Playlist: Our Eclectic Songs About… Summer/Sun/Beach (2.0)… Sorry, Beach Boys Need Not Apply

In the States, the unofficial start of summer is always Memorial Day Weekend. That’s when all the pools open and suddenly BBQ’s are dusted off and fired up. If you’re of the more meteorological bent then the first day of summer is June 21st…at least most years, it can vary by a day. June 21st also happens to be the Summer Solstice, which is the day with the most hours of sunlight. I think it’s known as Midummer for all you Pagans out there celebrating naked, dancing in a field at some festival…nothing wrong with that. Whenever your local customs allow you to celebrate the start of your summer, I think we can all agree that when we hit July, we’re at the peak of summer. After July, you look up and suddenly you’re at the mall buying back-to-school clothes…wondering what that pretty girl from Spanish class did all break? Summer unofficially ends on Labor Day Weekend, when they close down all the pools, but that may just be because all the lifeguards are back in school.

We here in America just got done celebrating the 4th of July, our Independence Day. I’ve posted a couple of times about the 4th of July. One was a story of my father-in-law’s shenanigan’s that almost saw me killed. And naturally I posted our very Patriotic 4th of July playlist several years ago. This year the fireworks started in mid-June and will likely persist for another couple of weeks. I looked out toward the east from my roof Tuesday night and it looked like a battle was raging. “Rockets red glare,” indeed. I hate how much that night scares the shit out of the dogs and cats out there. Anyway I approach it, there’s just something about 4th of July that signals to me that summer is on the “back nine” so to speak. It always seems to motivate me enjoy as much of the sunny, blues skies as I can before we’re taken over by the autumnal hues.

Of course, now that I’m a member of the workforce, I guess it shouldn’t matter when summer starts or ends. These days, I’m lucky if I get to steal away for a whole week and sit on a beach or hike through some mountains somewhere. It sure wasn’t like that when I was a kid. There was nothing better than Summer Break. I can remember walking out of my grade school on that last day, out of the gloom and into the light, feeling like I was Joliet Jake in The Blues Brothers, being released from prison. “Goodbye and good riddance Mrs. Peters,” or whoever happened to be that year’s prison guard turned school teacher who’d tortured me all year with extra handwriting exercises… although admittedly my handwriting is still so bad I could have been a doctor. Summer in those elementary days was three months of endless possibilities… and yet I never really accomplished anything. No school, sleeping relatively late, hitting the pool with friends or playing baseball over in the school yard were the only things we concerned ourselves with… I took swimming lessons at a private residence from a college girl whose top occasionally came off which was like “discovering plutonium.”

Even in the latter years of school – junior high and high school – when I had to get a job, summer was still better than school. Working meant money, which we immediately spent on beer and vinyl. Days off spent drinking beer at some apartment complex pool and getting – yes – a deep golden tan. I mean, call me crazy, but the world just looks better with a tan. It was like that Springsteen song, “Now there’s girls melting on the beach and they’re so fine but so far out of reach…” Well, there were no beaches around but you get the picture. It was yet another plethora of endless possibilities… although I never accomplished anything there either…beyond wondering what the pretty girl from Spanish class was up to. I wasn’t like the Stones, there was no “Summer Romance” in the cards for me.

Now, I work all summer. There’s no three month break. Having all summer off in school really ruins summer for you as a functioning, responsible adult. Now I have to reserve my sun time for those brief days I snatch down on some beach vacation. I do love the beach, except for the sand. I envy all you coastal types who can slip down to “the Jersey Shore” and dip your feet in the ocean. Of course there are a record number of sharks this year… All I have left to remind me of those halcyon days of yore, those “summer nights and my radio,” are the great rock n roll songs about summer, or sun, or even better for me now, the beach.

When I was a kid at the pool, they always had the radio on blasting the local rock n roll station on a very tinny speaker. I can’t hear Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” without going into a pool-memory trance. It seems it was always on. Nowadays if I go to a beach or hit the pool at a resort they’re always playing Bob Marley or reggae – which there’s nothing wrong with that, I love reggae and all the rock bands who have dabbled in it – or gads Jimmy Buffet (I’ve just never been a fan) or worse yet, the Beach Boys. I despise the Beach Boys. It’s like that Bad Company song “Rhythm Machine,” with the lyric “The Beach Boys didn’t get me but Fats Domino did…” Indeed. I don’t want any of that stuff, I want rock n roll songs. Something with a little guitar. So I’ve put together a list of my favorite tracks about summer/sun/beach. I’m surprised at how many deep tracks are on this list but it’s always been my goal to a) turn you onto something you haven’t heard or b) put an old song back in your ear for the first time in a long time. And believe me, there are a lot of great rock acts with summer songs!

