Tunes That Say Summer

Well, the songs may not actually have the word “summer” in the lyrics (though ~~some~~ many of them do) but when the husband recently commented on how he wanted to put together a summer song playlist, I realized I haven’t done something like that since putting one together on a cassette tape. It’s about time I compile a new list, eh?

So I had to think…what songs just put me in the summer frame of mind? Here are a few I thought of immediately, one of those quick “what do I think of first” kind of things.

Doin’ Time by Sublime…in which the word summer does occur in the song, in fact, the song is often mistakenly thought to be titled “Summertime.” Granted, the lyrics themselves are not overly cheerful – but the mood and vibe of the song is all laid back chill. It reminds me of driving through the city on a hot summer afternoon. Back then I didn’t know what half the references in the song allude to (LBD???), I still don’t, and I honestly don’t care – this song says summer to me.

Dancing Days by Stone Temple Pilots- yeah, it’s a cover. I don’t care. I’m really not much of a Led Zep fan, and STP rocks this song (which happens to have summer in the lyrics too, huh, so far I’m 2 for 2). Where as the Sublime song makes me think of driving slow in city traffic on a steamy hot day, watching people hanging out on the streets, this song is a driving at night song: windows down and the cool summer breeze whipping through you hair as a big bright fat summer moon shines across the highway.

Movin’ out of the 90’s for a sec with Last Friday Night by Katy Perry. If you haven’t seen the video for this song before, do yourself a favor and waste a few minutes in pursuit of mindless entertainment. It is worth it, and like the song – very fun. Miss A loves the song, and while I’m not quite prepared to explain stuff like skinny dipping and what a menage a trois is…she just likes the mood of the song, and I totally get that.

Here we are right back in the 90’s again (told you it would be just a sec) with Run Away by the Real McCoy (what can I say – the 90’s were my party years I guess). Dancy and carefree – mindless in its repetition, this is a song you can lose yourself in while dancing with your eyes closed.

Cruel Summer. I suppose I could go 90’s with this and do the Ace of Base remake, but nope. Bananarama all the way for this one. Another song with “summer” right in it – it’s funny, I always think of the Karate Kid movie when I hear this song, and looking at the comments on You Tube, apparently I’m not the only one.

Sticking with the 80’s: I Want Candy by Bow Wow Wow. Maybe it’s the beach in the video, maybe it’s the island-esque drums and riffs, but this song feels like summer to me.

Cecilia by Simon & Garfunkel, yes you read that right. I think we’ve moved into 70’s territory here, but I didn’t check. Really no idea why this song says summer to me, but it does. Could be the fact that I have memories of singing it backstage while getting ready for performances in a show I was in one summer…or maybe it’s the references of making love in the afternoon…some summer memories of that too…you know, before kids and stuff.

Snap – The Power…or is it The Power by Snap? I forget. What I do remember is hanging out with my closest friends in the months before we started high school at our local theme park and this song was blasting everywhere all summer long.

Sending All My Love by Linear…I am realizing 1990 must have been a good year for me…or at least it carries enough happy memories that it makes me associate songs from that time with fun and carefree days. Watching this video almost made me cry…tears of laughter: the clothes, the mullets, the dance moves! This had to have been my transition out of New Kids on the Block and into…what?

Depeche Mode – that’s what. Yep, that’s what I got into while in high school. And Strangelove‘s beat feels like summer to me.

There are plenty more songs I’ll be adding to my summer list – the husband and I have decided to make it a bit of a competition, you know – who comes up with the better summer mix. Thanks to the miracle of mp3’s I won’t be limited to the 60 or 90 minutes of a cassette tape, but I almost wish I had a few of those old mix tapes now.

I’m sure this song is on at least one of those old mix tapes; what summer mix compiled by a child of the late 80’s-early 90’s would be complete without it? Dino and his masterpiece: Summer Girls.

Oh…oh…and since I stooped low enough to add that last one, I have to add the following as well, I mean c’mon – what’s summer without some th-thong-th-thong-thong thongs?