Musical Memories, Feels Like Summer!

I had a great summer day yesterday.  It was hot, very hot!  I waded in the cool waters, hung out on the deck, drank some cold drinks and listened to the laughter of my kids playing.  So in honour of my favourite season here are some songs that always make me think of summer memories.  This is a feature I would like to post here from time to time called Musical Memories.    

The following songs have some meaning in my own life and rouse up different memories and emotions.  They also take me back to hot summer nights and cool summer evenings no matter what time of year it is.

Summertime, Bon Jovi

This is the newest song on my list and comes from Bon Jovi’s Lost Highway album.  This was for the most part a very mellow effort but this is one of a few upbeat tracks on it.  I threw it on a playlist a couple of years ago for our annual Canada Day BBQ which includes many family and friends from near and far.  I was standing in front of the bbq, a spatula in one hand, an ice cold beer in the other, meat sizzling in front of me, surrounded by family and friends and in the background I heard Jon Bon Jovi proclaim “Feels something like summertime!”.  It certainly did!  Every time I hear this one I think of that near perfect moment.

Patio Lanterns, Kim Mitchell

Kim Mitchell had a lot of success in Canada in the eighties with a string of hits and albums.  From 1986 and from the album Shaking Like a Human Being comes this number from my high school days. It reminds me of a more innocent time, staying out late during summer holidays and crushes and summer loves.  That’s pretty much what the song is about and it just so happens I remember hearing it a lot during that exact phase of my life.

Summer Nights, Van Halen

If I had to pick one Van Halen era over another I choose the Davis Lee Roth albums.  Overall I like more songs with Dave on the vocals than Sammy.  But if I made a list of my favourite Van Halen albums, 5150, Sammy’s first album with the band, would be near the top.  I loved this album and played it a lot and this was one of my favourite tracks on it.  I am sure this album got heavy rotation from us over a few summers.  The song Summer Nights comes across like a summer anthem.  Hearing the song always takes me back to a simpler time.  Picture a crowd of care free teens hanging around a parking lot with a few cars pulled together, kicking around a hacky sack and this song blaring through one of the car stereos.  “Summer nights and my radio, that’s all we need baby, don’t ya know….”

Magic, The Cars

It was the summer of 1984 and The Cars were experiencing great success with the album Heartbeat City.  The opening lyrics of this song put you right in summer mode “Summer, it turns me upside down, summer summer summer, it’s like a miracle-go round.” I don’t think summer is actually referenced anymore in the song, but like quite a few songs by The Cars it has a fun summer feel to it.  The music video, also getting heavy rotation at the time, was set on a sunny day at pool side.  Lead singer Ric Ocesak spent the video walking on the water in the pool and in the end everyone else tried to join him but instead fell in and were cooled off.  I remember being in my parents’ house, flaked out on the cool basement floor staring at an old floor model T.V. seeing this video over and over again.  It seemed like anytime I came inside to escape the sun and turned on the TV and went straight for a music video program this one was always airing and I always enjoyed it.  When I hear that song now I can almost feel the cool damp floor on my back.

Here's to summer folks!!  Hope you are enjoying it!