Sunny Days, Summer Songs
My Mixtape’s A Masterpiece is a weekly feature in which a guest compiles a playlist around some theme. This week, as the season fast approaches, Alejandra Gonzalez assembles 13 songs for a sensational summer soundtrack. Read Alejandra’s thoughts on each song and listen along to the Spotify and YouTube playlists below.
Though each season has its own charm and appeal, there’s no arguing that there’s something sublime about summer. Reconnecting with the sensation of warm sun on your skin, breezy evenings, and long hazy days are often longed for during the rest of the year, especially during the frigid winter. My favorite thing, though, is the many songs and artists that the season has influenced – songs that I can’t imagine living a summer without.
Here’s what I find to be required listening on ANY sunny summer day:
1. “Here Comes The Sun” by The Beatles
Maybe a little on the nose, but there’s almost no better song to listen to once the weather finally starts to warm up as the sunny season approaches. The promise of brightness after a “long, cold, lonely winter” is something so many can use, and is an energy that this song captures perfectly.
2. “Walking On Sunshine” by Katrina And The Waves
Once you can divorce this song from its usage in AMERICAN PSYCHO, it MIGHT be the ultimate feel-good song. I personally associate the summer with exhilaration and excitement, which is what this song is all about. It is truly a rush of serotonin right to the brain.
3. “Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys
Honestly, anything by The Beach Boys would be appropriate for this list. However, the image this particular one conjures of a sweet, beautiful summertime flirtation is one I love revisiting it, which is why the hit is in constant rotation.
4. “Rock Lobster” by The B-52’s
This song feels like an absolute groovy fever dream. Though The Beach Boys are technically part of the genre, this is the only song on the playlist that I truly consider ‘surf rock.’ Actually, I sometimes associate surf rock with the spooky season, and this particular tune reminds me of The Ghastly Ones, a band that hybridizes two of my favorite things—Halloween and summer. “Rock Lobster” conjures some spooky imagery itself—I mean, how else would you describe a dog-fish?
5. “Down Under” by Men at Work
I didn’t know this song was about Australia until my late teens, which is why it always made its way onto my family playlists on our summer vacations to the Caribbean before then. Though I was way off geographically, I now associate the song with some incredible memories spent with family, and no summer feels complete without it.
6. “Summer Breeze” by Type O Negative
One of the greatest things about Type O Negative is that no matter what they covered, they always made it sound incredible in their own dark and gothic style. “Summer Breeze” is a perfect example and is arguably in the same league as the soft rock original. After all, goth kids need a summer anthem, too.
7. “Island in the Sun” by Weezer
Being a girl of the ‘90s and early ‘00s, my first encounter with this song was hearing it featured in the critically acclaimed film HOLIDAY IN THE SUN starring Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen. To a little girl, that movie was what I wanted my summers to be, and the song was to forever be associated with the summer school vacations of my youth. I can’t even begin to describe the bittersweet nostalgia that comes with those first “hip-hip.”
8. “Kokomo” by The Beach Boys
Is there a better way to establish yourself as THE tropical song of the century than by listing most major tropical destinations in your lyrics? Probably not, but what makes this song so special to me is, again, its ties to my childhood. As a dedicated Full House fan, one of my favorite episodes was when the gang joined The Beach Boys to perform this song, introducing me to one of my favorite summer bands of all time.
9. “Saturday In The Park” by Chicago
Though the first thing I personally think of when pondering the summer is beaches and piña coladas, a major element of the season has more to do with picnics and hot dogs. “Saturday In The Park” is an ode to celebrating the season in a more everyday fashion. It might just be the mention of the 4th of July, but something about this song feels very Americana in the best way.
10. “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes
Speaking of piña coladas—this song makes me want several. Though I knew it for years before being featured in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, it can’t be helped that every track in the film is now and forever (positively) associated with it. Having gone to see the movie and replayed its soundtrack several times in the summer of 2014, I’ve been able to create very special memories to songs like this.
11. “Summer In The City” by The Lovin’ Spoonful
Anyone who has spent a day in New York during the hottest season of the year knows it can become sweltering in the city.
This song feels HOT.
The song alludes to some of the more unpleasant elements of the summer: dirt sticking to your neck on a hot day, no shadows to protect you from the beaming sun.
But the song still brings that celebratory element reminding us that there’s nothing quite like a summer night after the heat of day.
12. “Burnin’ For You” by Blue Öyster Cult
This song also “feels” hot, but it’s on my playlist because it never fails to be at the top of every summer road trip mixtape I’ve ever made. There is something about this song that demands to be heard at full intensity with the windows down en route to the next scorching city on your list.
13. “Summer Breeze” by Seals & Crofts
One of my favorite summer movies of all time is Richard Linklater’s DAZED AND CONFUSED. It seizes the indescribable feeling we’ve all experienced on the last day of school right before summer break and packs it into 95 minutes of pure perfection. Equally perfect is the film’s soundtrack, which features Seals & Crofts’ “Summer Breeze.” Though I’m fully aware that I already featured Type O’s cover of the song, I felt there was no better way to close out the playlist. This song plays during one of my favorite scenes: Mitch & Julie laying on a blanket overlooking a field, kissing, the song playing over them from the parked car that’s not too far off. It’s a simple scene, but I believe the pleasures of summer are just that—and “Summer Breeze” is a perfect reminder.
