I was thinking about past summers, especially those golden days of youth, waaaay back, when we would ride around without seatbelts, in convertibles or in the back of a pickup truck, drinking beer and heading to a lake or a cabin in the country, and certain songs would come on the radio, and we couldn’t help but sing along. That all happened, right? I’m not just mis-remembering some trite teen movie, right?
Yes, those days did happen. Some of the songs of summer I remember: Rod Stewart, “Maggie May”; Don McClean, “American Pie”, Chicago, “Saturday In The Park”; and of course Sly & The Family Stone, “Hot Fun In The Summertime.” What were some of your iconic summer songs?
Now here we are in the middle of our Covid Summer. What will be the summer song we look back on fondly (or not so fondly) that evoked this season? I’m trying to write one right now. I hope it turns out to be a happy song, or at least has happy parts to it. So far, my song has a good beat, but the positive forward-momentum vibe is tempered with loneliness and a sense of watching time and life floating by. Maybe I need to add some tambourine; that always turns a song into a hit. Seriously, I am trying to produce positive content through this strange summer, whether it’s my regular live-stream shows, my weekly newsletter (you can subscribe by filling out the contact form on this website), or new songs (I’m slowly creating listenable demos, even though it is hard to record with other musicians these days). I think building community through working on creative projects together is a priority, even though we may not know what lies ahead. But future generations will be affected by the choices we make now, so hopefully we can leave them at least some good summer songs.