Here Comes Summer

It's the first Sunday of summer, by some reckonings anyway. I'm also on holiday or at least not working and it's quite possibly the finest day of the year, weather-wise. No surprise, like Wilhelm, I'm really not feeling it for sitting indoors writing a blog post.

Still, these things have to be done. No-one said blogging would be easy. Or fun. 

When it comes to knocking out quick posts I have a couple of go-tos. There's the ever-popular screenshot post, in which I grub through the files hoping to pull half a dozen shots I can pretend have something in common. Cobble together some kind of narrative, knock out a few, short linking paragraphs and boom! Done.

Or there's the good old thematic mix tape post. I love doing those even if no-one wants to read them. Or listen to them. Or watch the videos. They're even easier to throw together than screenshot posts, too. For a picture post I actually have to go through my files manually, so to speak. 

They none of them have meaningful file names, just whatever gibberish the games assigned them, so if I want, let's say, pictures of summer scenes, I have to go look for them. It might take me an hour to find half a dozen good ones.

If I want to put a music post together featuring songs about Summer, though, all I have to do is type "summer" into the search field in my Music Archive folder and voila! 

Guess what I just did?

Guess how many results I got?

Actually, fewer than I expected. Summer's such a common word for song titles, I thought there'd be more but there were only a couple of dozen. 

But that's fine! It's far more than I need. 

Except I've used some of them before. 

But that's fine! It just makes choosing which to use now that much easier.

I mean, they must all be good or I wouldn't have kept them, now would I?

Feels Like Summer - Childish Gambino

That's gotta be the opener. Where else would you start? And it's true. It does feel like summer! Probably because it is.

It was a long time before I realised Childish Gambino was the actor Donald Glover. Or is it the other way around? I have no idea which came first. I could go look it up but do I really care? 

Nope.

Can't Wait For Summer - Working

Luckily we don't have to because it's here! There are a lot of songs called "Can't Wait For Summer" or some variation on the theme. I'm placing a bet this is the most obscure of all. It's been on on YouTube for nearly ten years and it has fifty-five views. 

The song came out in 2014 but it sounds - to the note - as though it was recorded in 1986. If anyone ever wants to start up a Shop Assistants tribute band they could do worse than get in touch with these guys.

Summer Love - Sherbet

Speaking of tribute acts... 

One of the things that fascinated me, when I first began to dig back into the archives that internet access opened up for me, was the way countries around the world kicked up their own versions of bands and scenes and movements. Heavy, glam, new wave, disco, you name it, someone in France or Brazil or Japan was doing it too.

Australia, though, was in a league of its own when it came to cloning popular culture. In the sixties and seventies, right into the eighties, it was just too far away for most bands to visit, let alone tour, and even vinyl didn't always make it down under. The local market was wide open for homegrown versions of whoever or whatever was hot in the UK or the USA.

Without YouTube, I'd never have heard of Sherbet, far less heard them - or seen them. And neither, I'll wager, would you. 

I'll just leave that thought hanging...

Summer Job - Art Brut

Skip the long-ass introduction from the verbose guy from KEXP. The song, when it arrives, slaps. No-one says that any more do they? Well, I bet they did when this was new, back in 2010. 

Art Brut are still going. They seem quite prophetic now.

Summertime Sadness 

 Lana del Rey vs Cedric Gervais

Giving a downbeat, depressive epic about suicidal ideation an Ibiza rave remix ought to have been a disaster. 176 million views on YouTube suggest not.

I probably ought to hate it but if I have a complaint it's that it doesn't last nearly long enough.

Lana does like summer. Could have had Summer Bummer or Summertime or Summer Wine or even Summer of Sam, if Summer of Sam was on YouTube, which it is not. I could upload it but I don't want the hassle.

Summer Dress - July Talk

What's he saying in the chorus? It sounds like "She'll buy me a little blow". Surely that can't be right?

Summer Come Back - The Budgies

It has to be said, there a lot of tweepop songs about Summer. This might be the twee-est.

About You (Must Be Summer Soon) 

Bad Little Kittens

Then again, the competition is fierce.

I think we might need something a little more substantial to finish with. How about something by the All Girl Summer Fun Band? No, they're quite twee, too. Umm... Summer Camp? Nope. Fuzzed-up dream pop is just twee's cooler cousin. Still doesn't go hard enough.

I know!

Pizza or Mac - Summer Whales

Okay, you got me. That's just Japanese twee. I don't think I have anything left that isn't some stripe of C86-inspired shambling. 

And as you may have noticed, I've run out of songs about summer. I'm down to bands with the word summer in their name now. 

I guess we're done.

Time to go outside and get some sunshine.