“Roll out those hazy, crazy, lazy days of summer, those days of soda, and pretzels, and beer, you’ll wish that summer would always be here.” Summer just wouldn’t be summer without a summer song.
- Hazy, Crazy, Lazy Days of Summer, Nat King Cole
Most of the ones that I’ve heard over the years from all kinds of genres—rock and roll, pop, doo-wop, surf, and more—were meant strictly for Top Forty teenagers, but even corny, old-fashioned tunes from Nat “King” Cole and others offer themes that almost anyone can relate to, even to young kids like me who preferred sodas to suds back in the day. As a matter of fact, Nat “King” Cole may have been the only pop artist to have two summer-themed hits in the same season, both in 1963.
- That Sunday, That Summer, Nat King Cole
Two other pop singers had notable numbers in a similar innocent style earlier on, during the halcyon days of rock ‘n’ roll. Steve Lawrence had a major hit in 1963 with Go Away Little Girl, after crooning a rather sprightly but stiff Can’t Wait for Summer in 1957, in which he “can’t wait for summer to play ball in the park and to park out in the dark.”
- Can’t Wait for Summer, Steve Lawrence
Given the innocence there, it doesn’t sound like Steve is planning on doing anything really nefarious, but the parents would be relieved if he just stuck to baseball.
- One Summer Night, Danleers
My favorite group entry in the summertime foray is the doo-wop favorite that hit the charts in the summer of 1958 by a New York ensemble known as the Danleers. It reached #7 on the Billboard charts and was extremely popular. All kinds of themes presented themselves in the summer song arena, and young love in the big city was one of them. There is an innocence and earnestness about the power of youthful vocals, and even though the Danleers never had another smash like this one, any self-respecting vocal group would be proud just to sing this. Two other major summer offerings came out in July and August of 1958. One might be considered a teenager’s rock and roll anthem to the woes that summer could bring on, mainly being forced to earn a dollar as opposed to experiencing any kind of freedom. After all, most summertime recordings revolved around three basic ideas: having fun, picking up girls (or boys), and non-stop partying (unless your fate was like that of rocker Eddie Cochran, who never found a cure for his blues, complaining “every time I call my baby, and try to get a date, my boss says no dice son, you gotta work late.”
- Summertime Blues, Eddie Cochran
Overall, the summertime song blaring from a transistor or car radio was as fun as the summer itself. My favorite remains the 1958 classic “summertime summertime sum sum summertime” sung by a family quintet calling themselves the Jamies, accompanied only by a harpsichord and a drum.
- Summertime Summertime, Jamies
The lyrics to this particular ditty is so infectious and to the point that it’s no wonder it continued to chart well after its initial appearance. “Well I’m so happy that I could flip, oh how I’d love to take a trip, I’m sorry teacher but zip your lip because it’s summertime.” Nothing like telling the teacher (and parents) off for three solid months. “Well we’ll go swimmin’ every day, no time to work, just time to play, if your folks complain just say, ‘It’s summertime. And every night we’ll have a dance cause what’s a vacation without romance, oh man this jive gets me in a trance because it’s summertime. It’s time to head straight for them hills, it’s time to live and have some thrills, come along and have a ball, a regular free-for-all. It’s summertime.”
- Here Comes Summer, Jerry Keller
Summertime Blues and Summertime were followed a year later by one-hit wonder Jerry Keller, who claimed in his pop hit that “school’s not so bad but summer’s better, gives me more time to see my girl, walks through the park ‘neath the shiny moon, when we kiss, she makes my flattop curl.” Dated and a bit square, perhaps, but he got his point across.