What makes a great summer song? Mostly, it's in the ears of the beholder. Maybe it was the tune that always seemed to be on the box during the best summer of your life. Or perhaps it's more the images evoked — heat, sunshine, sweat, freedom, the beach, the streets, cars, girls, boys, skin, sex, parties
There are those summer songs, though, that transcend personal experience and become something akin to universal. What better soundtrack to summer than a mix CD of these gems that hopefully cross generations, genders and geography.
Submitted here are 20 tunes — about the number you can dub onto a blank CD — in my preferred sequence.
Is this the definitive summer disc? Of course not, but for me it is.
"Dancing in the Street" ('64) and "Heat Wave" ('63), Martha & the Vandellas — Start out your platter with these two back to back. Callin' out around the world, are you ready for a brand new beat?/ Summer's here and the time is right, for dancin' in the street, begins one of the ultimate party anthems. The Heatwave lyrics capture lusty longing, but the hook and groove are pure celebration. When Martha Reeves gets to those yeah-yeahs at the end, it raises gooseflesh. Both songs peaked in the Top 5 in the dead of August. Whatever you do, please don't cut corners by substituting the wretched Jagger/Bowie version of Dancing in the Street.
"Hot Fun in the Summertime" ('69), Sly & the Family Stone — This one extols the spirit of summer as good as any, with a lolling groove to match. Topped out at No. 2 on Aug. 9.
"Jammin'" (1977), Bob Marley — This unmitigated classic from the mid '70s never made the pop survey. (In fact, Marley's only Billboard-charting single was Roots, Rock, Reggae, which peaked at No. 51 in July '76 and makes a damn fine summer song in itself.) But how could you make a summer mix disc without Jammin'? Its spry, springy beat and irrepressible hook make it de rigeur for any and all tiki bar activities.
"Stoned Soul Picnic" ('68), Laura Nyro — The 5th Dimension scored a hit with this one in early June of '68, but ultimately their version came off as a bit starchy. The grievously underrated Nyro, who wrote the song, does a far superior rendition, which appears on her album Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. Come on, come on and surrey down, to a stoned soul picnic — that was an extremely groovy concept in '68.
"On and On" ('77), Stephen Bishop — A guilty pleasure, admittedly. (Huh? You too?) This breezy slice of wimp-rock, which begins Down in Jamaica, they got lots of pretty women, instills the kind of laid-up-in-a-hammock ennui that only summer can invoke.
"Summer Wind" ('66), Frank Sinatra — It was sandwiched between smash hits Strangers in the Night and That's Life, reaching No. 25 in early September. I was 13 when the tune hit the airwaves, and it sent me lunging for the radio dial. I came to appreciate The Chairman later, as a lot of Boomers did. This graceful song makes me think of stickball on city streets, mostly because that's what happens when this song plays in The Pope of Greenwich Village.
"Let's Go Crazy" ('84), Prince — It's early August and this song is No. 1, and it's an unadulterated shot of rockin' adrenaline, enough to rouse the biggest slug amid even Florida swelter.
"School's Out" ('72), Alice Cooper — A little dark, a little angry, yes, but who can't relate to the catharsis of being sprung from school. Turn it way up. Pump your fist with one hand, hold a quart of Bud with the other. School's Out has extra significance for me 'cause it came out the year I bid high school adieu. Topped out at No. 7 on June 3, a few days before I donned the cap and gown, if memory serves.
"Panama" ('84), Van Halen — It was in late July that this revved-up anthem reached its chart pinnacle at No. 13. Diamond Dave's bawdy vocals carry the day, spitting out the sexual double entendre disguised as car references. Yeah, we're running a little bit hot tonight/ I can barely see the road from the head comin' off it/ Ah, you reach down, between my legs/ Ease the seat back It's the perfect driving song, an excellent prelude-to-sex song.
"Red Rubber Ball" ('66), The Cyrcle — And the morning sun is shining like a red rubber ball. It didn't get much more frothy than this one by these Pennsylvania popsters. But the song's glowing hook simply will not relent — probably because it was written by Paul Simon in his pre-S&G, Brill Building period. A durable guilty pleasure. Hit its pinnacle in late May and gleamed through the summer.
