Summer Songs?

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Hey, kids. Have a favor to ask.

When Ned called out for Freaky Trigger material concerning summer music, I got it in my head to try and talk about summer-themed songs. Most of the music I could think of that concerned the summertime strikes me as wistful or inherently nostalgic for something that's going to end soon. However, I want to make sure that I don't miss out on anything, so if you folks could think of some summer-themed songs, and post them on this fine bastion of Internet intelligence, I'd love to love you. I'm not sure if anything will come of this, but I'm giving it the old college try. (At this rate, I might have to move off-campus, but that's sure to change.)

Here's my list of goodies:

Vivaldi's "Summer" (from The Four Seasons)
Husker Du - "Celebrated Summer"
Buffalo Tom - "Summer"
Pavement - "Summer Babe"
Ira & George Gershwin - "Summertime" (as interpreted by many)
Sly & the Family Stone - "Hot Fun in the Summertime"
Lovin' Spoonful - "Summer in the City"
Bryan Adams - "Summer of '69"

Thanks much.

― David Raposa, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Summer's Cauldron" by XTC

"Summer Romance" by the Rolling Stones

"Dirty Black Summer" by Danzig

"Summer Breeze" by Seals & Crofts

"Cruel Summer" by Bananarama

― alex in nyc, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The dormant classic-rock part of my brain must have woken up from its long slumber, 'cause I've got a couple oldies:

Beach Boys, "All Summer Long" Eddie Cochran, "Summertime Blues"

― Ian White, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Summer Of Hate - Baxendale Summer Of Love - Steps Real Summer - Future Bible Heroes Sunshine Day - Sunshine Day Summertime - Will Smith In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry Hanging Out With Her - Baxendale My Radio - Stars Summer And Looking For a Job - Eggstone Martini In The Park - Vada Summer Smash - Denim David's Last Summer - Pulp

― jamesmichaelward, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Belle & Sebastian, Summer Wasting.

That's it for me.

― Lyra, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If you're gonna go with "Summer Breeze," go with the Isley Brothers' version. Also, depending on your schmaltz tolerance, "Beach Baby" by First Class and Lesley Gore's "California Nights" can be fun ones to hear. Also throw in Billy Stewart's mad rendition of "Summertime."

― Joseph McCombs, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"summer nights" - olivia newton-john and john travolta. grease rules.

― lady die, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What about "summer jams" i.e. songs that were hits in a particular summer? Summer 1998 for me was "That Thing" by Lauryn Hill.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nobody said 'Summernight City' by ABBA? Jeez, this board is losing its touch ;)

― Omar, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The majestic "Indian Summer" by Beat Happening, and later Luna.

― Sterling Clover, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Also "In The Summertime" by Mungo Jerry.

― Sterling Clover, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ssummer Fling- KD Lang. If Francoise Hardy sang Beach Boys in English.

― anthony, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What Tracer Hand said is important -- not merely songs that dominate a summer but songs that, say, *feel* like a summer. Songs that feel like heat shimmering off blacktop or a breeze through trees at the end of a long day or the like. How you define that is up to you, of course. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Eternal Summer", Celtic Frost
If you're in London - "Burning Hell", John Lee Hooker

― dave q, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sealed with a Kiss - Bryan Hyland Here comes the Summer - Undertones Summer Fun - Barraccudas I Feel Love - Donna Summer (ooh sorry!)

― Alexander Blair, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Summertime by the DJ Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince

― Sam, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well, see, Ned, that was part of my idea. It seems that most summer fare is fun, lightweight, catchy, cool as a cucumber on the other side of the pillow. However, most songs ABOUT summer are inherently nostalgic, wistful, with a twinge of regret & remorse. (Even something as seemingly eboullient as the Fresh Prince's "Summertime" - that synth-thing in the background of the chorus has a lot of emotional heft that counteracts the feel-good sentiment of the lyrics.)

Or, that's just my idea. It might be naff. Not sure yet.

― David Raposa, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Len's "Steal My Sunshine" was a summer hit with summer terms in the title that genuinely feels summery. Whew!

― palpable, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Indian Summer", an instrumental album by Friedemann. It really catches the atmosphere of late summer. You can hear the cicadas singing. One of my favourite instrumental records.

― alex in mainhattan, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

roy ayers - Everyone Loves The Sunshine

― rener, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

that summer feeling - jonathan richman last summer - the troggs remember (walkin' in the sand) - shangri-la's rockaway beach - the ramones summertime blues - eddie cochran/blue cheer/the who/joan jett/guitar wolf, etc.

― fritz, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Just bees and things and flowers...

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Who sang "Suddenly Last Summer"?

"One summer never ends / One summer never begins / It keeps me standing still / It takes all my will..."

― David Raposa, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Long Hot Summer" by the Style Council has the word summer in the title AND feels like summer.

― Sean, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Our Last Summer by Abba, Summer Wine by Nancy and Lee, Celebrate Summer by T. Rex.

