We’re smack dab in the middle of summer, a great reason to listen to some of my favorite Top Forty summertime hits. Some pop standards and rock and roll anthems echo a disdain for having to work during a time when freedom and making out were priorities. Speaking of making out, I recommend slow dancing to Percy Faith’s instrumental theme from the movie “A Summer Place,” which debuted in February 1960 and topped the charts for nine weeks in a row. No other summer song holds that record.
- Theme from a Summer Place, Percy Faith
A year later Gary U.S. Bonds (remember Quarter to Three?) celebrated the promise of summer with his rollicking School Is Out. But not long thereafter came a few tunes whose memorable melodies weren’t so sunny. In 1962 Brian Hyland spent a cold and lonely summer writing daily letters to his departed girlfriend.
- Sealed With A Kiss, Brian Hyland
The harmonica says it all, better than any words can, and songstress Carole King didn’t fare much better with her beau far away complaining “As far as I’m concerned each day’s a rainy day so it might as well rain until September.”
- It Might As Well Rain, Carole King
As bad as the summertime blues can be, suffering through June, July and August without your girlfriend or boyfriend can be miserable.
- Summer Song, Chad & Jeremy
Chad & Jeremy’s lament is just downright fatalistic: “They say that all good things must end someday, Autumn leaves must fall, wish you didn’t have to go, no, no, no, no.” This is not a fun summertime disc. But it did sell a few copies, enough to keep the Brits looking for sunshine (but just like the London fog, never finding it). Of all the summer songs I’ve ever heard, this one from 1964 is the most depressing. The best antidote to Chad & Jeremy is the beach. We’ve been there before, leading the way with the Beach Boys and the California chorus extolling melodies created for the surf, sun, sex, and hot rods in the early to mid-’60s. Brian Wilson and company, Jan and Dean, and Bruce and Terry were the most vocal proponents of this carefree summertime tradition, exemplified by West Coast refrains such as “We’ve been having fun all summer long,” or “Two girls for every boy,” or going to “Drive-in movies every night, staying out ‘til half past one, sleeping late and living right, ’cause summer means fun.”
- Summer Means Fun, Bruce and Terry
On the East Coast, John Sebastian and his Lovin’ Spoonful, in their gutsy and gritty 1966 jack-hammer recording of Summer in the City, beat the humid city heat by venturing out at night as cool cats lookin’ for a kitty, because “At night it’s a different world, go out and find a girl, come-on come-on and dance all night, despite the heat, it’ll be alright.” Two classics from 1964 deserve some attention: Motown’s Martha Reeves and the Vandellas urged folks to engage in the civil rights movement by Dancing in the Streets (as opposed to rioting), while the Drifters preferred the tranquility of spending warm summer days Under the Boardwalk on a blanket with my baby. As the ’60s came to a close, we found Sly and the Family Stone at the Woodstock festival of all places.
- Hot Fun In the Summertime, Sly & the Family Stone
Mungo Jerry was a British skiffle quartet led by singer Ray Dorset. Skiffle-style songs were always popular in England. Remember Lonnie Donegan back in the ’50s with Rock Island Line?
- In the Summertime, Mungo Jerry
Mungo Jerry announced the arrival of summertime 1970-style with a lilt slightly more casual and candid: “In the summertime when the weather’s high, you can stretch right up and touch the sky, when the weather’s fine, you got women, you got women on your mind. Have a drink, have a drive, go out and see what you can find.” Keeping the summer dreams alive well into the ’70s was funk band War, formed in Long Beach in 1969. War was initially Eric Burdon’s backup band in the early ’70s, then they struck out on their own with social songs like the World Is a Ghetto and The Cisco Kid. War further dented the hit parade in the mid-’70s with songs like Why Can’t We Be Friends and Low Rider.
- Summer, War
Released in July of 1976, Summer uses percussion to add to all the accents being laid down. “Ridin’ ’round town with all the windows down, eight track playin’ all your fav’rite sounds, the rhythm of the bongos fill the park, the street musicians tryin’ to get a start, ’cause it’s summer, my time of year.”
King's List of Summer Songs by Year 1957 Can't Wait For Summer, Steve Lawrence 1957 Summertime, Sam Cooke 1958 One Summer Night, Danleers 1958 Summertime Blues, Eddie Cochran 1958 It's Summertime, Jamies 1959 Here Comes Summer, Jerry Keller 1960 Summer Place, Percy Faith 1961 School Is Out, Gary U.S. Bonds 1962 Sealed With A Kiss, Brian Hyland 1962 It Might As Well Rain, Carole King 1963 Lazy Crazy Hazy Days Of Summer, Nat King Cole 1963 That Sunday That Summer, Nat King Cole 1963 Surf City, Jan and Dean 1963 Wonderful Summer, Robin Ward 1964 Summer Song, Chad and Jeremy 1964 California Sun, Rivieras 1964 Dancing in the Street, Martha & Vandellas 1964 Under the Boardwalk, Drifters 1964 Summer Means Fun, Bruce and Terry 1964 All Summer Long, Beach Boys 1965 Summer Nights, Marianne Faithful 1966 Summer In The City, Lovin' Spoonful 1966 Summertime, Billy Stewart 1966 Sunny Afternoon, Kinks 1967 Summer Rain, Johnny Rivers 1969 Hot Fun In the Summertime, Sly & the Family Stone 1970 In The Summertime, Mungo Jerry