"Summertime" ('97), The Sundays — Harriet Wheeler's feathery, ethereal voice exudes such warmth that when she sings And it's you and me in the summertime, the song positively beams with rays of sunshine. Sexy, languid, lovely. Only made it to No. 50 in late September.
"Good Vibrations" ('66) and "California Girls" ('65), The Beach Boys — Obvious and essential. The only question was which Beach Boys tunes to include. You could make a case for Surfin' U.S.A., Surfer Girl, Fun, Fun, Fun, I Get Around, Do You Wanna Dance? and at least a dozen others. Hell, you could even dub Kokomo in a pinch. In the end, I narrowed it down to these two, mostly because because because I'm writing the damn column.
"Low Rider" ('75), War — I could've gone with the more obvious choice, 1976's Summer, but this pell-mell bit of Latin/R&B wins out. Although I was never a denizen of El Barrio, never had a souped-up whip with hydraulics, I can still somehow relate. Reached its chart zenith, No. 7, on the second-to-last day of summer.
"California Love" ('96), 2Pac (featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman) — This throbbing slab of funk peaked in June and continued to blast from car speakers nationwide. The song extols the pleasures of livin' large on the wess coassss, with shout-outs to L.A., Watts and Compton. The veteran Troutman, who sings through his trademark vox box, gives the tune extra sizzle. Out on bail, fresh outa jail, California dreamin'. You didn't have to be a hood rat to groove to this one.
"Wild Night" ('71), Van Morrison — If you wanna get technical, which I don't, you'd be better off picking the John Mellencamp/Me'Sheel Ndegeocello version from '94, which hit its zenith in late May and hung around the airwaves for a good bit of that summer. The original peaked in October. But let's not be silly. Van's is a far superior version. As for the song, anyone can relate to those wild summer nights where all bets seem to be off.
"Summertime Blues" ('70), The Who — The San Francisco proto-metal band Blue Cheer came first with this one, in '68, and scored a bigger hit (No. 14 in the late winter), but The Who's take on the Eddie Cochran song (from Live at Leeds) was more rockin', more fun. It reached No. 27 in July. This crunchy blues number is a slacker anthem of sorts. I'm gonna raise a fuss, I'm gonna raise a holler/ About a workin' all summer just to try to earn a dollar. Hey, we all remember summer jobs.
"Rain on the Roof" ('66), Lovin' Spoonful — So this guy is walking with this chick and it starts to rain and they take shelter beneath a roof of tin and spend a few hours sittin' in the hay. Hmm. Wonder what really happened? John Sebastian's carefree vocal gives this sing-songy melody its cozy feel. This song about getting caught up in a summer shower didn't reach its chart peak until mid October. For those wondering about Summer in the City, or Do You Believe in Magic, or Daydream, they're all perfectly good summer fare, but Rain on the Roof is a trickle more evocative.
"Don't Stop" ('77), Fleetwood Mac — Christine McVie, the Mac's resident optimist, penned this paean to looking on the bright side that reached No. 2 in July. Why not think about times to come/ And not about the things that you've done, OK, so it wasn't profound, but the song had a killer hook and an elastic groove that never failed to make you feel good, even as some of us were entering post-college adulthood faced with double-digit inflation and uncertain job prospects.
Your mix CD is probably about over, but if there are a few minutes left, choose from these other, very worthy, summer songs: Vacation, Go-Go's (No. 8, Aug. 3, '82); Every Little Thing She Does (is Magic), The Police (No. 3, Sept. 26, '81); Maybellene, Chuck Berry (No. 5, Aug. 20, '55); Groovin', The Rascals (No. 1, April 22, '67); Still the One, Orleans (No. 5, July 31, '76); La Bamba, Los Lobos (No. 1, June 27, '87) or Ritchie Valens (No. 22, Dec. 29, '58)
This article appears in May 15-21, 2002.