It hit 80 degrees today in the nation’s capital. The cherry blossoms have come and gone, and my neighbor put the top down on his Mustang. Yep – it may still technically be ten weeks away, but Summer is here. And with it come the summer songs.
I’ll make this clear right up front. Some people prefer their summer jams to have a languid vibe. All sinewy and syrupy and perfect for lying on the beach or by the pool, sipping your tequila sunrise or ice-cold Coors. If I may borrow from Bob Dylan, that ain’t me, babe.
I prefer my summer songs to be upbeat and jangly. Not dance tracks, perhaps, but “dancey.” The kind of song that puts you in the mood to dance a little later, after you stop baking in the sun.
Ten Summertime classics from the world of rock
Kind of like Dylan’s 2001 romp, “Summer Days,” a fine entry in the summer song discography. But Bob didn’t make this list. The field was too competitive. Don’t worry, you’re still getting ten killers, along with a supplemental list of ten… well … other types of summer classics.
I'll do the supplement first. When jotting down candidates for my list, I kept running into an odd occurrence. For every two good upbeat summer-themed numbers, I’d come up with one summer-themed downer.
I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me. Summer does come with its share of problems. Plenty of songwriters have made good use of that fact. I call these the bummer summer songs, and I am giving them to you here, without further embellishment, because they are really good songs – as good as the upbeat list, just in a different way.
In chronological order…
“Summertime Blues” (1958, the original Eddie Cochran version)
“California Dreamin’ (1965, the Mamas & the Papas)
“Summer in the City (1966, the Lovin’ Spoonful)
“Sunny Afternoon (1966, the Kinks)
“Summer Wind” (1966, Frank Sinatra – there was just something about 1966 apparently)
(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay (1967, Otis Redding)
Margaritaville (1977, Jimmy Buffett)
“Cruel Summer” (1983, the Bananarama song – notTaylor's)
“Boys of Summer” (1984, Don Henley)
“Mary Jane’s Last Dance” (Tom Petty, 1993)
You may notice that about half of these songs do not directly mention summer. Still, they evoke the concept. Otis Redding could be sitting on that dock in the middle of winter. It’s the Bay Area after all. But I think it’s the summer, when the sunset comes late in the evening. The Mamas and the Papas are singing a song at the dawn of winter but dreaming of summer, so I’m going to count it.
Anyway, that tees up our best summer songs. Many do mention the season itself. But that’s not essential. It’s all about vibe. They may foreground sun or heat, vacations, or sandy beaches. I suppose in its own way, a summer song is kind of like pornography. Maybe you can’t define it, but you know it when you hear one.
For this one, screw the chronological list. That’s the easy way out. I’m ranking, from ten to one, beginning with …
10: “Magic” by the Cars (1984)
It begins in a swirl of synths and an unmistakable blend of jittery keys and power chords before Ric Ocasek announces very clearly
“Summer, it turns me upside down”
And if you didn’t get the message the first time, he repeats it…
“Summer, summer, summer, it’s like a merry-go-‘round”
The song hit number 12 in the USA and helped the band’s Heartbeat City make it to number three.
9: “Holiday Road” by Lindsay Buckingham (1983)
Buckingham’s irresistible paean to summer vacations became the signature tune for the National Lampoon Vacation film series. The throbbing rhythm keeps the family truckster motoring down the road while Fleetwood Mac partner Christine McVie sings along in support.
Toward the end, a couple of dogs appear to join the fun. I don’t begrudge “What a Feeling” winning the Best Song Oscar that year, but “Holiday Road” at least deserved a nomination. It is a virtually perfect soundtrack song.
8: “Soak Up the Sun” by Sheryl Crow (2002)
“Soak Up the Sun” has a historical significance that transcends its sweet, happy glass-half-full attitude. Released in early 2002, Crow has said it was an intentional call to arms – remembering that there is beauty and fun all around, even in the aftermath of 9/11. Liz Phair joined in on backing vocals, and the song made it to 17 on the Billboard charts.
7: “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers (1977)
There is nothing specifically “summer” about Bill Withers’ gorgeously reassuring love song “Lovely Day.” But it’s a summer vibe – a soft, breezy funk that maybe doesn’t pull you onto the dance floor, but is just right for lying on the beach in the afternoon and feeling good about everything despite whatever troubles may surround you.
When Withers effortlessly holds that “day” note for what seems like twenty minutes near the end, it’s hard not to revel in the beauty of a soft summer day.
6: “Summer’s Not Hot” by Selena Gomez & the Scene (2010)
Here’s something fun to do with your friends who only know Selena Gomez as the gloomy Mabel from Only Murders in the Building.
Play this impossibly upbeat number from Selena’s second album, A Year Without Rain, and try to convince them that once upon a time Gomez was a Disney star transitioning to pop star with a whole lot of dancey, over-produced songs that had most critics yawning and a whole lot of fans playing them on repeat. Regardless of what you think of her early work in general – or of rhyming ...
“The temperature if 99 and it can get much higha
So come on over Romeo and vamos a la playa”
... this is unadulterated summer fun.
5. “In the Summertime” by Mungo Jerry (1971)
This is one of the classics – not just because it overtly manifests its opinion of the season, but because it has that iconic feel driven by Colin Earl’s earworm piano phrase, supplemented by banjo, cabasa, and jug. Ray Dorset, who wrote the number, gives it a free-wheeling vocal that makes it one of the most buoyant songs of its era. A worldwide number one hit, it stalled out at 3 in the USA.
4: “Surfin’ USA” by the Beach Boys (1963)
If I wanted to, I could populate this entire list with Beach Boys songs. Maybe throw in Jan & Dean’s “Surf City,” co-written by Brian Wilson. And just to annoy the snobs, we’ll toss in “Kokomo,” one of the most loved and most hated pop songs there is.
Or let’s just let the definitive surf song stand in for all of them. There was surf music before Brian Wilson, but there wasn’t surf music like this. “Surfin’ USA,” along with “Surfin’ Safari,” took what Chuck Berry had invented and turned it into the American definition of summertime fun.
3: “Heat Wave” by Matha and the Vandellas (1963)
Early rock/pop royalty came together to create a Motown masterpiece. Lamont Dozier and the Holland brothers wrote it. The Funk Brothers made it swing. And Martha Reeves blasts the vocals straight from the summer furnace.
Linda Ronstadt can sing pretty much anything, but her cover can’t get within shouting distance of the original. Made it to number 4 on the Hot 100 and topped the R&B charts.
2. “Brighter Than the Sun” by Colbie Caillat (2012)
This was very nearly my number one song. You simply cannot hear this and not be transported to whatever your favorite memory of summer might be. Caillat grew up in Malibu. Her dad produced the iconic Fleetwood Mac albums of the ‘70s.
I suppose Colbie could have moved to Minneapolis, worked in an office, and frequented punk clubs on the weekends. But she seemed destined to write and record a true summer classic.
1 “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves (1983)
On a list jam-packed with buoyant effervescence, nothing bombards you with smiley faces the way Kimberly Rew’s happy juggernaut does. Rew played guitar with Katrina and the Waves in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but his guitar does not stand out in the least on this song.
It is all Alex Cooper's galloping drums and the extra horn arrangement that provides the bouncy ska pep that has you dancing the moment you hear it. And don’t it feel good?