― Arthur, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If I hear "One-Minute Man" again this summer I am going to kill something.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Jonathan Richman: "That Summer Feeling." For Americans at least, this has to be the perfect "school's out" song.

― X. Y. Zedd, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

No, that wd be the shockingly unmentioned Alice Cooper song.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

On A Summer Night, by Rock'n'Roll Dubble Bubble Trading Card Co. of Philadelphia 19141 (again!)

― gareth, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

grandaddy's summer here kids

― ernest, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

here comes the summer - the undertones

too hot - the specials

― fritz, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hot Town! Summer in the city!
Back of my neck feeling dirty and gritty!

This summer I'd give it to Blu Cantrell's Hit 'em Up Style.

― bnw, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

on a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?

― lady die, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Mostly Girl Group tunes....

Pixies Three - "Summertime USA" Robin Ward - "Wonderful Summer"

― JC, Saturday, 4 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

this summer's been good from start - gorky's zygotic mynci summer - his name is alive

isn't the new gorky's record called 'how i long to feel the summer in her heart'? that's probably gonna be great too.

― keith, Saturday, 4 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Gordon's Garden Party- The Cardigans

― tha chzza, Sunday, 5 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Chalkhills and Children" by XTC. "Dancing In The City" by Marshall Hain. "Summer In The South" by Jack Horner and DJ Pulse.

― Robin Carmody, Sunday, 5 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Mmm. I just got a compilation CD by the Chills and 'Double Summer' on it is fantastic!

― youn, Sunday, 5 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The De La Soul rollerskating song - "saturday, it's saturday..."

― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 5 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

don't forget "boys of summer" by don henley. although to listen to it sounds more like a wintertime song for some reason.

a lot of these summertime songs i totally associate with winter anyway, just cos i live in the southern hemisphere and all.

― lady die, Monday, 6 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Summer in the Antipodes - "Brisbane Security City" by the Saints, "Christmas in the Country" by the Puddle, "Opium" by Brother Love.
Hey & did anyone say "Revolution Summer" by Pussy Galore yet?

― duane, Monday, 6 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

three weeks pass...

"Suddenly Last Summer" was sung by the Motels. That's a nice one. "Summer" by Modest Mouse!!!!!!!!!"Just the smell of the summer can make me fall in love....."

― summer, Monday, 27 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Summertime by The Sundays

― JM, Monday, 27 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Three Phases of a Summer Jam
One-Minute Man by Missy Elliott

1. Indifference.
Greedily ripping the album open 3 weeks after it hit the streets, bumping past the first track, a funk-by-numbers weed epic featuring Method Man, the first announcement of pure Missy is track 2, "One-Minute Man". Whatever. Sounds like Missy's straining her vocal cords to unpleasant places, just so she can have an entry in the dissing-your-lover synth-pop hall of fame (cf. Gillette). Yawn.

2. Irritation
That fucking synth line is even more bone-headed than Get Ur Freak On. It's like an aphasiac child programming a Casio. Bip-bip-bip. Bip-bip-bip. Bip-bip-bip -- and here you expect something to redeem it, some flash of brilliance, I mean hey it's Timbaland -- and you get a poke in the eye, sand in your face, an even more facile bar of blips. The verse sounds like she's taking a shit. Why do they keep playing this song?

3. Delight Her voice strains in the verse because finding a man who's not going to take off on her is a strain. She's not making fun of his staying power, she's questioning his power to stay. The poke in the eye at the end of the chorus? It's redeemed by its subsequent absence; the second time around it gets replaced with an utterly satisfying "shooka shooka shooka" drum noise leading down, down past the treble, down to the bassline, previously unnoticed, slithering around in there, the confused and confusing subterranean logic of a man's relation to his intended. And that synth line, folding itself into your head, becoming old, almost treasured for fuck's sake, projects like a klaxon from even the scratchiest FM car stereo. "Bip-bip-bip... summer's here.... bip-bip-bip... summer's really here..."

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 29 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Why are all of these songs, well most of them, songs that specifically reference "summer"? Am I the only person who thinks that makes a song lame?

― Ally, Wednesday, 29 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

yr right, what the dealio?

― p. diggy, Wednesday, 29 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Overnite Sensation, The Raspberries Darlin', Beach Boys Drive My Car, Beatles Dear Madum Barnum, XTC I Love LA, Randy Newman Theme from Route 66, Nelson Riddle

― dleone, Wednesday, 29 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, songs that reference winter are lame too. And spring or fall or whatever. Ally, what are you talking about! Are month names okay or is that stupid? As a rule?

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 30 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What about "You've Got a Friend" by James Taylor? It references all of them...

― JM, Thursday, 30 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"September Song" does too or comes close. It's a summer song via exclusion. Jumping straight from May to September, the summer is a no-need-to-mention blur of love, like a campfire against the night of autumn.

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 30 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

whatever that means. what i meant to say was that "september song" is an archetypal summer song by the lights of the popshot motherfucker - it's so about the end of summer it don't even mention it.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 31 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, songs that reference winter are lame too. And spring or fall or whatever. Ally, what are you talking about! Are month names okay or is that stupid? As a rule?

