Would you believe the Beach Boys' first hit song, "Surfin'," actually was born in the high school music class of Brian Wilson, the band's leader and songwriter?
And would you also believe Wilson got an F for his efforts?
Fred Morgan, Wilson's teacher at Hawthorne High School — which sits just a couple of miles from the Southern California sand and waves the Beach Boys would make famous — couldn't have known what the ditty would become.
"Brian wrote a composition for me and it turned out to be 'Surfin’,'" Morgan noted later. “That composition got an F, but it made a million dollars.”
One might say it's better late than never, but Wilson headed back to his alma mater over the weekend to finally get things straightened out academically.
Hawthorne High's principal Vanessa Landesfeind invited Wilson to school for a ceremony to mark the moment when the infamous failing grade was finally changed to an A.
And this Wilson lyric sure seems apropos now:
When some loud braggart tries to put me down
And says his school is great
I tell him right away
"Now what's the matter buddy
Ain't you heard of my school
It's number one in the state"
— "Be True to Your School"
(H/T: Consequence of Sound)
Dave Urbanski
Sr. Editor, News
