Summer has officially arrived! The summer solstice was June 21, the longest day of the year, the calendar beginning of summer. With summer comes summer music - I wrote about some of my favorites for MSNBC.com:
- Summer's here and the time is right - for music
From 'Margaritaville' to 'Kokomo', a list of cool songs for season
Summer's here and the time is right for taking a big fat break, and boy do we deserve it. When the weather finally warms and the pace finally slows, nothing goes better with heat, water, a cold glass, exposed skin, and some time to call your own than summer music, a special category of very personal tunes each of us holds near to our heart for the season when the sun is the only clock we really need and nothing is more important than pleasure.
These are some of my favorites:
"Margaritaville," Jimmy Buffett (1977)
"Margaritaville" represents Buffett at his most appealing and insightful. The song's story takes place in Mexico - where summer never ends - often a refuge for Americans seeking escape from responsibility. Where would you rather be? Basking in the perpetual summer of a snow white playa sipping margaritas and chuckling at the tourists, or huddled around a short-circuiting space heater in Buffalo?
The song's Caribbean/mariachi/country melody is cheerful yet reflective, its lilt tempered with an aftertaste of regret. Its power lies in Buffett's acknowledgment that the life of dissipation must be the shadow against which real life shines, not the screen that real life is shown upon. Clearly, the character's lifestyle here doesn't coincide with his values. Rather than living a life of ease, he is living a life of intense internal conflict - a life he can only perpetuate with liberal applications of alcohol. Buffett doesn't even want to face up to the fact that he is drinking alcohol, which he disguises with mixes and elaborate rituals - rituals that are wearing thin....
...."Surfin' Safari" (1962), "Kokomo," (1988) The Beach Boys
The New World was sold as an earthly paradise from the outset, a land of vast natural resources and uncountable acres of bountiful land free for the homesteading. Prior to that, America was the presumed home of Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth (instead of Eternal Youth, Ponce de Leon found Florida, future home of the Eternal Old, but that's another story).
Article comments
1 - Dawn Olsen
I am not sure I will ever be able to forgive you for omitting The Rascals "Groovin" - not only is it egregious, but it is heinous.
Shame is your name!
2 - Eric Olsen
yes: Eric Shame Olsen
3 - Tim Hall
Someone hasn't told the weather here in England. We've got gales and rain and temperatures more appropriate for March than June.
The weather forecast for the Glastonbury Festival next weekend is heavy rain for most of Saturday.
4 - Eric Olsen
the tents will be popular!
5 - Douglas Mays
I vote for "Girl From Ipanema". Why? Well, you might remember the MAD magazine tune sung to that melody: "short and fat and bald and ugly, the guy from Jersey City is loaded..." as the song goes on to tell the story of landing a trophy wife.
Then, one song I always enjoyed during punk rock days was a song by a Canadian band called the K-Tels. The song went: "Go to fucking Hawaii, lay around in the sun... Go to fucking Hawaii, get a tan on my bun...". Felch would probably remember that tune.
peaceloveguidance
6 - Eric Olsen
I DO remember that Douglas - love those MAD song parodies.
Besides, "Girl" just oozes summer.
7 - Douglas Mays
Actually, aside from MAD parody, "Girl" is a great song, I give it a 'yes' vote. Give a thumbs up to "Under the Boardwalk" and "Summertime Blues" also.
plg