You're a complete moron. Instead of taking out the sarcastic stick, try understanding what I was saying for ten seconds - I look at this huge list of songs that everyone's made up of songs SPECIFICALLY using the word summer. All of them suck. I realize something - most songs that reference the word summer are trying FAR TOO HARD to sound like "summer hits". Ergo, lame. As all fuck. I'd rather beat myself up than listen to most of the songs listed on the thread.

When I think "summer song", I think stuff like the stuff that's big in the summer and screams party and lazy and vacation, something like Big Pimpin' or even It Wasn't Me. No idea if these songs came out in a summer, and it doesn't matter. They sound like songs that would be good in the summer.

― Ally, Friday, 31 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Okay, I agree unreservedly. "Let me Blow Your Mind" is a good example. "Big Pimpin" is the greatest though because to a pimp ALL SEASONS ARE SUMMER.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 31 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

We're finally on our own

This summer I hear the drumming

― nY, Monday, 15 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

Atari Teenage Riot - 'Heatwave'
Blur - 'Bank Holiday'
Buffalo Daughter - 'Cold Summer'
Cream - 'Sunshine Of Your Love'
The Detholz! - 'Sunburnt In The Sun'
Hefner - 'The King Of Summer'
Kool And The Gang - 'Summer Madness'
Mogwai - 'Summer'
Osymyso - 'Sod It, I'm Off To Hawaii!'
The Shangri-Las - 'Remember (Walkin' In The Sand')
The Verve - 'Grey Skies'
Vincent Gallo - 'A Cold And Grey Summer Day'

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Friday, 1 August 2003 17:12 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

We can't consider Len's one hit "Steal My Sunshine" a summer song - despite its lyrics and rhythm. I checked the Top 40 archives and found out that it peaked at #4 on November 20, 1999.

― Simeon Suscipperra, Thursday, 24 March 2005 19:05 (twenty years ago)

I believe Spectrum's cover of "Indian Summer" has the themes originally requested/suggested in this thread....

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Thursday, 24 March 2005 19:09 (twenty years ago)

Chris Stamey and Alex Chilton--The Summer Sun

Spanky and Our Gang--Lazy Day

Jack Teagarden--Afternoon in August

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 24 March 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

http://www1.villagevoice.com/music/9935,eddy,8002,22.html

― xhuxk, Sunday, 25 November 2007 11:51 (seventeen years ago)

five months pass...

bumping this thread because I'm making a summer mix right now and I need more suggestions.

I really like "La Vie" by Manu Chao for cruising.
Best song about summer itself: "Every Day is a Saturday" by The Real Kids (it's one one of those Teenline comps)
I also really like "The Now" by Mouthful of Bees (who are a band from the twin cities, I don't know if other people have heard them. http://www.myspace.com/mouthfulofbees)

I think the song of this summer's gonna be "Fireworks" by Animal Collective.

― Kath, Sunday, 11 May 2008 18:54 (seventeen years ago)

The Hold Steady - Massive Nights

― wesley useche, Sunday, 11 May 2008 20:15 (seventeen years ago)

"Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)"?

― bamcquern, Sunday, 11 May 2008 20:34 (seventeen years ago)

'Smoking Pot in The HOT City' Archers of the Fucking Loaf

― Fer Ark, Sunday, 11 May 2008 20:35 (seventeen years ago)

Summer Sun - Koop
In Space - Royksopp
Swimming Ground _ meat Puppets

― Fer Ark, Sunday, 11 May 2008 20:37 (seventeen years ago)

Rockaway beach - by a band called Da Brudders

― Fer Ark, Sunday, 11 May 2008 20:39 (seventeen years ago)

We can't consider Len's one hit "Steal My Sunshine" a summer song - despite its lyrics and rhythm. I checked the Top 40 archives and found out that it peaked at #4 on November 20, 1999.

I remember it getting tons of radio play during the late summer of '99. That's odd.

― Cunga, Monday, 12 May 2008 01:39 (seventeen years ago)

two years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-n3fPQjnJU

― meisenfek, Tuesday, 25 May 2010 08:21 (fifteen years ago)

Max Melvin - seaside (2002)
Alan Moorhouse - westcoastin' (1970)
São Vicente Vicente - ishtar (2005)
Deja-Move ft. Nneka (2003)
Mongo Santamaria - sofrito 1976
Airport Lounge - love is a light (Frédéric Dubois)(2006)

― meisenfek, Tuesday, 25 May 2010 08:58 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOtp5Fe3fns

― you're either part of the problem or part of the solution (m coleman), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 09:37 (fifteen years ago)

Long-ass thread here, so these may have been mentioned before, but:

That Summer Feeling - Jonathan Richman
the entire Endless Summer disc - Fennesz

― ImprovSpirit, Tuesday, 25 May 2010 15:04 (fifteen years ago)

eleven years pass...

Billy Stewart - sitting in the park (1965)

― meisenfek, Friday, 11 June 2021 10:56 (four years ago)

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