Surfer Girl is the third studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released September 16, 1963 on Capitol Records.

The massive success of the Beach Boys' March 1963 album, Surfin' U.S.A., granted Brian Wilson the leverage to convince Capitol to allow him full control over the band's productions,[2][3] an unprecedented move in the music industry.

"[11] The 1990 CD liner notes state that the album's ten songs were recorded in one day, but this is unlikely, and since the American Federation of Musicians contracts have been lost, the exact dates and studios are not definitely known.

[13][14] Having recruited members of the Wrecking Crew to help realize his productions with the Honeys, this album also marked the first occasion that those musicians were enlisted for certain Beach Boys tracks – specifically, on two songs, "Hawaii" and "Our Car Club".

[20] "The Rocking Surfer" is a reworking of the Tri-Fives' 1963 record "Come and Get It", an arrangement of the Czechoslovakian folk song Stodola Pumpa (more popularly known in Southern California as the Good Humor ice cream truck jingle).

[32] It had been held back from release due to the group's lesser popularity in Europe, and was then issued to satisfy increased demand for new Beach Boys product.

Highlighting tracks such as "In My Room" and "Surfer Girl", contributor Quin Moreland wrote in the entry that "Wilson began to probe the wistfulness at his core, hinting at further genius to come.

"[39] Reviewing Surfer Girl in AllMusic, Richie Unterberger highlighted "In My Room" as the most significant track and disregarded the remainder of the album as "surprisingly mediocre filler".

He cited "Catch a Wave" as Wilson's "most ambitious surf number to date" and "In My Room" as "a startling demonstration of Brian's willingness to confront his fears in song.