On the Beach - Randy Newman

It all began in grammar school and on the beach

Everybody graduated

There we were

Off we went to junior high

There we were

Everybody graduated

Off we went to high school

Except one of us

On the beach he was and there he stayed

He saw the Hobie Cat, the beginnings of it

Polyurethane

Longboard, shortboard, every board

On the beach

He saw it

On the beach

Roll Willie

Roll Willie

You saw it all, Willie

On the beach

You’re not a bum, Willie

Never a bum, Willie

But in years to come, Willie

‘Twas in reach

Some went to college

Some went to war

Some came back crazy

Some were crazy before

Willie saw acid

Willie saw fear

Willie saw freebase

But Willie’s still here

On the beach, on the beach

Still on the beach, still on the beach

They’re building a railroad, downtown to here

That’s what they say

They said it sixty years ago

But they’re building it today

The lifeguard towers you used to live in

Comin' down

Man, they’re comin' down

The lifeguard towers

Where you’d hold forth for hours

About the polyurethane

The Hobie Cat

The big longboards and the shortboards too

Wille, if it ever rains again

Don’t sleep under the pier

Those twenty foot sets we used to lie about

Well they’re here now, Willie

And they’ll take you out

Roll Willie roll

You never get old

You look just like you used to look

A hundred years ago

On the beach

On the beach

Nice to see you, Willie

Still on the beach

On the beach

On the beach

Nice to see you, Willie

Still on the beach