Summer officially started a few days ago, and if you haven't done so already, then it is time to do as Nat King Cole said in his 1963 hit; "(Roll Out) Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days Of Summer"!
For this post, I decided to create a list of some of my favourite summer songs and link them so that you could hear and view videos of all of them. Originally, I thought I'd post about 20 or 30 songs!
To help compile a list of some of the best summer songs, I sent an email to a bunch of my friends earlier this month and asked them what their favourite summer songs were. It didn't have to be a song that was necessarily a summertime hit, but it had to at least talk about summer or evoke summer feelings and memories. I also went through my own music collection and looked through a number of playlists on various sites.Who knew there was so much great music to choose from! By far the most popular group mentioned was The Beach Boys - I mean really how can you possibly think summer music without thinking of at least a couple of their hits?
Whittling down the list of songs and artists was not easy. Well, by the time I was done, I had over 50 songs on the list and had found some pretty good videos to go with all of them! Some are original footage of the artist performing. Some are slideshows/video of the era and some are actual music videos created by the artist. There are also some very talented music fans out there who have posted some very creative videos of their own as tributes to the song/artist/theme.
So, here then - more or less in chronological order - is my list of great summer songs!
"In The Good Old Summertime" - John Phillip Sussa 1905 (piano roll version)
"Tuxedo Junction" - Glenn Miller and his Orchestra 1940
"Sentimental Journey" - Les Brown 1945
"Mr. Sandman" - Chordettes 1954
"Rock Around The Clock" - Bill Haley and the Comets 1955
"Summertime" - Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald 1957
"Love Letters In The Sand" - Pat Boone 1957
"Summertime Blues" - Eddie Cochran 1958
"A Summer Place" - Percy Faith 1960
"Stand By Me" - Ben E. King 1961 (and again in1987)
"A Summer Place" - Andy Williams 1962
"Sealed With A Kiss" - Brian Hyland 1962
"Wipe Out" - The Surfaris 1963
"Heat Wave" - Martha and the Vandellas 1963
"Don't Worry Baby" - The Beach Boys 1964
"A Summer Song" - Chad and Jeremy 1964
"Under the Boardwalk" - The Drifters 1964
"Saturday Night At The Movies" - The Drifters 1964
"Mr. Tambourine Man" - The Byrds 1965
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - The Rolling Stones 1965
"California Girls" - The Beach Boys 1965
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" - The Beach Boys 1966
''Summer in the City'' - The Lovin' Spoonful 1966
''Can't Take My Eyes Off You'' - Frankie Valli 1967
"So Happy Together" - The Turtles 1967
"Windy" - The Association 1967
"Born To Be Wild" - Steppenwolf 1968
"Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay" - Otis Redding 1968
"Moody Manitoba Morning" - The Bells 1969
"Hot Fun In The Summertime" - Sly and the Family Stone 1969
"In The Summertime" - Mungo Jerry 1970
"Maggie May" - Rod Stewart 1971
"It's Too Late" - Carole King 1971
"Lean On Me" - Bill Withers 1972
"Take It Easy" - The Eagles 1972
"Summer Breeze" - Seals and Crofts 1972
"Saturday In The Park" - Chicago 1972
"Sunshine On My Shoulders" - John Denver 1973
"I Can See Clearly Now" - Johnny Nash 1973
"Peaceful Easy Feeling" - The Eagles 1973
"Sundown" - Gordon Lightfoot - 1974
"Annie's Song" - John Denver - 1974
"My Love" - Paul McCartney - 1974
"Silly Love Songs" - Paul McCartney - 1976
"Margaritaville" - Jimmy Buffett 1977
"I Love A Rainy Night" - Eddie Rabbitt 1981
"Bette Davis Eyes" - Kim Carnes 1981
"Ebony & Ivory" - Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder 1982
"Every Breath You Take" - The Police 1983
"Walking On Sunshine" - Katrina and the waves 1985
"Kokomo" - The Beach Boys 1988
"If You Don't Know Me By Know" - Simply Red 1989
I hope you enjoy these great songs and also hope that all your summer days will be "Sunny Days" (Lighthouse 1972)!
dn
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