Songs Of Summer

Here at HERC's Hideaway, the official season for now and for always is Summer.  With apologies to the other three contenders, Summer Rules!  With the official Summer Solstice just around the corner, Summer is technically unofficially upon us here at the Hideaway: the water's warm, the lounge chair is frequently in use and the Songs of Summer are on blast.

In an earlier post [HERE], HERC laid out two time-honored traditions that signal the beginning of Summer here at the Hideaway: a screening or two of Endless Summer II and repeated playings of every student's anthem, "School's Out".  A third tradition here at the Hideaway is the ongoing defining and listing the Songs of Summer, the music both past and present that best embodies the spirit, the vibe and the memories of Summers gone by and the Summer unfolding right now.

Many minds more magnificent than HERC's have weighed in on the issue of what exactly constitutes a Summer Song: Does it have to have the word "Summer" in the title?  Should only songs released during the Summer months of May, June, July and August be considered?  HERC thinks Summer is a state of mind as much as it is dates on the calendar.  It is a sense of wonder of the unknown possibilities coupled with an emboldening feeling of freedom.

Way back in 2009 in the pages of "Rolling Stone" magazine, Rob Sheffield weighed in with his list of ingredients for "a killer warm-weather hit": "A thick beat, a bouncy bass line and a hook you'll hum through Labor Day."

In his recent Songs of The Week column over at Esquire.com, Andy Langer calls B.S. on the whole concept of "Song of the Summer" saying it's a "media construct" and while sports like Major League Baseball may be seasonal, music should not be.  He argues that great pop songs are timeless but nonetheless proceeds to inform the reader how to make their own list of Songs of Summer.  [Check out Langer's full post and his list of Best Summer Songs 2012 HERE.]

Those scientific method minded muthas (Amanda and Laura) over at Vulture.com analyzed data, crunched numbers and even compiled a bar chart in their efforts to answer the question they posited: "Has 2012’s Song of Summer Already Been Released?"  [To wade into their data pool, click HERE.] 

The Washington Post's Maura Judkis tells us that "summer pop songs" share "common threads: innocence, sexuality, and irony" but "Most important, they are danceable."  While Judkis doesn't bestow upon her readers an entire list of "summer pop songs", she does state that it is "almost no contest" for "the viral hit of the season": Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe". [Read her full post HERE.]

Maura's comrade in words at the Post, Chris Richards, offers these criteria for identifying THE Song Of Summer: 

"We’ve usually already heard it by April. It often leans toward the rhythms of hip-hop and R&B. It has a chorus that minivan-loads of tweenage girls can — and will — sing along to. Loudly. It can articulate sticky human emotions with a few gloriously melodic syllables, making you feel something deep without asking you to think too hard. Years later, it’s difficult to remember it existing outside of the summer when it arrived, and ironically, it becomes eternal because of that fact."

HERC concurs that the Songs of Summer are all about the now AND then.  The best Summer Songs seem to be addictive then disposable yet when you hear them later on in your life, all of those good memories come flooding back like a cresting wave.  [Read Richards's full post HERE.]

 

Over at pigeonsandplanes.com, "confusion" (that's his or her nom de plume - read the full post HERE.) offers a list of The 50 Best Summer Songs with this introduction:

"But the way we look forward to summer and the way we remember it is always as the best version of itself. That intersection between excitement, actions, and memories is a real feeling. There’s a reason we’re excited to write a list like this, because when you think of summer songs it really means something.  Some feel like summer, some are about summer, some will forever be attached to a certain summer in history, but they are all perfect and timeless additions to your Summer 2012 playlist. Enjoy, and happy summer."

And with that explanation and definition, HERC gives you a playlist of songs from the articles cited above sprinkled with a few of his own picks - he'll be adding stuff all summer long so check back in on the playlist he's calling "This is Summer 2012 - The Big One"...

What are your summer favorites?  Let HERC know in the comments.