Obsession of the Week: Summer Songs

I’ve actually been obsessing over summer songs for weeks now. When my seven-year-old’s school let out, I thought I’d add some new songs to his i-pod. As it was, this year he was introduced to The Beach Boys by his music teacher (Thanks Mr. V.) and had spent the better part of spring singing “Surfin Safari” and “Barbara Ann” everywhere he went (my dad should be proud).

In thinking of songs to add, I figured he needed something beside the Beach Boys’ greatest hits so I started making a list of songs about summer. The list quickly turned into an endless download nightmare. I decided to limit myself to only songs about summer that had summer in the title. I’ve always tried to vary my son’s i-pod selection (click here to read more about it) so he’s introduced to a wide variety of music.  I  wanted to make sure the list included hits from as far back as the 60s and included as varied a selection as possible. As it turned out most are from the 70s. Go figure. So here’s my list of  the “Top Ten Summer Songs” in alphabetical order by artist.

1. Alice Cooper “School’s Out (for Summer)”  
2. Bananarama “Cruel Summer” (1983) 
3. Chad& Jeremy “A Summer Song” (1964) 
4. DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince “Summertime” (1989)
5. Don Henley “The Boys of Summer” (1984)
6. Kid Rock “All Summer Long” (2008)* 
7. Mungo Jerry “In the Summertime” (1970) 
8. Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta & Cast “Summer Nights” (1978)* 
9. Ray Lamontagne “For the Summer” (2010)
10.  Seals & Crofts “Summer Breeze” (1972) 

* this selection made the list but didn’t actually make it on my son’s i-pod due to content and the possibility of him singing the lyrics at full volume. There are certain things you don’t want to hear your seven-year-old sing about even if he doesn’t understand the context.