Comments on: Mix Six: “Summertime Songs”

By: am777

am777 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:12:08 +0000

“summertime” is a quintessential philly song–take it from this philly native. not that we have the coldest winters in the united states, but when that song came out, and it was just getting warmer, and will smith captured philly so perfectly…even when i hear it today, it brings me back to 9th grade…a perfect song for memories…

By: am777

am777 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:12:08 +0000

By: am777

am777 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:12:08 +0000

By: Ted

Ted — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:19:30 +0000

Holy crap! The “Idjut” version is a totally different animal. I was trying to identify where it comes from in in the original song, and I'm guessing it's the bass line with some additional frou frou.

By: kingofgrief

kingofgrief — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:36:00 +0000

And so you shall!

http://drop.io/sacch090303

By: forwardgirl

forwardgirl — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:22:37 +0000

Ha ha, yeah, I think your position is infinitely more defensible. Carry on…

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:36:40 +0000

Now I'm really curious to hear the dub version of “Steal My Sunshine.”

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:34:43 +0000

I'll go with your last comment!

By: kingofgrief

kingofgrief — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:31:53 +0000

Now listening to "Summer Girls" as ripped from my CD single, which I bought back in the day having never heard a note. It was on sale for 99 cents (maybe 49?) and my (then) wife thought I'd like it because it was silly.

And I do. I like it because it's silly.

The only lyric that I can't make any logical connection with is "ruby red slippers and a bunch of trees"...okay, the slippers might be a Wizard of Oz allusion, but where do the trees come in? Everything else about "Summer Girls" is goofy, that line's just awkward.

I recently re-purchased the Len CD for the benefit of my (now) wife, who loves the single but never heard the rest. My evaluation is the same now as it was when I scored a promo ten years ago: the first half is cool, the second half flat-out blows. It does make me curious about their followup material. (There's a fantastic dub mix [known as Version Idjut] of "Steal My Sunshine" on the Austrian CD single. You could lop off the first 20 seconds and play it for someone, and they'd be hard-pressed to identify the source.)

By: forwardgirl

forwardgirl — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:09:47 +0000

I find myself often defending this song so I must be idealizing it. It's a New England song. Paul Revere, NKOTB, Larry Bird, New Edition, Willy Whistle… The dumbness is ironic – a stream of consciousness from a dirt poor townie who's trying to get one of the rich daughters on the Cape for the summer to look his way. Tourists on their way to Cape Cod drive over (literally) the worst neighborhoods of New Bedford, maybe deigning to stop for gas or coffee. And a good Manhattan dad doesn't let his little girl out of the Escalade to talk to a boy from Weld Square.
'Summer Girls' is a New Bedford boy dreaming.
Or maybe it's just a really dumb song.