In case it's not immediately obvious from the songs, I'm not just looking for another of those playlists full of songs with the word "summer" in the title or in the lyrics. I'm hoping for songs that bring to mind certain aspects of what summer means for you. Hell, I might as well tell you what they mean to me because I AM PROCRASTINATING. The first couple, are sort of the typical tropical-esque, "It's summer!" lazy day laid back tracks. You Send Me and Postcards From Italy are sort of like nostalgic warm evenings in the kitchen when it's 7 or 8 and the sun is still up, family vacations, etc. Paper Planes and Stir it up, hanging out with friends, trips to the beach, clearly the two songs are linked by a certain substance, laid back but not in the lazy way like the first two, y'know? The last two are obviously much more hip hop, nice drums, good beats, summer block parties, smoking camel cigarettes while driving on the highway with the windows down and the AC broken, the smell of gasoline, much more city than the rest.

So think about what summer is to you. What memories do you have of summer? Are there any specific events the songs remind you of, or just more vague stuff like the things I listed? This is MetaCHAT. Let's all navelgaze for a bit. Even if you can't suggest a song, feel free to take part in the discussion.

you may hate 80's pop, and that's fine, but imo "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" by Tears for Fears, is one of the better summer tracks out there, plus it takes me right back to senior year in high school.

more currently, the New Pornographers have some bouncily awesome stuff out that makes for great beach listening.

Matt Costa's "Sunshine" is my go-to summer song.

XTC's "Summer's Cauldron" really captures it for me --- the buzzing, drowsy, lazy quality of a hot day with nothing much to do.

I'm all unlink-y, though. I still keep all my music on CD. (I know!)

Here's last year's thread on it.

Thinking on it now, I'd add to mine:
Regulate - Warren G
Panda Bear - Person Pitch album. My God I'd love to just throw the frisbee all day and listen to this. Especially right now.
L.E.S. Artistes - Santogold
Letter From and Occupant, The Laws Have Changed - The New Pornographers
Daft Punk is Playing at My House - LCD Soundsystem
D.A.N.C.E. - Justice

God, there's so many. Funny how when you hear/play a song at the beach it often becomes a beach song, even if it's about taking out the trash.

Marshall Crenshaw
X - More Fun in the New World
XTC - Skylarking
Stones - Tattoo You
The La's
Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hot
Morphine - Yes

A lot of this is roughly the same time period. That's because I got sucked in and just started listening to stuff. Maybe we can do this again and I'll pick up where I left off.

For me good summer music is upbeat and bouncy pop songs with a little oomph, sing-along choruses, and are generally just a lot of fun. Most of the bands on my summer mixes are those that teeter between power pop and punk. Summer mix faves for me are the Undertones, Ramones, Cheap Trick, Fountains of Wayne, Redd Kross, Fleshtones, Marshall Crenshaw, some bubble gum bands, early Kinks, and usually a few 70's AM radio staples.

I'm not sure exactly why, but whenever I hear Blondie's Parallel Lines album I think of summer. I think that album came along on some of my best Summer trips so now it's emotionally tied to the season for me. On the other hand, the worse Summer I can remember involved endless plays of the the Wall, so that's sort of my anti-summer album.

One you need is Dire Straits' "Twisting By The Pool"

I'm looking for a funny one that I have on CD... if I can't find it, I'll tell you what it is so you can search for it yourself.

Aha! Found it!

This is by Fred Schneider (the guy from the B-52s): "Summer In Hell," about the world's afterlife's hottest party.

I like to listen to some Toots and the Maytals in the summer. It's pretty obvious, sure, but I still like it. Of course, as slack mentioned, you can't go wrong with the Undertones' "Here comes the Summer" or...Male Model, or Teenage Kicks, or...and so on.