After a couple of weeks of variations, I’m going back to the themes of summer and sunshine today. Given that the weather forecast is for storms this week maybe I should have rethought this, but it is still summer here and what would that be in the UK without a drop of rain? So I’m playing you three summer songs and two sunshine ones. As before, only one of these is new here, but they are all great and earn their place on my playlist. A couple of them have caused copyright issues in previous posts but these are newer versions of them, and I’ve run them through a check to ensure that they aren’t restricted – in most countries, at least.

A pop classic from the Sixties gets us up and running:

Summer In The City was released as a single by The Lovin’ Spoonful in July 1966, reaching #1 in the US and Canada, and #8 here in the UK. It was also included on the album Hums Of The Lovin’ Spoonful, which peaked at #14 in the US but didn’t chart here. As a depiction of the two sides of city life in summer heat it is perfect, in my view. I just wish I hadn’t always been so keen to get out of the city after work: it appears I may have been missing out…

Another old favourite next, with one of his gentler songs:

The imagery of the song is a wonderful evocation of how love can pass on and how little things, like seeing girls in their summer clothes, can remind us of happier times: it is a collection of vignettes from life, very typical of Bruce Springsteen’s storytelling style of songwriting. Girls In Their Summer Clothes was a track on his album Magic, released in September 2007, which peaked at #1 in both the US and the UK, as well as elsewhere. It was released on iTunes as a digital single in January 2008, and reached #98 on the Billboard chart. It is one of my favourites of his – something about it just gets to me. I think that may be because the album was released around the time my marriage was ending, and I played it a lot once I was living on my own, with plenty of time to think!

Next up is the one I haven’t played before – others of hers, but not this one:

That was Elles Bailey with Sunshine City, a track from the deluxe version of her album Shining In The Half Light, which was released in 2022 and reached #42 in the UK. I have mentioned before that Elles has an interesting background, and for those who haven’t seen it here it is again: Elles (short for Eleanor) is from Bristol in the UK. At the age of 2 she was hospitalised with a severe case of viral pneumonia and spent seventeen days – including her third birthday – with a breathing tube down her throat. Happily she survived that ordeal mostly unscathed, but she has credited, if that is the right word, her slightly husky voice to that experience: “I know how fortunate I am to have walked away with that husky voice. And my life.” She has won several awards here for her music, and has to date released three albums. She tours extensively and is, I think, one of the hardest working performers around. I follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and she is one of those artists who really enjoys the interaction with fans that these give her. I’ve not met her, but I know someone who has: apparently she is a lovely person, very welcoming and friendly. She now has six albums under her belt, including a live one, and they are all superb: highly recommended.

My next selection is one that I love for its video, and the song is pretty good too:

I hadn’t realised it until researching this the first time I played it, back in 2023, but OneRepublic have actually been around since 2002, though their first album didn’t appear until 2007. As well as this one I have played them before, as the song to illustrate one of my monthly reviews, and I do rather enjoy their brand of pop-rock. Sunshine was released as a single (and EP) in November (and December) 2021, and served as the theme tune for the movie Clifford The Big Red Dog (no, me neither). It didn’t chart in either the US or the UK, or in many other countries: its highest placing was #14 in Switzerland, which probably means it sold about a hundred copies (not an official stat!). Like I said, it is a fun song and the video is great.

Today’s final tune is one that is usually problematic, but this video is a newly remastered one, reissued two years ago with more than 60m views, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed:

Boys Of Summer was the opening track on Don Henley’s second solo album, Building The Perfect Beast, which was released in November 1984, reaching #13 in the US and #14 here in the UK. The song was released as a single the previous month, and got to #5 in the US and #12 here. It resonated with me: I was born and brought up in coastal towns which depended on itinerant workers for summer holiday staffing, which is also what I had relied on for holiday jobs in my schooldays, some fifteen years earlier. We were always glad to see the back of them: coming down here, stealing our girls!

As I mentioned, I have used a checker on all of these videos and none should be unavailable to you. If you’re interested, I was advised of this site by the lovely Debbie. Try it and see what you think – it’s here.

That’s today’s five – they seem to have flown past very quickly and as always I hope you enjoyed them. I’ll see you again in a couple of days, so until then enjoy your week and stay out of the gales if they are in your area, while Storm Floris is doing its worst!

Take care 😊