It was a reworking of another tune, the more doo-wop style "Papa Oom Mow Mow" by The Rivingtons. SB was a big hit in about 1963. There were then numerous other Trashmen singles along the same lines.... "Bird Dance Beat" for example, pretty much the same tune played sideways.

ISTR there's a comp on Ace, "Garage Psychosis" or some such, which includes SB as well as a bunch of other goodies (Sonics etc) and you sure could do worse than starting there!

oh and the Ramones covered it on one of their early LPs

Bird Is The Word!!!!

Rockabilly Psychosis & Garage Disease

http://www.acerecords.co.uk/content.php?page_id=59&release=1419

It's great.

is one that I have and love

"I want Candy" by the Strangeloves.....

This is a pretty good compilation.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Morning-Vietnam-Soundtrack-60s/dp/B00005B8C...

1. I Got You (I Feel Good) - James Brown
2. I Get Around - The Beach Boys
3. Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum
4. White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
5. Time of the Season - The Zombies
6. Tin Soldier - The Small Faces
7. On the Road Again - Canned Heat
8. Summer in the City - The Lovin' Spoonful
9. Kites - Simon Dupree,
10. Eve of Destruction - Barry McGuire
11. Friday on My Mind - The Easybeats
12. This Wheel's on Fire - Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity
13. Mighty Quin - Manfred Mann
14. Elenore - The Turtles
15. Making Time - The Creation
16. Pushin' Too Hard - The Seeds
17. Over, Under, Sideways, Down - The Yardbirds
18. Everybody's Talkin' - Harry Nilsson
19. Excerpt from a Teenage Opera - Keith West
20. Let's Go to San Francisco [Full Length Version] - The Flower Pot Men

And I suppose I'll have to be the cliched person who posts a Family Guy clip.

(18,000,000 views for that clip!!)

Also note that the song was used on the Full Metal Jacket soundtrack and is probably the song most people would remember from it after seeing the film.

have an equally mental version of Surfin' Bird too, on their Gravest Hits EP.

etc, try checking out the various volumes of Songs The Cramps Taught Us. They feature scores of original versions of tracks later covered by the Cramps. There's lots to love here.

Here's an Amazon link where you'll find preview clips:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002VT6JBC/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_r...

Also, if you've never tried the Cramps, have a delve into their back catalogue too, especially the earlier albums. A great, great band.

The bloke to ask,Patrick.Great blog,nice bloke. he'll point you in the right direction
http://reverendfrost.blogspot.com/

This is the most extreme music I have to hand. Bonkers.
http://mikeveeeeee.blogspot.com/2009/03/various-artists-talkin-trash-loo...

There's an great compilation by Andrew Weatherall of this type of stuff - worth seeking out

1. Rock 'N' Roll Radio - Joe Boot & The Fabulous Winds
2. Renegade - Rebs
3. Crazy Beat - Gene Vincent
4. Snake Pit - Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers
5. Jungle Rock - Tav Falco Panther Burns
6. Jungle Fever - Charlie Feathers
7. Wampus Cat - Johnny Burnette
8. Grim Reaper - Thee Milkshakes
9. 5-10 15-20 (Can Your Monkey Do The Dog) - Link Wray
10. I Want Candy - The Strangeloves
11. Free Angel - T-Rex
12. Big New Prinz - The Fall
13. Spilled Your Pint - Flaming Stars
14. Bloods - Primal Scream
15. Upside Down - Tropics Of Cancer
16. I Bloodbrother Be (4000 Loveletter) - Shockheaded Peters
17. New Kind Of Kick - Cramps
18. Bloodsport - Killing Joke
19. Feathers - Andrew Weatherall

Trashtastic

Compilation based on Malcolm MaClarens juke box in his Kings Road shop. Currently out of print but not too hard to track down. A brilliant compilation.

1. Psychotic Reaction - The Count Five
2. Through My Eyes - The Creation
3. Ain't Got No Home - Clarence 'Frogman' Henry
4. Shake Some Action - Flamin' Groovies
5. You're Gonna Miss Me - The Spades
6. Liar Liar - The Castaways
7. In The Nighttime - The Strangeloves
8. Brand New Cadillac - Vince Taylor
9. You Better Move on - Arthur Alexander
10. Eighteen - Alice Cooper
11. Night Of The Vampire - The Moontrekkers
12. Monster In Black Tights - Screaming Lord Sutch And The Savages
13. I Can't Control Myself - The Troggs
14. I Put A Spell On You - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
15. Have Love Will Travel - The Sonics
16. Joue Pas Le Rock'n'Roll Pour Moi - Johnny Halladay
17. The Pill - Loretta Lynn
18. We Sell Soul - The Spades
19. Valerie - Jackie And The Starlites
20. Roadrunner - The Modern Lovers

I would LOVE to hear Surfin Bird for the first time again. One of my all time favourites of all time ever. Of all time.

The trouble is, once you start mining this trash-surf-rockabilly-garage genre, it's like (what I can only imagine) a heroin habit (would be like). Everything sounds amazing in very short bursts and nothing else ever sounds the same again.

For me, the prime cuts are:

- Count Five: Psychotic Reaction
- The Sonics: Walkin The Dog (or maybe Have Love Will Travel)
- Link Wray: Rumble
- The Syndicats: Crawdaddy Simone
- Jeff Beck: Beck's Bolero

Maybe I'm wandering off-genre there. But then it's not so much a genre as a vague seam of gonzo rocknroll that runs from about 1959 to 1966.

Great stuff.

just things I thought kids would like and the mother reported back to me that the song they went mental for was Surfin' Bird. Apparently it was played about twelve times in a row. The song has something.

This is a from a Songs The Cramps Taught Us compilation called "Born Bad" The comp is basically music for juvenile delinquents from the late 50's and early 60's.
The song is pure bubblegum but the lyric is about breaking out of jail. It's called Quick Joey Small

same compilations
Booze Party - Three Aces and a Joker

Goo Goo Muck- Ronnie Cook

Werewolf - The Frantics

the music blog named after a well-known 60s science fiction-y TV show created by Rod Serling? You may find much to like therein.

A1 Barrracudas* - I Want My Woody Back
A2 Surfin' Lungs - Who Stole The Summer
A3 Malibooz, The - 308
A4 Palominos, The - Herman's New Woody
A5 'B' Girls, The* - Fun At The Beach
A6 Bobby Lloyd & The Windfall Prophets - Gas Money
A7 Agent Orange - Pipeline
B1 Truth & Beauty - Tuff Little Surfer Boy
B2 Corvettes, The - Girls Cars Girls Sun Girls Surf Girls Fun Girls
B3 Stickshifts - Automobile
B4 Beach Bums - The Day They Raised The Thames Barrier (And I Rode All The Way To California)
B5 Beachcoma - Shotgun
B6 Buzz And The B-Days - Surfin' C.I.A.
B7 Episode Six - Mighty Morris Ten
B8 Jon & The Nightriders - Depth Charge

especially the Agent Orange take on Pipeline