What Is Your Summer Music Playlist?

Summer is here!

It's official! Summer is here. I have to admit, summer is my least favorite season but “summer music” is a different story. There are some songs that just scream “SUMMER!”; like just about anything by The Beach Boys. I enjoy listening to “Surfin’ Safari” in December but might crank it up in July. I have written about music before and how it can elicit memories and long since forgotten or help us get through difficult times in our lives. This post is a little different because I think there are some songs that everyone associates with summer and brighten up your mood – I have links to those posts below. At least, that is how it is for me. There are also certain songs that are not necessarily “summer” songs but remind me of summer, if that makes any sense. When I hear the song it brings me back to significant events or memories of summers long past.

I received a portable reel-to-reel tape recorder back in 1973 or 1974 and used to carry it with me, along with a transistor radio. If a song I liked was played, I will record it. Of course, the sound quality was somewhat less than optimal but a kid had to do what a kid had to do. I remember having the tape deck when I was at my great-aunt’s house one summer, sitting in the backyard listening to the radio. It was then that I recorded the Allman Brothers singing “Ramblin’ Man”. It doesn’t matter what I am doing – when that song is played I am a kid sitting in that backyard under the warm sun.

The strongest summer memories, other than “Ramblin’ Man”, are triggered by “Baker Street” by Gerry Rafferty and “Hot Child in the City” by Nick Gilder. I am automatically transported back to the Summer of ’78, the year I graduated from high school. I have such fond memories of that summer and the songs were still getting a lot of airplay that fall so I also associate them with my first semester at college. It was also that summer that I saw The Beach Boys in concert at Giants Stadium. It was the very first concert held at the stadium and we were on the field. There were three other bands that day but the only other one I remember is the Steve Miller Band. If you look at the album sleeve for “Steve Miller Band Greatest Hits 1974-78” you will see an aerial view of that show!

So, those are songs that remind me of summer by this is about my “Summer Song Playlist” and here are some of the “must haves”, in no particular order.

• Surfin’ Safari – The Beach Boys
• Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys
• California Girls – The Beach Boys
• Surf City – Jan & Dean
• Wipeout – The Surfaris
• Misirlou – Dick Dale and His Del-Tones
• Peter Gunn – Dick Dale and His Del-Tones
• In the Summertime – Mungo Jerry
• Summer in the City – The Lovin’ Spoonful
• Summertime Blues – Eddie Cochran (also The Who)
• Live & Let Die – Paul McCartney & Wings
• Rock Lobster – The B-52’s

I’m sure I am forgetting more than a few and will remember a half dozen as soon as I publish this but I am going to leave the list at an even dozen. I would add that almost any song by The Beach Boys, Jan & Dean or Dick Dale could find a home on this list and I didn’t even go back to the 50’s where I could add at least a few more.

So, I ask you – What are your favorite summer songs? Which ones did I get right? Which ones make you question my sanity and which did I leave off? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Have a great summer!

Here are the previous posts that I mentioned earliers:
The Power of Music - http://ramblewithjoe.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-power-of-music.html
Remember When the Music - http://ramblewithjoe.blogspot.com/2017/04/remember-when-music.html

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All photos are copyright Joseph S. Valencia All Rights Reserved They may not be used in any way without express written permission of the photographer. If you wish to use any of the photos you may contact the photographer at valencia32photo@gmail.com

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