About

Surrender To Me or Dad Song is a previously unreleased 1970s funk song by William "Curly" Smith that was discovered by his son, TikToker Zach Montana, in January 2022 after his dad left the CD containing it in his car stereo. The song received praise from TikTokers and was officially released through FireCityFunk in February. The song also got the attention of Marvel's music supervisor after being sent to him en-masse. It is allegedly being considered for use in an upcoming Marvel film.

Origin

On January 4th, 2022, TikToker^[1] @zach.montana posted a video taken in his car where he says his dad put some music in the stereo and he was enjoying it, only to find out that it's his dad's unreleased funk song from the 1970s. He then plays the majority of the song while commenting on how good it is (shown below). The video gained over 3.2 million views in a month.

The song attracted positive reception from many, who demanded its release in the comments. It also received praise from numerous verified creators and musicians, including Meghan Trainor and Anthony Fantano, who wrote, "That's a banger."

Spread

As the video went viral, TikTokers began using its original sound and hashtags including #dadsong and #surrendertomesong to help spread it. On January 6th, 2022, TikToker^[2] @zach.montana posted an update on the song, showing a CD containing other songs by his dad and thanking everyone for blowing it up, promising a full release. Commenters also began writing that the song would fit well in a Marvel movie, specifically mentioning Guardians of the Galaxy, which is regularly celebrated for its soundtracks. TikToker @tellme.something.good posted a video mashing the song up with a clip from the film, gaining over 59,000 views in a month (shown below). People began tagging Marvel and Disney in his subsequent updates to try and get their attention.

On February 3rd, The Guardian^[3] published an interview with Zach and his dad, William “Curly” Smith. In the interview, they reveal that 10 days after the initial video was posted Zach was contacted by ave Jordan, Marvel's music supervisor, who said he'd show the song to James Gunn, although no promises were made that it would be used in a film.

Official Release

On February 4th, the song officially released under the artist name "FireCityFunk" to platforms including Spotify,^[4] gaining over 117,000 streams in three days. The song was also uploaded to YouTube, gaining over 13,000 views in one upload in the same span of time (shown below). The song and story behind it saw increased media attention in the days following its release, including articles from Dexerto,^[5] HITC,^[6] Independent^[7] and Distractify.^[8]

On February 5th, Zach posted a "dad reveal" video where he shows off his dad for the first time, gaining over 194,000 views in two days (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References