Tom Morey is the inventor and father of bodyboarding. And he's much more than that. Did you know how good he is at singing and playing the ukulele?
The name says it all - Tom Morey, the pioneer of bodyboarding. The man who changed the lives of millions of wave-riding enthusiasts, the man who shaped the world's first bodyboard.
Tom Morey is a legend. The Detroit-born surf shaper, musician, surfer, engineer, and modern inventor has shown why he has influenced a global community of wave addicts.
But what about the "The Boogie Song"? How did that tune come to life?
"It was [originally] recorded with Corky Carroll singing it and me on the ukulele. I wrote the melody and lyrics and based the bridge on a poem by beach humor icon Brennan "Hevs" McClelland," Tom Morey tells SurferToday.com.
Brennan McClelland started bodysurfing in 1931 at Laguna Beach. He was invited by Bruce Brown, the director of "The Endless Summer," to make short comedy appearances in his movies.
McClelland is the founder of the United States Surfing Association, and he fought against the initial bodyboarding bans and restrictions that spread in Southern California in the 1960s.
The "The Boogie Song" embodies the spirit of bodyboard and, at the same time, the timeless flavor of the Hawaiian sounds.
Listen to the song and pay attention to the lyrics.
"The Boogie Song": Music and Lyrics by Tom Morey
Buy your boy a boogie
And send him to the sea,
Initiate the lad into the moving wall fraternity.
Buy your gal a boogie
And send her on her wave,
From Makapu'u and Rincon to Yokohama Bay.
'Cuz when you're high in the crook
Of a hot little hook,
Salt spray singeing your nose,
You know you oughta be home
with your nose to the grindstone.
Instead,
You're here where the trade winds blow.
Buy your mom a boogie
And send her out to play,
Cut her from the kitchen
The waves are really great today.
Teach your kids to read and write
Then let them surf all day,
Learning how to surf through life
Is learning that will pay.