It's our fiscal year end today and it's dead around here and no one is in the office. So you get this thread.

What sort of parameters does one put on these things?

Just Summer themed tunes? Catchy and upbeat only?

One person's idea of Summer tunes can differ from anothers.

Also, tell me a song that makes you think of Summer or respresents it.


(Yes Rads, I've raided your Summer mixes already)

Fountains of Wayne -- "It Must Be Summer" (if you want upbeat)

FoW -- "What a Fine Day for a Parade" (if you want to induce a suicide)

FoW -- "Laser Show" (if you like Metallica)

Summer days or summer nights?
They feel different to me.
But, in general, summer songs (for me) include stuff like:
Toots & The Maytals - "Pomp & Pride"
Jimmy Cliff - "The Harder They Come"
De La Soul - "Eye No"
Best Coast - "The Sun Was High (And So Was I)"
Rockpile - "Play That Fast Thing One More Time"
Hoodoo Gurus - "Come Anytime"
Operation Ivy - "Sound System"
Os Mutantes - "No Va Se Perder Por Aí"

So, I guess that it's really a personal thing. Stuff that I think about when I think about riding around with my friends in summer when I was home from college, in particular.

all summer, every summer

Well played toots. Classic.

Monty, I've got FoW's cover of The Kinks "Better Things" already on there.

Todd, good call on Toots. My favorite song of his is "Love's Gonna Walk Out on Me" but it seemed a little dark of subject matter.

that track never fails to remind me of hot cars and sunscreen smell

Oh yeah, probably some Dead Milkmen, too.
"Stuart" is a personal favorite.

Corny I know, but "Blue Bayou" by Linda Ronstadt always = summer to me.

these should be on every Summer mix

Dumpjack has a theory about 4th Beer songs. You know the feeling you get when you go from the 3rd (i.e. you could stop here and still read and remember a few pages in a book) to the 4th - let's kick out the fucking jams.

All summer songs are 4th beer songs.

CALL ME MAYBE, MOTHERFUCKER!

Benj - here's a song that's fitting:

Turbo Fruits - She Said Hello

and this'un: Wick-it the Instigator - Hot Summer

and this one: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Come on Baby Let's Go Downtown

and this one: The Stranglers - Peaches

and the majority of the songs on this album Wavves - King of the Beach

and this one: The Hold Steady - Girls and Boys in America

and agreeing with PopTodd on Dead Milkmen - Big Lizard in my Backyard (yeah, I know "Stuart" is on Beelzebubba)
recommended BLIMB tracks: "Beach Song" and "Bitchin' Camaro"

Flaming Lips - Sleeping on the Roof is a good one to end on.

I fully expect to be a recipient of this mix

Crucial.



Also, I would go with "Serrated Edge" by the Milkmen, but that's just me.

i always think of summer music as late night windows down drunk driving music. shit like Valentine or Can't Hardly Wait or A Little Mascara by The Replacements. Anything off of Boys and Girls in America by The Hold Steady. The Mekons - Hello Cruel World. Early Zevon. Shit like that.

Agreed. I think ultimately it should be a mix of classics, new shit one is feeling, and songs that put you in a better mood. Everyone has "their" summer song but that song isn't always one that EVERYONE lurvs.

Maybe I'm just being an idiot. Figured I couldn't go wrong throwing this out to a group of people who have an embarrassingly high collective level of music knowledge.

Other additions to this:

Summer teeth- Wilco
Pretty Girl - Reigning Sound
Summer Romance - Rolling Stones
Barbara Ann - Beach Boys
Summer Babe - Pavement
King Of the Beach - Wavves
The Sunny Side of the Street - Pogues
Saturday Afternoon - Outrageous Cherry

Heavy Metal Drummer could be good too "landing in the summer" lyric and all that.

I agree with rogneeb's summer music vibe.

All The Way Down as well

pretty much any song off Beulah's The Coast is Never Clear....

"Hey Ya"

if no one said the Undertones - Here Comes Summer, make sure that is the lead track.

I think you should just put on there what makes you think of summer.

I made a summer mix for me and my family a few years back and it was mostly power pop, jangle pop, ska, and some lighter hip hop. So pop, basically. Fountains of Wayne, the Zebras, Desmond Dekker, early De La Soul, Close Lobsters, etc.