeps me up at night
I miss the stars in the sand
I miss the young girl’s hand
I miss the waves rolling by
It keeps me up at night
I miss the seagulls out on the sea
I miss the sweet harmony
New York is no place, can’t you see
For a surfer boy like me
I left for the money, but it’s not worth my life
Dreamed about the future, maybe kids and a wife
I need the sunshine, the warm ocean breeze
California, you’re everything I need
Oh, I hate the Bronx, but they leave me no choice
Rap beats everywhere, no Beach Boys voice
In my neighborhood it ain’t cool to be
A surfer boy still chasing harmony
I miss the stars in the sand
I miss the young girl’s hand
I miss the waves rolling by
It keeps me up at night
I miss the seagulls out on the sea
I miss the sweet harmony
New York is no place, can’t you see
For a surfer boy like me
Comin’ home to you is where I wanna be
California, you’re everything to me
Comments
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Nice! Definitely got a vibe. Not melancholy, maybe nostalgic. A love song to California.
Good structure, nice easy rhymes - it should flow quite well in your music.
Love to hear it if you ever have that chance.
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looks good to me , All you need is a guitar vocal , lets hear it
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It could work well. It's all in the marriage of lyric and music 😀
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Thank you guys. These days I’ve been digging through a lot of my old songs — some I’m reworking, others I’m just dusting off and collecting in one place. It’s funny when you come across songs you wrote at 16 or 17. 🙂 Many of them only exist as rough sketches with vocals and guitar saved somewhere, others as simple home recordings… now I’m finally giving them a bit of a makeover.
At some point a few years back, I stopped writing new songs — maybe some of you know the feeling when you have little kids and it gets hard to focus or to have anything to say. Last year I wrote one new song for our Christmas concert, and now, by revisiting and polishing the old ones, I’m hoping to find my way back into songwriting. Maybe then I’ll have something new to say again
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Well no harm dusting off the ones you have in the meantime! We certainly haven't seen them :)
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A very good story and well told - I like it :-)
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Thank you, my friend — great to see you’re still around! Keep on writing, it’s good to cross paths here again.
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Wow, always good to cross paths with old friends...I'm afraid that my memory has more holes in it than the linings of my pockets do these days, though lol Can you help an old guy put a face to the moniker? It would be much appreciated :-)
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Howdy, Stranger!