PLAY: Most Eclectic 16-track Mix for Your Summer Playlist

Music Monday : Song List with Commentary

Photo by Andrew Itaga on Unsplash

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HELLO, GOODBYE SUMMER!

NOW HEAR THIS:

An hour’s long PLAY of SUMMER for your seasonal Winnebago trip, summer flight or roadtrip. Some songs featured are moody or dark as hell, but most of the list is typical “Summer upbeat”. A few usual suspect summer play tracks made the list. Nostalgia is ever present on the list. All tracks have “summer” in their title in some form.

Pair songs with an fave cold one ( I would go for an iced chai matcha or pale ale
(don’t forget to hydrate electrolyte water !)

HEAR ALL SONGS IN THEIR ENTIRETY ON VIA SPOTIFY HERE- PLAYLIST LINK

Support Marinarena with a Defender Shield headphone purchase

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***BONUS AUDIO COMMENTARY DOWN BELOW

with a PAID subscription***

• My reciting of “A Summer Song” by Chad and Jeremy
  AND “Summertime” by Sam Cooke

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Which or these— if any— make an impression on you the most?
Have a suggestion for another summer playlist? Let me know.

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VID CLIPS, ALT SONG VERSIONS
AND COMMENTARY FROM THE LIST

Summer Son by Texas

• Almost 66 mil plays on Spotify

• Reached in Top 10 singles music charts across Europe in 1999

  You can’t help but to dance or sway hard to this electrifying track!

Hear original version on the playlist, play a dance remix version and a rock-ier version of song with orchestra: BBC performance

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Summer Breeze- Seals and Crofts

• 231 mil plus plays on Spotify

• Classic song, reached TOP 10 on the US Billboard Singles

• No. 13 in Rolling Stone′s "Best Summer Songs of All Time"

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Dirty Black Summer by Danzig

• Heaviest Track by far on the list

• One of a few mainstream radio hits by Danzig

Such a beefy, swaggery song from Danzig. Photo collage of images from original music video of the song.

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Cruel Summer by Bananarama

• 148 mil plus plays

• 80s anthem

  
  

  Hmmm… this song probably should be obnoxious to me by now but it doesn’t get old when actually played during summer.

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Summer Song by Yellowjackets

• Jazziest pick of the lot

• Soulful vocal

Evening vibes kind of tune. Play as the sun goes down. You’ll get chills, musically.

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A Summer Song by Chad & Jeremy

• A Top 10 song on the US Billboard Chart

• C’est beau! A French version of "A Summer Song", entitled "Souviens-toi des nuits d'été", was released in 1965, done by Frank Alamo on the Rivièra label.

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Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince

• Almost 106 mil Spotify plays

• Official Summer Cookout song

• Fave part: opening of song, drumtrack please at the beginning

  
  Be taken to a time when we were more smitten by FP Will Smith or at least had a very favorable (or was way less suspect!) At least, Jeff has remained a cool character who’s been seemingly unblemished.

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Summertime (Live) by Kenny Chesney No Shoes Radio link

• 109 mil plus plays (original version)

• One of several No # 1 Country Songs by Kenny (judging various official country charts, including Billboard Hot Country)

From the very onset of the music video, Kenny defines the American idealistic “summer” to a tee.

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Summertime by Sam Cooke

• Originally a B-side song to his “You Send Me” record

• Originally, an aria composed in 1934 by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess.

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Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey

• Most popular track of all on list: 1.5 billion plays on Spotify

• It did not go number 1 in the U.S. —but did so in Poland, Ukraine and Armenia
  

  This is actually one of Lana’s less depressing songs! Lush, haunting slow version of song performed live is a must-hear:

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Summer Madness by Kool & The Gang

• Most chill track- although there’s a kind of eerieness to it in the end, right? (cords from the 2:20)

  Didn’t you hear part of this song before? Yeah, it’s quite sampled in “Summertime” by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince!

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Summer by Vivaldi/The Four Seasons

*Video below features different musicians from the playlist*

Lovely to play for your calm summer moments (that being said, there are some fast parts of the composition which may startle you somewhat!)

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Summertime Blues by Alan Jackson

• Fun “rednecky” remake of the classic song, originally released by Eddie Cochran

• A number 1 country hit by the country star from Georgia

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Estate- Andrea Bocelli

• Estate means “summer” in Italian

• Original song is an Italian

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Verano by La Oreja de Van Gogh

• Verano means “summer” in Spanish

• Mid-tempo track about reminisicing and old summer romance
  See original Spanish and English translation lyrics

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The Boys of Summer by Don Henley

• 560 mil plays on Spotify (runner-up of Most Popular of this list on Spotify)

• 80s heartbeat kind of track

• The song reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 1 on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart.

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