summer vacation

(Ray Brandes ushers in the season with a call for signature songs.)

“In summer, the song sings itself.”
— William Carlos Williams

“School’s out for summer!”
— Alice Cooper

Some of the greatest songs in the rock-‘n’-roll era were released in June, July and August. A great summer song doesn’t necessarily have to be about summer itself, but rather capture the quintessence of the season: that feeling of long, lazy sunburned days and humid nights spent making love to the sounds of crickets.

The summer of 1965 alone gave us the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction,” the Beatles’ “Help,” Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” James Brown’s “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” and Martha and the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Street,” songs that are quite different in theme but are bursting with the exuberance of the sunny season.

OK, here’s a seasonal palate-cleanser to help connect the dots between then and now: A while back, I asked what the you of 1983 would have to say about the you of 2008 if you could meet. As we close in on Labor Day, what would You 1983 think of the way you spent summer 2008?

Thanks to abundant free-lance opportunities, I was able to enjoy real summer flex time for the first time since I started working office jobs 20 years ago. We explored New York neighborhood by neighborhood and capped off the summer with a trip to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, home of Dollywood. (My younger self would appreciate the urban cool of the former and the camp appeal of the latter, but he’d be amused at the planning it takes to orchestrate forays for a family of four. Don’t you just, like, get in the car? And if he could hear me scolding the kids, he’d probably want to kick me.)

Your turn: We want to know what you did this summer!

Remember Walking in the Sand?
Sunscreen, lemonade and summer radio

How I spent my summer vacation