That Summer Sound
What makes a Summer Song
“Well she was an American Girl, raised on promises.”
Tom Petty recorded the classic “American Girl” on the Fourth of July, 1976. Since then, it continues to live on via Classic Rock music streams and stations, but in our minds, it will always be an American Summer Song.
Summer Songs are best heard at barbecues, or the beach, or blaring from car windows. They carry a special appeal in the full heat of summer, complementing the hot humid air in a way that other songs don’t. So what elevates a song and transcends it to a song of Summer?
With Petty’s “American Girl,” the lyrics weave through the ethos that comes with being an American kid. Believing that there is “a little more to life somewhere else,” and because it’s a “great big world with lots of places to run to.” This is the promise and allure of youth. The belief that better is out there, you just need to find it. Yet is also comes with the first fumbling of regret carried in the heart (“Something that is so close, still so far out of reach.”) You add in an unforgettable opening guitar riff (Petty was the king of the opening riff) and plenty of breathing room for the bass line, and it’s a great July song that many of us know the beat and the lyrics by heart…whether we admit it or not.
Another classic rock genre example is Journey’s “Stone in Love” from the 1981 Escape album. A song infused with young summer love found in the boredom of the teenage years. Back when boredom existed and was accepted (aka before the magic phones kids!) In this song, I see memories of an FM radio playing at dusk while riding dirt bikes on the end of a gravel road with other teenagers. It sums up the heat, the angst, warm and cheap beer, the wonder of life, and the mosquito bites. I still smell gasoline, dust, and hayfields when I hear it.
Fast forward to modern times, into the pleasantness of Harry Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar.” A simple pop song, with an undertone of sex and tension, but smooth. Again an unforgettable opening line “Tastes like strawberries, on a summer evening…” It’s a sensual song, and it comes into its true power, only in the heat of the season.
And the list goes on. From Childish Gambino’s “Summertime Magic” to Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories to Camila Cabello’s “Havana.” All play better with heat.
Is it just the lyrics that make these Summer songs? I would argue no.
In the Summer months, the body and mind have opportunities to expand and open to new experiences. We come outside and have more freedom, thanks to the kindness of nature. The summer temperatures demand more skin, bare skin, and feet. It shines more light into our lives to see more, do more in the extra hours. The world comes alive a little more, and we do too.
The songs listed above and many others, are foundational pop songs with easy lyrics and catchy beats, leveraging simplicity for mass appeal.
But these are also songs with descriptions and melodies that you can also see, taste, smell almost, and feel. A Summer song transcends the other senses and imprint into our memories.
They follow us to the beach, to the sensation of ice on the tongue on a sun-baked patio, to the sweat of the skin at the park. These songs are experienced and they embrace us….outside and in.
There are thousands of summer songs out there. No matter your taste in music or age. In these heated days of everyone having a bone to pick about something online; why not create a playlist for the Summer heart and settle in with a cold drink. Or blare it from your car windows on the way to the beach or the lake. Build it for you and embrace it. For like summer, the sensations it brings are fleeting and only for now.
