Although technically and by calendar we’re less than two weeks into summer, this, right now, is really the apex of summer.
You agree with me, don’t you? I mean we haven’t been bludgeoned by a series of really hot days; we’ve got two more relatively relaxed months sprawled out in front of us; and, most important, everybody loves the Fourth of July.
So it’s fitting, I think, that we raise a toast to the joy of summer. And what better way than to dig deep into the record bin and pull out some of the great Oldies that connect us to summers long past?
So, here we go, with five summertime classics.
Summertime Blues by Eddie Cochran
Wikipedia describes this inimitable song as being “about the struggle between a teenager and his parents, his boss and his congressman.” It’s a bravura performance by Cochran, who sang both the vocal and bass vocal (“no dice, son, you gotta work-a-late”) and played all the guitar parts. His girlfriend, Sharon Sheeley, was one of the hand clappers.
It was released in August 1958 and peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 1958. The song is ranked No. 73 in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In my personal rankings, it’s in the Top 10.
The song was released when Cochran was 19 years old. He died two years later when a speeding taxi driver crashed his cab in England and Cochran was ejected from the car. Also in the car were Sheeley and singer Gene Vincent, who both survived.
Eddie has a little slice of immortality through this song, though, and here it is…
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Theme from A Summer Place by Percy Faith & His Orchestra
The song was written for the 1959 film A Summer Place, starring Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue. It was recorded for the film as an instrumental by Hugo Winterhalter, a famous orchestra leader in his own right, but it was Percy Faith’s version that went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960 and stayed there for nine weeks.
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School Is Out by Gary U.S. Bonds
Like Bonds’ song Quarter to Three, this song has a get-up-and-go, garage-band feel. It went to No. 5 in 1961. (Quarter to Three hit No. 1 a year earlier.)
The song has some tremendous lyrics, including these in the first verse…
I can root for the Yankees from the bleachers
And don’t have to worry ’bout teachers
and the chorus…
(School is out) Everybody’s gonna have some fun
(School is out) Everybody’s gonna jump and run
(School is out) Come on people don’t you be late
(School is out)
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Summer in the City by The Lovin’ Spoonful
Upbeat and driving, this song captures both the oppressive part of summer…
Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn’t it a pity
Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city
All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head
And the alluring part…
But at night it’s a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it’ll be alright
The song features car horns and jackhammer noises during the instrumental bridge, reflecting the sounds of a chaotic, urban street. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks in August 1966.
This YouTube version has been viewed more than five million times.
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See You in September by The Tempos — and also by The Happenings
This is a seminal song of the tenuousness of teenage romance…The boy and girl are madly in love when they part at the train (or bus) station at the end of the school year, but will the mutual ardor survive the three achingly long months of summer? There’s a good chance it won’t because — oh, yeah — “there is danger in the summer moon above.”
The song was first recorded by the Pittsburgh group The Tempos and peaked at No. 23 in the summer of 1959. The most successful version was recorded by The Happenings, out of Paterson, NJ. It hit No. 3 in 1966.
…I’ve always preferred The Happenings’ version, mainly because it gets more airplay on the Sirius-XM than The Tempos’ version, but I found today there’s a raging YouTube debate on the issue.
The Tempos’ arrangement has a nice calypso beat, is slower and thus more accurately reflects the possibility that the boy will lose the girl “to a summer love.” (I wonder, though…couldn’t he just as easily find a summer love and dump her?) The Happenings’ arrangement is catchier, and I like the background singing a lot better.
Both versions are outstanding, though, and have us looking down on the train-station scene, wondering — like the anxious singer — what the summer has in store.
Here’s the version by The Happenings.
And here’s the one by The Tempos.
Happy Fourth, everyone, and enjoy summer at its peak!
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
A better song with the same theme as “See You in September” is Brian Hyland’s “Sealed With a Kiss”.
I considered using “Sealed with a Kiss” but opted for “See You…” partly because the story behind it — with the competing versions — was more appealing to me. Also, “Sealed with a Kiss” is too syrupy.
There’s a reason why The Happenings’ version gets more airtime. Don’t think I’ve ever even heard The Tempos’ version. I only have two things to say about it: morose and drippy.
I just listened to several other versions of the song, and the best, in my opinion, is that of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. I’m not sure what year that group did it, but it’s very close in arrangement to The Happenings’ version — which says something in itself.
Others who covered it — all poorly — were Mike Clifford (1964), The Chiffons (1963), Bobby Rydell (1963) and Gerry and the Pacemakers (don’t know the year).
It’s an irresistible song, and I think you’re on target: The Happenings got the most out of it.
Had no idea there were so many covers. Love Frankie and The Four, so am sure they do a bang-up job.
Thanks for the links. Never seen Percy Faith’s orchestra do “Summer Place.”
The French horns are superb. YouTube followed with an even better Mancini brass ensemble doing the ‘Peter Gunn’ theme. After that was Danish national symphony performing ‘Good, Bad and Ugly.’ Hard to stop.
I’ve done the same thing, Tim. Those YouTubers know how to string you along.
Going a little further back, Jim, there’s “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess. A Negro lady who has one heck of a voice sang that song at the Celebration at the Station event this past May, and going even further back, there’s “In the Good Ol’ Summertime.” Either way, it makes me want to pour myself a big ol’ glass of lemonade and look for the nearest hammock.
Her name is Capathia Jenkins and she was there last year, too, and maybe previous years but I don’t remember.
Well done.