Now I realize, that once before I did my Eclectic Summer/Sun playlist years ago, in the early days of B&V. Hence the “2.0” in the title of this one. I try to never repeat myself but this playlist really is new and improved… and a lot longer. The early list was about 30 songs. I cut a few songs and then doubled the length of the list. The original playlist was taken straight from my iPOD which over the years kept growing so I felt it was time for an update. Besides, what else have I got to do? As a guy named Matt from New York said to me once, in Boston, “Kansas, it’s summer, you drink beer with your friends.” So crack that cold beer and turn these tracks up on the headphones. As usual we’re all over the place stylistically and tempo-wise. Sitting in the sun requires a few laid back tunes, if you’re relaxing properly. Play ’em straight through, shuffle ’em, skip a song if you don’t like it… it’s all for your enjoyment.

1. The Doors, “Waiting For The Sun” – For reasons unclear, this song reminds me of being up all night, sitting on the curb outside a bar, the Aggie Lounge, that opened at 6am, planning on a “red beer” (beer and tomato juice, a hangover cure) and a pickled egg.
2. Steely Dan, “Blues Beach” – “Drinking at the Manatee Bar,” yes please. Can I pick the music?
3. Beck, “Girl” – “And I know I’m gonna steal her eye…”
4. Bob Dylan, “Summer Days” – “I’m standing on the table, I’m proposing a toast to the King.”
5. Cheap Trick, “Summer Looks Good On You” – From a great, recent album, In Another World.
6. Oasis, “Turn Up The Sun” – A Rock Chick favorite.
7. The Cult, “Sun King” – “Won’t you share my throne?”
8. Faces, “Behind The Sun (Outtake)” – Great song by one of the all time great bands, the Faces.
9. Bob Seger, “Sunspot Baby” – Where our hero tells a tale of traveling from sunny place to sunny place in search of his woman who absconded with his Amex. Which is how I ended up in Jamaica once.
10. John Mellencamp, “Summer of Love” – “It’s the summer of love…least ways I’m hoping.” Aren’t we all?
11. The Cars, “Magic” – “Summer, summer, summer, it turns me upside down.”
12. Dirty Heads, “Cabin By The Sea” – A stoner couple decamps to the shore.
13. The Rolling Stones, “Summer Romance” – Our protagonist’s summer girl is back in school (ahem), and he’s back in the pub, “probably playing pool and drinking.” Mick has lived.
14. Bruce Springsteen, “Girls In Their Summer Clothes” – There’s literally nothing better than the female summer wardrobe.
15. The Beatles, “Here Comes The Sun” – A quiet moment in the mayhem.
16. Eddie Vedder, “Hard Sun” – Eddie with a plea to use sunscreen.
17. Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Behind The Sun” – Great, early, Hillel Chilis.
18. David Lee Roth, “Goin’ Crazy” – “…from the heat.”
19. The Beatles, “Good Day Sunshine” – I wish this song was the sound my alarm clock made on summer mornings.
20. Van Halen, “Ice Cream Man” – “I’m usually passing by around 11 o’clock…I never stop…”
21. The Firemen, “Sun Is Shining” – Brilliant McCartney side project.
22. Ray Charles, “You Are My Sunshine” – Brother Ray!
23. U2, “Summer Rain” – I used to love to run in the summer rain.
24. 311, “Golden Sunlight” – Groovy summer track from a band I’ll see live again in October.
25. Van Halen, “Summer Nights” – I close my eyes and I’m almost in this song.
26. The Kinks, “Sunny Afternoon” – Thankfully, I’ve never been “accused of drunkenness and cruelty.” Well, not in summer.
27. Jimi Hendrix, “Long Hot Summer Night” – Nothing sweeter than a long, hot summer night.
28. Cream, “Sunshine Of Your Love” – Epic riff for an epic time of year.
29. The Ramones, “Rockaway Beach” – One of my favorite punk tunes.
30. Audioslave, “Jewel of the Summertime” – I needed a little harder rock for the deep end of the pool.
31. Bruce Springsteen, “Seaside Bar Song” – Again, I just envy you coastal types who can drive down to the shore and see a band, drink a beer and dance.
32. Aerosmith, “Sunshine” – Late period deep track that ain’t half bad.
