Wavves frontman Nathan Williams is like a modern incarnation of the fun-loving beach bums that the Beach Boys sang about four decades ago—if those dudes had also had an affinity for Blink 182 records and weed by the sackful. Rio Maywood This tune is made for hazy summer evenings.
How could a list of the best summer songs ever and not include this surf-rock staple?
"Summer Is Over". But logically speaking, his argument follows (if heat, then no clothes), and he was smart enough to tap the Neptunes for the song's frisky production.
Real street sounds (car horns, a jackhammer) add texture to the midsong musical interlude, which lets the song catch its breath before launching back to its urgent rhythms. There’s no escaping the smooth allure of this tune’s signature line, “Diamond in the back, sunroof top/ Diggin’ the scene with a gangster lean.” Ludacris, N.W.A., Ice Cube, Parliament-Funkadelic, Massive Attack and Rihanna have all referenced the 1974 hit by the little-known Washington D.C. singer-songwriter, who may as well have been singing to New Yorkers when he said, “You may not have a car at all… Just be thankful for what you’ve got.” Come summertime, that’s plenty. So be sure to tune into this list to heighten your next summertime hang. Dawn and plenty of others. Ah, summer flings. In September of the same year, Tom's sister, singer Dusty Springfield, with whom they had been together in the pop-folk vocal trio The Springfields, released the single "Losing you". “Time to sit back and unwind,” trill the breezy singers at the chorus.
Summer Nights
This 70s hit from soft rockers Chicago not only evokes the feeling of the season but can make you feel the warmth of summer even on the Windy City’s coldest day. Your email address will not be published. Sittin’ in the Park-Billy Stewart. The world goes around without even a sound. Summer of 69 -Bryan Adams,love it when he sings it at gigs Morrissey—the scrooge of summer—we salute you for this 1986 Smiths classic, urging shy types to come on out of their shells: “If there’s something you’d like to try, ask me, I won’t say no, how could I.” It is summer, after all.
Can you dig it? Few tunes can set off a backyard barbeque like this R&B classic by California soul band Maze. What makes a great summer song? With the sublime pairing of Frankie Beverly’s buttery croon and that funky guitar groove, it's an amazing soundtrack for a sunny-afternoon soirée.
The “Summer Wind” is the coolest summer song ever. Ever since the Billboard Hot 100 was christened in 1958, each summer’s seasonal hits have stood as a snapshot in time: a nostalgic mix of memory and sunshine that transport you back to the summers of your youth. In 1958, the rockabilly icon created an anthem for anyone who’s had to toil away their best summer days, tapping into the teenage angst that was bubbling just below the surface. During the xx’s residency at the Park Avenue Armory in 2013, Smith listened to the station on his daily commute from Williamsburg to Manhattan, prompting him to try his hand at making something that could sit among the freewheeling hip-hop hits he heard. “Nineteen eighty-nine, the number, another summer …” The first syllables of Public Enemy’s most zeitgeisty hit, made at the request of Spike Lee for his groundbreaking, summer-set film Do the Right Thing, pack a ton of punch. We thought you’d never ask. In 1964, the British pop duo Chad & Jeremy offered arguably the best song about just that to date with this folk-tinged tune about breezes, sweet summer nights and soft kisses. It’s what the Stranglers made a name trading in, musically, and it’s what made this song so notorious in the U.K. in 1977, even giving the Sex Pistols’ “God Save the Queen” a run for its money.
In his autobiography, I, Me, Mine, George Harrison describes writing this ode at the close of a particularly punishing winter, while strolling through Eric Clapton’s garden. !” and a thousand crush-wounded teenagers collapsed face-first onto their beds. No one does wistful nostalgia and pure, unadulterated joy quite like Jonathan Richman, the reformed punk godfather turned wide-eyed purveyor of childlike wonder. Groovin’ When the summer day is over And the busy cares have flown, Then I sit beneath the starlight With a weary heart. But the song’s irresistible feel-good energy suggests that summer is less a season than a state of mind that can be tapped into anytime—even, in the original music video, on a cold and cloudy London day. (Fish don’t jump on Catfish Row, and the living sure as hell isn’t easy.) “My life, my life, my life, my life / In the sunshine”—summertime odes don’t come much simpler, sweeter or sexier than this 1976 slow jam by jazz vibraphonist turned soul sensation Roy Ayers. From Pharrell's tounge-clicking to Snoop’s nonchalant instructions to just drop it, park it and pop it like it’s hot (in any situation possible), you can’t help but bump to this song as soon as it starts to play.