“Kokomo”
by The Beach Boys
from the album Cocktail (Soundtrack)
1988 Buy the album on Amazon
To finish off May Summer Songs, yes, another Beach Boys song, and again, that’s probably too easy for this month’s theme. But what can I say? I loved this movie. Tom Cruise doing all sorts of awesome tricks with liquor bottles, the gorgeous (especially to my 15? year old self) Elisabeth Shue, “the guy from FX” (probably how I thought of Bryan Brown at the time) – this was one of the good ones. I don’t think I’ve seen it as an adult, so no idea if it still holds up.
“Leavin’ Here”
by Pearl Jam (originally by Eddie Holland)
from the album Lost Dogs 2003 Buy the album on Amazon
I first caught Pearl Jam’s cover of “Leavin’ Here” on the Home Alive compilation which contained tracks by (mostly) Seattle-based bands. Sales from the album benefited the Home Alive project which teaches self-defense on a sliding scale payment system and was started following the brutal rape and murder of Gits vocalist, Mia Zapata. To be honest, none of the tracks really did much for me at the time, but I always loved this PJ track. Short, fun, and everyone gets a little riff to play.
“Cactus”
by Glen Hansard (originally by The Pixies)
from the Acoustic Lakeside Festival, Austria
2012
Ok, I’m breaking convention a little here, since I posted a different cover version of this last week, but the Wikipedia page for the song mentioned that Glen Hansard and The Frames had covered it in concert once, so I went on a search, and found this. I said I didn’t love the Bowie version, but this version is fantastic, so I thought it deserved its own post.
“Up the Beach”
by Jane’s Addiction
from the album Nothing’s Shocking
1988 Buy the album on Amazon
Lance already started off this month’s theme with Jane’s, but it’s this song in particular that matches the theme for me, for a very specific reason/memory. I grew up in CO, and one summer (probably after my sophomore year of HS?), my friend Chris and I decided to go camping at the Great Sand Dunes (totally recommended). I have lots of good memories from the trip, but one that’s always stuck with me is completely blasting this album on the drive there, awesome stereo, open road, being able to look for miles in all directions, windows down, hand riding the air (I’m a dolphin!), feeling epic.
“Surf Wax America”
by Weezer
from the album The Blue Album
1994 Buy the album on Amazon
There are a lot of Weezer songs that are summer songs to me. They’re fun, they’re poppy, they make me want to turn them up and sing along and move (it’s tough for me to listen to Weezer at work). A lot of them also have an undercurrent to them that move them beyond a standard pop song.
“Damn Good”
by David Lee Roth
from the album Skyscraper
1988 Buy the album on Amazon
Growing up, I was all about country and easy listening music because those were the only two radio stations I could reliably pick up with my clock radio (R.I.P. WSIX 98.6 and Easy 93). When I heard friends talking about Huey Lewis and the News, I thought he was an anchor on channel 13. Men At Work became “Minute Work” which I interpreted as some kind of scholastic study method (I was a weird kid). Eventually though, we got MTV. Although I missed out on a lot pop music as it was happening, I quickly caught up.
One of the first pop cassettes I bought for myself was David Lee Roth’s Skyscraper and I’m not ashamed to say that I absolutely adore it. I must have listened to that whole album a thousand times, although It took me a while to make the entire loop, I’d get hooked on a song, play it through and then quickly rewind and listen again. I became an expert in knowing just how long to keep the button down so that the track was queued perfectly. I can feel the vibration of my Panasonic boom box (with Ambience™) rewinding right now. “Just Like Paradise” and “Stand Up” were perfect singles. “Hina” was just a bizarrely amazing and beautiful song (it’s also a perfect night song). But the song that encapsulates a summer song for me is “Damn Good.”
“Glycerine”
by Bush
from the album Sixteen Stone
1994 Buy the album on Amazon
I feel like Bush has gotten a lot of flack, but this album hit at a time where I got really into them (plus I admit, I had a man crush on Gavin Rossdale). I think I stopped listening to them after their second album, but still love Sixteen Stone (actually, looking at the tracklist, I realize I’m way overdue in revisiting it), and I saw them once in Atlanta with either Pearl Jam or No Doubt.
“The Middle”
by Jimmy Eat World
from the album Bleed American
2001 Buy the album on Amazon
I’m going for the low-hanging fruit with this selection because Chris and I just discovered how fun it is to do as a duet a few months ago. What a great tune to switch hit with your friends. It’s totally easy to pass the stanzas back and forth and then come together on the chorus. Plus it’s got some fun air guitar moments if you’re into that sort of thing… which I am. Continue reading Karaoke Tuesday: “The Middle”→
“I Get Around”
by The Beach Boys
from the album All Summer Long
1964 Buy the album on Amazon
The Beach Boys may be an obvious choice for summer songs, though perhaps not an obvious choice for this blog, but this song transcends the traditional Beach Boys summer feelings. Growing up, I associated the Beach Boys with the oldies station (KOOL105!), summer oldies concerts with my mom (though I’m not sure if those ever included the Beach Boys), and of course, this song in particular in Flight of the Navigator.
“Cactus”
by David Bowie (originally by The Pixies)
from the album Heathen
2002 Buy the album on Amazon
I can’t claim to have ever gotten too into Bowie’s music, but there are certainly standouts, and more than anything, I think he’s kind of the coolest. The coolest what? Whatever. Just definitely one of the coolest.
