UFAlien Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 It's the middle of July, the sun is burning, the air is hot and heavy, and the tunes are a-pumpin'! This is a thread to share and discuss the songs that, to you, exemplify summer! They don't even need to be about the season - they can just put you in that "summer mood" too! Here are some of mine: "Suddenly Last Summer" by The Motels - 1983 Yes, this one is actually about summer. Beyond that - beats me. Some people think it's about the end of childhood, losing your virginity, the death of a lover, and all sorts of other things. All I know is it's got a haunting melody and an awesomely bizarre music video. Creepy ice cream truck, random men in suits, old people watching a Linda Hamilton lookalike sleep, trashy romance novels - it's got it all! This, for me, evokes the oppressive heat of a midday summer sun on the beach. "Baby Don't Forget My Number" by Milli Vanilli - 1988 For the uninitiated, the two dreadlocked men in the video aren't the singers, they're European models/breakdancers a German music producer paid to lipsynch to songs recorded by less-attractive, older, American-born vocalists. They got credit for the music in public until 1990 when they asked to sing for real and the producer fired them (it goes much deeper than that, I might post an article of mine eventually). The video isn't very summery - everyone's in heavy jackets - but the sound always makes me think of bright days out at the beach. And some of the dance moves in this thing are just 80s-fabulous! This, for me, evokes a party on the beach or at a park in the middle of a hot summer day. (As a final note: the original European mix sounds more summery, but there's no video for it.) "The Boys of Summer" by Don Henley - 1984 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsqcDXizFmE An obvious choice, so I'll get it out of the way. Like "Suddenly Last Summer", it's a haunting song with strong vibes of the season. The video and lyrics are much easier to understand, though! I don't really have as much to say about this one as the others... pretty much everyone knows it anyway! For me, this evokes a summer sunset as you realize the day's just passed you by. "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)" by Meat Loaf - 1977 Another obvious choice, but whatever! I love most of Meat Loaf's stuff, especially his collaborations with Jim Steinman, and this is no different. As a fun bit of trivia... Meat and Jim shopped this album around to many labels and got turned down by all of them. When Cleveland International finally agreed to release it, their representative hadn't heard a note of music - just the spoken word opening to this song. This song, of course, evokes a hot summer night. What else? And no, I'm not posting "Summer Nights" from Grease. That's too obvious even for me.
KDcoasterMAN Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 Chicken Fried by Zac Brown Band Knee Deep by Zac Brown Band All Summer Long by Kid Rock
beatle11 Posted July 15, 2011 Posted July 15, 2011 Anything by The Beach Boys. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0av63J-OuQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbRKfieMsdQ
cal1br3tto Posted July 15, 2011 Posted July 15, 2011 I love the song "Summer" by reggae/ska/punk band The Dingees. It has an upbeat, summery feel even though a couple lines are vaguely dark. "And you know that it's summertime When the days grow long and it smells sweet outside Sit on the steps with some things to spare Chat with Chomes about the things in our future And you know that we go crazy And you know that it's summertime When it stings so hot you can't sleep at night All our trouble, it's still all the same But in summertime it just don't seem that way How do you feel? Do you feel unreal? Things aren't what they seem in this summer dream Trouble just can't steal a feeling so unreal"
chemical_echo Posted July 19, 2011 Posted July 19, 2011 Last Summer by lostprophets A great song about the great times and memories you have with friends before going to different schools after high school, or even different jobs after university.
BeemerBoy Posted July 19, 2011 Posted July 19, 2011 This list starts with "Summertime," by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and ends with "Centerfield," by John Fogerty.
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