While summer may not officially start until June 21, I consider Memorial Day Weekend the unofficial start of summer (in addition to being a time to commemorate all the brave men and women who died doing military service on behalf of this country). And one of my fondest childhood summer memories is listening to the Beach Boys.
Indeed, you knew summer had begun in our house when my mother broke out the Beach Boys records and we danced around the living room... and kitchen... and dining room. To this day, whenever I hear "Barbara Ann" or "Surfin' Safari" or "Fun, Fun, Fun" or really any Beach Boys song from that era, I can almost smell the sunblock and am overcome with an urge to do the Monkey and bike, drive, or fly to the nearest beach.
[I don't know about all of you, but watching that clip of the Beach Boys singing "Surfin' USA" makes me want to don a bikini and blend up some piña coladas NOW. That is, if we had piña colada mix.]
Reggae music, specifically Bob Marley (with and without the Wailers), has a similar effect on me. Indeed, one of the best gifts I ever received from a former boss (actually, it may have been the only gift I received from an employer) was the deluxe CD edition of Exodus, whose loss (the CD's not the boss, whom I'm pretty sure is still alive, making someone else's life miserable) I still mourn.
[Hmm... wondering if including "Buffalo Soldier" is too controversial to include in a Memorial Day Weekend post.... What about "Jamming"?]
Oh, and the Police's Synchronicity. Every time I hear "Every Breath You Take" or "King of Pain," I am immediately transported back to the summer of 1983, when I had just learned how to drive and you couldn't turn on the radio without hearing the Police.
So what music -- group or song or album -- says summer to you? Let me know via the Comments.
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5 comments:
There's a Reggae festival in Louisville this weekend. It's been put on each spring for years.
@Charlene, who knew there was a Kentucky Reggae Festival (besides all the people who live in Kentucky and the thousands of reggae fans who go to the festival each year)?! Learn something knew on this blog every day. Thanks mon.
I'm still not convinced. We're heading into deep, winter down here. Okay, so it doesn't actually snow in South Auckland, which could make it a subtropical zone, but it's still getting a bit nippy.
@Ange, no sympathy (but thanks for "liking" the blog on Facebook!).
Gasp! How did you know it was me?? :-O I thought I was a "woman of mystery" (at least, that's what I've got on my twitter profile)
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