Songs of summer
COSHOCTON – I may be a child of the 1980s, but long before I had my own tape player I was introduced to my mom’s record collection. The Monkees were my favorite. I spent many summer days being a “Daydream Believer” and learning lyrics to my second favorite group The Beach Boys. I often pretended our back porch was a beach. I was just one of the “California Girls” and “Barbara Ann” was my friend.
When I finally got my own tape player those sounds of the 1960s were the only songs I knew so of course they became the start of my tape collection. Eventually I worked my way up to New Kids On The Block tapes and later Boyz II Men, but nothing reminds me of summer like the oldies. Here’s a look at some of the songs that bring back memories for our readers from a variety of age groups.
Susan Nolan: Silly love songs make me remember Forest Hill Lake during the summer with my high school friends. We’d eat Payday bars, drink 7-Up and get tan!
Louissa Powell Geese: Brian Hyland’s “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini”
Rhonda Hogarth: “Fire on the Mountain” by Marshall Tucker. Reminds me of the trucker strike and a crush I had on someone back then. Not sure why anymore. Might be because I had the 45 and listened to it while everyone else was listening to the news.
Mary Gephart Robertson: “Blinded by the Light” comes to mind. It reminds me of the many summer days at the West Lafayette Pool. Mrs. Todd, pool pizza, and friends, where we wished summer would never end.
Melody Grewell Hostutler: “See You In September” by The Happenings
Dianne Miller: “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” reminds me of 4-H Camp and the wonderful memories there! It made me think of all the line dances we used to learn there! What great times!
Arlene Bailey: “It’s My Party” by Lesley Gore
Shena Phillips Wyler: “Summer Lovin” by John Travolta and Olivia Newton John in “Grease”
Penny West: “Summer Breeze”
Sandy King Patterson: “Summer Breeze” by Seals & Crofts reminds me of sitting at my bedroom window waiting for my boyfriend to come pick me up.
Denny Foster: “Schools out for Summer” by Alice Cooper
Chris Steiner Hudson Corp: “Slow Ride” by Foghat
JeanAnn Dunlap: “Locomotion” by Grand Funk. I went to Bethel Camp on Second Street. It was where Rural King and Woodbury sit today. We always had a record player and records in the girls’ dorm. I always think of Bethel Camp when I hear this song.
Jennifer Bosson: “Afternoon Delight”- Forest Hill Lake. Oh, those summer days!
Chris Wilson: “Jack & Diane” – Forest Hill Lake everyday all summer long.
Dave Little: “Under the Boardwalk,” “Summer in the City,” and “Hang On Sloopy”
Theresa Workman: “Hang On Sloopy” – my friend, Debbie, her parents, and mine went to Cedar Point that year and we sang it in the car on the way there in her dad’s Chevy station wagon. We had a blast!
Randy Mahon: Anything from the summer of 79
Christy Bowers: “Seasons in the Sun” by Terry Jacks
Flo Murdock: I love summer. And by default, I love summer songs, too. Songs like “Ruby and the Romantics’,” “My Summer Love,” Nat King Cole’s “That Sunday, That Summer,” Connie Francis’ “V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N,” especially for that great Boots Randolph solo! As for picking a favorite, I have to go with “A Lazy Summer Night” by the Four Preps. It is so beautiful, and so descriptive – as you listen to it, you feel like you are being transported to the very place the singers are. I heard it was from a movie, but not a very famous one. Just a perfect description of summer. Now as far as one that wasn’t about summer, but still evokes summer, there is always “Double Shot of My Baby’s Love” by the Swingin Medallions. You don’t need to hear more than three or four notes of this to be transported to a beach!
Category: People & Places
