[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: Bright ’60s surf-rock guitar, spring reverb, driving bass, snappy drums]
[Spoken]
Down at the Jersey Shore…
(For sure!)
The waves are rockin’…
(Rollin’!)
The wind is blowin’…
(Howlin’!)
[Big Yell]
SURF’S UP!
[Instrumental Hit]
[Instrumental, Driving psychedelic surf-rock guitar, pounding drums, rolling bass, distant wave sounds]
[Verse 1]
Down the shore
(The water roars)
Barrier island
(Takes the score)
Sand gets thin
(The tide comes in)
Hold that line
(One more time)
[Refrain]
Dangerous surf
(Down the shore)
That’s for sure
Changing Earth
(Man’s demand)
Mother be dammed!
Surf’s up!
[Verse 2]
Nor’easter’s coming
(Here tonight)
Winds will be humming
(What a fright)
Flood warning
(Coast to coast)
High tide rising
(That’s no boast)
[Pre-Chorus]
Full moon
(Coming soon)
Pulling on
(The and on and on)
[Refrain]
Dangerous surf
(Down the shore)
That’s for sure
Changing Earth
(Man’s demand)
Mother be dammed!
Surf’s up!
(Down to earth)
Surf, surf, surf!
(Yup…)
Surf’s up!
[Instrumental Jam I]
[Surf guitar / crashing drums / bass rumble]
Wave!
(Wave!)
Wave!
(Crash!)
Sand!
(Gone!)
Shore!
(More!)
[Verse 3]
Federal money
(Going down)
Who’s gonna pay
(For this town?)
[Refrain]
Dangerous surf
(Down the shore)
That’s for sure
Changing Earth
(Man’s demand)
Mother be dammed!
Surf’s up!
(Down to earth)
Surf, surf, surf!
(Yup…)
Surf’s up!
[Bridge]
How much
(Can we spend?)
How long
(Can we pretend?)
How high
(Can we build?)
How far
(Will we yield?)
The question changes
(Year by year)
From saving beaches
(To staying here)
[Psychedelic Surf Jam]
[Extended guitar feedback / ocean sounds / tom-tom rolls]
Keep pumping!
(Pump! Pump!)
Keep building!
(Pump! Pump!)
Keep fighting!
(Lump upon lump)
But the ocean
(She doesn’t care)
Comin’ in again
(To lay your beach bare)
[Verse 4]
You can improve
(A mountain of sand)
But you can’t move
(The sinking land)
You can build
(Another wall)
But the waves
(Still bring on the fall)
[Refrain]
Dangerous surf
(Down the shore)
That’s for sure
Changing Earth
(Man’s demand)
Mother be dammed!
[Outro]
Surf’s up!
(Down to earth)
Surf, surf, surf!
(Yup…)
Surf’s up!
[Silence]
[End]
About the Song
Climate change and coastal impacts are becoming a big problem along the Southern Jersey Shore, with the barrier-island towns taking the brunt of the punishment. Federal funding for beach nourishment has also become much more limited, and sand itself is becoming a finite commodity.
The next couple of days should be an interesting experiment. A powerful, rare September nor’easter is hitting the Jersey Shore tonight, bringing widespread coastal flood warnings, dangerous surf, and wind gusts up to 50 mph. The National Weather Service has issued a Coastal Flood Warning for Atlantic, Cape May, Ocean, and southeastern Burlington counties from Wednesday afternoon through early Saturday morning. The system is also coinciding with an approaching full moon, which can significantly exacerbate tidal flooding across vulnerable shorelines, coastal roadways, and back bays.
At some point, we’re going to reach a hard physical and economic limit. You can keep pumping sand onto a beach, but you can’t manufacture an unlimited supply of sediment or indefinitely out-engineer rising seas and increasingly energetic storms.
The question may eventually stop being, “How much will it cost to save the beach?” and become, “How long can we realistically keep trying?”