The Top 100 All-Time Summer Songs

[N2NH]

According to Entertainment Weekly that is. It's an old list, but still pretty much on the mark.

1- Summer in the City / Lovin' Spoonful
2- California Girls / The Beach Boys
3- Schools Out / Alice Cooper
4- Heat Wave / Martha and the Vandellas
5- Under the Boardwalk / The Drifters
6- Light My Fire / The Doors
7- Dancing in the Streets / Martha and the Vandellas
8- Borderline / Madonna
9- Hot Fun in the Summertime / Sly and the Family Stone
10- Satisfaction / The Stones (The Rolling Stones)
11- Summertime Blues / Eddie Cochran
12- Rock the Boat / The Hues Corporation
13- I Get Around / The Beach Boys
14- The Message / Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five
15- Mungo Jerry / In the Summertime

Moar Hear. (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,293609,00.html)

[N2NH]

The Summersounds of the Beach Boys are now a half-century old.


It was 50 years ago this summer that a couple of guys named Mike and Brian were sitting in a California garage, noodling with a song. As Mike recalls, the song "didn't take that long. Just a few minutes." When you read the lyrics you believe him:Surfin' is the only life

The only way for me.
Now surf, surf with me
Bom Bom Dit Di Dit Dip
Bom Bom Dit Di Dit Dip...

Mike and Brian, along with two of Brian's brothers and a family friend, took the song to a local record company, which had wanted them to do a folk tune a la the Kingston Trio.

Instead, they came up with "Surfin'."

And the Beach Boys were born.

I don't know which stuns me more: that the Beach Boys have been around 50 years, or that I know their first hit. But there is something undeniable about their body of music, something that says there is music, and there is iconic music. Why do songs like "California Girls," "Wouldn't It Be Nice" or "Fun Fun Fun" still sound fresh, still make people smile, still throw a beam of sunshine over the coldest day?
It must be more than the chords, right?

More than surfers

"It is pretty remarkable," Mike Love admitted to me last week, "that people still love the songs we created lo these many years ago."
Love and the Beach Boys, in their current incarnation, were coming to suburban Detroit for an annual concert tradition. Of course, most of the original members weren't there -- including the semi-reclusive Brian Wilson or his now-deceased brothers, Dennis and Carl. But at this point, even the Beach Boys name is an institution, and people come out to sing along with songs that hearken to a more innocent time -- and an endless summer.

"Dennis, myself and Al (Jardine) were all surfers when we got started," Love said. "In high school, if we heard on the radio that the surf was up, we might miss a few afternoon classes."

Ironically, once they came up with "Surfin'," the band pretty much retired their boards. They've been touring every summer since 1962. As songs like "Surfin Safari" and "Surfin USA" became increasingly bigger hits, the men singing them were increasingly landlocked...

The Beach Boys Turn Fifty. (http://www.freep.com/article/20110731/COL01/107310438/Mitch-Albom-Beach-Boys-prove-summer-forever?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Sports|p)

[KG4CGC]

I didn't see Low Rider on the list or Afternoon Delight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A0U7jakUY8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6eE3ydPdDc

[KG4CGC]

Oh, and just to upset the milktoast cart:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGKrc3A6HHM

[kb2vxa]

50 years ago I thought Surf City here we come meant a town on Long Beach Island (NJ). Well why wouldn't it be with the Ron Jon Surf Shop right off the causeway? Eh, maybe it was someplace in California after all... heartbroken I Follow The Sun.

[KG4CGC]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p8wDhK5LyY

There ya go.

[KG4CGC]

And who could forget this little Summer ditty?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2aeRg_yMSE

[N2NH]

Reminds me of driving in the city at 3:00 AM on a hot murky summer night. Deserted streets, plumes of steam rising from the manholes, going uptown like a bat out of hell on 3rd Ave.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Ik81plN_Q

Love the opening on this one... watching the ships come into the harbor at dusk. They look like they're floating as sea and sky merge.

T (http://kiwi6.com/file/6k50p74l1p)ropea - Short Trip to Space. (http://k002.kiwi6.com/hotlink/6k50p74l1p/05_short_trip_to_space.mp3)

[N8YX]

Y&T - "Summertime Girls". Don't know if it' s on the list or not.

[W1GUH]

Reminds me of driving in the city at 3:00 AM on a hot murky summer night. Deserted streets, plumes of steam rising from the manholes, going uptown like a bat out of hell on 3rd Ave.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Ik81plN_Q

Love the opening on this one... watching the ships come into the harbor at dusk. They look like they're floating as sea and sky merge.

T (http://kiwi6.com/file/6k50p74l1p)ropea - Short Trip to Space. (http://k002.kiwi6.com/hotlink/6k50p74l1p/05_short_trip_to_space.mp3)

Back in my "gonna live forever" days, we'd easily hit 70 on a deserted avenue.

[kc7jty]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeWC59FJqGc

[KG4CGC]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iziC8vYtN0

[N2NH]

Back in my "gonna live forever" days, we'd easily hit 70 on a deserted avenue.

My friends were cops and had an old VW there were restoring. With a Porsche engine. Even with 6 crammed into it, we'd fly up 3rd. It couldn't beat a 'vette, but it was great at keeping up with one.