33. Van Halen, “Beautiful Girls” – Oh give me, “a drink in my hand and my toes in the sand” any day!
34. The Who, “Summertime Blues” – This is more akin to how I feel now, sitting inside watching all the fun.
35. Same Cooke, “Summertime” – Legendary song, legendary singer.
36. Pretenders, “Let The Sun Come In” – A brand new track that is my summer jam this year.
37. Bruce Springsteen, “Waiting On A Sunny Day” – Brilliant track. Hopefully your sunny day isn’t far away.
38. Allman Brothers Band, “Blue Sky” – Nothin’ better than blues skies and a sunny day.
39. U2, “Staring At The Sun” – I would not advise this.
40. 311, “Sunset In July” – Perfect for this time of year.
41. Sheryl Crow, “Soak Up the Sun” – I hesitated on including this one, but we need a few more female voices around here.
42. The Beatles, “I’ll Follow The Sun” – Our singer knows it’s time to move on down the road, away from someone… might as well follow the sun. We’ve all been in that jam.
43. Bob Dylan, “In The Summertime” – Sweet summer track. Also covered by Chrissie Hynde.
44. Don Henley, “Boys Of Summer” – This track stirs up some ghosts for me but boy is it great. Co-written by Mike Campbell.
45. The Alarm, “Rain In The Summertime” – I saw these guys play in a small club in their heyday.
46. INXS, “Melting In The Sun” – Great, INXS deep cut.
47. Prince, “Play In The Sunshine” – From the epic double-album Sign O’ The Times.
48. Billy Thorpe, “Children Of The Sun” – Weird, but great track from high school.
49. The Cult, “Tiger In The Sun” – There is so much great Cult music from their latter career.
50. Greta Van Fleet, “Mountain Of The Sun” – They’ve got a new song out and a new album on the way.
51. Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie, “Red Sun” – Sad to have lost Christine.
52. Lou Reed, “Fly Into The Sun” – Lou sounds so cheerful here. Maybe even Lou liked summer.
53. Paul McCartney, “Back In The Sunshine Again” – Great McCartney deep track.
54. Peter Frampton, “I Wanna Go To The Sun” – I love early Frampton and that guitar tone.
55. The Police, “Invisible Sun” – Been listening to a lot of Police lately…
56. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, “The Dark Of The Sun” – Great Petty deep track.
57. Joe Walsh, “Indian Summer” – I was always told, “Indian Summer” was the nice weather after the first freeze but I’m not so sure about that anymore.
58. The Lovin’ Spoonful, “Summer In The City” – Gets hot in the city…
59. Randy Newman, “On The Beach” – The chronicle of a man who just decided to stay on the beach. It takes all kinds.
60. Frank Sinatra, “Summer Wind” – Ah memories of a summer fling.
61. REO Speedwagon, “Only A Summer Love (Live)” – These guys music hasn’t aged well, but I’m fond of the live LP You Get What You Play For.
62. Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Black Summer” – The first single from Frusciante’s latest return.
63. Patti Smith, “Redondo Beach” – Patti Smith grooving at the beach… who’d have thought?
64. Soundgarden, “Black Hole Sun” – Heavy…
65. INXS, “Red Red Sun” – INXS was so great…
66. Paul Simon, “Was A Sunny Day” – Love everything here save the faux Jamaican accent.
67. The Velvet Underground, “Who Loves The Sun” – More proof that even Lou Reed loves the sunshine.
68. Stevie Wonder, “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” – Is there anybody smoother than Stevie Wonder?
69. LEN, “Steal My Sunshine” – Dedicate one to the Rock Chick… She turned me onto this catchy number.
70. Sly And The Family Stone, “Hot Fun In The Summertime” – A true summer time classic.
71. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, “Heartbreakers Beach Party” – A fitting end here…

There you have it! If you have a song that would fit on our playlist, by all means drop it in the comments and I’ll add it! I hope you’re all having a great summer and really hope you’re smarter than me and use your sunscreen out there.

Pour some rum and coke into a tumbler over ice…maybe add a squeeze of lime… and play this loud.

Cheers!