Summertime Jams
Kick out the jams with this collection of summer songs that's sure to make your next barbecue sizzle...or at least give you ideas for some summer mixes of your own.
Candy shop, ice-cream parlor, chocolate town--wherever you go to satisfy your sweet tooth you need this track bumpin' in the background. -- Peter Gavin
It's been covered by every indie band under the sun, but Beat Happening's original version of "Indian Summer" is the most hauntingly nostalgic of them all (and there are a lot of contenders). -- Eliot Van Buskirk
If you plan on wasting your summer inside, as we speculate in our Summertime Gear story, this is one song you'll want to have around. It boldly extols the virtue of intentionally wasting your summer in an adolescent languor. -- EVB
Any song about roller skating is automatically a song about summer too. -- PG
The track name says it all, but this tune with its laid-back rhythm and rhymes of relaxing summer scenes can make anyone feel that they're basking at the beach. -- Erin Geiger
The title makes this song sound like a rather self-evident eulogy, but it's actually a sweet, life-affirming song for The Fall, in both music and lyrics (sample lyric: "You dressed today, as if for riding school / Your legs, are so, cool"). Plus, the laid-back tempo sets the stage for dusty warm evenings on the porch. Not that I have a porch. -- EVB
This cover of the classic "Summer Breeze" by Seals & Crofts is performed so well by the Isley Brothers you'd think they wrote it themselves! -- PG
This isn't exactly a summer jam; however, "On the Beach" does suggest things summery. Young's mood is sentimental and, at times, worrying, which comes as a refreshing contrast to every other song out there with "beach" in the title. -- PG
How many times have you said, "It's hot in here!" during the summer and not thought of Nelly? Yup, I thought so. -- Laura Hess
From the moment this huge song stumbles out of the gates, you just know it's going to make it to the finish line, even if a few spectators get trampled under foot. The massive, trilling guitar riff (that I for one attribute to Scott Kannberg) will make people ignore even the finest barbecue sauce at your next backyard cookout, so break it out after everyone's good and full. -- EVB
Off the first album released by Peter Tosh after his departure from Bob Marley's Wailers, this track was actually one of Tosh's least political, if you can believe that. It smokes--as the cover art suggests. -- Chris Rolls
This simple ode to sunshine (and to what it does to the birds and the bees) was a bit of a departure for these Bay Area funksters, but it remains one of Sly's most beautiful and laid-back songs. -- Mark Crowder
Jeff Tweedy has a way of hitting those familiar Southern-comforting chords. This title track has "summer" written all over it (both literally and by its summery mood). -- PG
This track starts out with pure hotness. No, not Paris Hilton eating an item of nationally available fast food... I'm talking about real, true heat. Like, weird cricket sounds as you paddle down a steamy marsh in 100-degree weather with 99 percent humidity sort of hotness. Plus, it has one of those minor-verse-to-major-chorus things I like so much. -- EVB
Summertime Albums
Alerting all citizens: It is now summertime, so you are hereby required to enjoy yourselves. To this end, we recommend using these albums as accompaniment.
Summertime Gear
"School is out and there's a sort of a buzz. Back then I didn't really know what it was, but now I see what have of this, the way that people respond to summer madness."
