Friday, July 11, 2014

Life is a Beach

Thought  for the day:  Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, those days of soda and pretzels and beer... [Nat King Cole]

Know how music has the ability to transport us to another time and place? Well, that's kinda what today's bloghop is all about. Hosted by Armchair SquidCygnus, and Suze, the idea is for each participant to post five favorite summertime songs, and to share a memory connected to each one. I know the songs I'm gonna post will certainly transport me to another time and place. I hope you'll come along for the trip.

As our hosts describe today's hop:

Ah, summer. Sunny mornings full of possiblity, lazy poolside afternoons and rockin' nights lit by tiki torches. What songs bring back the sunscreen and beach-sand to you? What songs defined your one perfect summer, be it decades ago or just getting started with today's solstice? 

Sounds like fun, right? It was hard for me to narrow down my choices, but I'm gonna go in chronological order. Not that I haven't had any wonderful summers in the past four (Crap! Make that FIVE.)  decades, but the earlier years had a much louder soundtrack, if you know what I mean. Those were the days when my friends and I knew the words to all the popular songs, before stuff like wedding marches, lullabies, and kiddie songs nudged our priorities in different directions.

Okay, ready?

1. My first choice is from 1958. It's Summertime, Summertime, Sum Sum Summertime... It's a silly little song, but it's one my friends and I loved to sing. A lot. At the beach, in the alley, walking down the street...it didn't matter where we were... and we were convinced that we sounded better than the Jamies did, too:


2. Fast forward a couple years to 1960, and to a song by Jo-Ann Campbell, called Kookie Little Paradise. Yep, it was another song for us girls to sing together... including the Tarzan call at the beginning... plus it had an added bonus. We danced to it, too. Any of you other gals remember hanging out in a friend's club cellar doing the cha-cha and dancing the bop with a doorknob?

                                                                           
3. Now it's forward a couple more years to 1962, and Brian Hyland's Sealed with a Kiss. My gal pals and I were a little more dramatic by then, and this song reflected our feelings about our boyfriends going away on vacation. (The cads!)

                                                                     
4. For some reason, this song is the most evocative of all for me. I can almost smell the coconut oil suntan lotion, and feel the sun baking my back. This song seemed to play more than any other song that summer while my friends and I were at our local beach. The year? 1965. And the song? I Got You, Babe by Sonny and Cher:
                                                     
                                                                     

5. This last song is an odd one. Even as I selected it, I knew what a weird choice it was. Still, I had to go there. It was the summer of 1966, and the last time my cousin Phyllis and I went camping down the ocean together. Every night, we sang around the campfire, and every night, kids from miles around (That's what it seemed like, anyway.) would join us to listen, and to make requests. Believe it or not, THIS is the song those kids asked us to sing most often. We're not positive, but it's entirely possible that over that long weekend, we sang The Ballad of the Green Berets more times than SSgt Barry Sadler did.





And there ya have it. How about you? Are there any songs that carry you back to those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer every time you hear it? (Remember any of my picks?)


Thinking about those days of singing around the campfire prompted me to look for this picture. Beieve me, with all the albums and boxes of photographs we have around this house, that was no small task. Anyhow, here it is: Phyllis and me in front of our tent. She's a year younger than I, but she's always been much taller. She has that statuesque model look about her., and I... don't. I guess you could say we were the Mutt and Jeff combo of the family... or the string bean and lima bean. Geez, it seems like that picture was taken just a few years ago. I can remember those clothes so well... my jeans were pink. And I had a pair of sneakers the same color. Yep, I was a very girly tomboy.


Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.


118 comments:

  1. I knew all of your selections except the last. ( Such a young Cher ! )
    And was transported to the days of baby oil rather than 1000 per cent sun screen. Baby oil, long, long days, water and laughter. These days I am not a fan of summer - but it was nice to go back. Thank you.

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    1. Yep, such a young Cher. Then again, she STILL looks pretty doggone good. Oh yeah... baby oil. How could I have forgotten that? As if smearing baby oil on our skin weren't bad enough, we used to mix it with iodine. The quick-color "stain" was our early version of fake tan, I guess.

      Glad you enjoyed it.

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  2. A terrific post, which put me into a wonderful summertimey mood (did I just make up a new word?). I associate a lot of songs with summer - far too many to mention here (perhaps I'll do a blog post about it....)
    Wow, "Sealed With A Kiss" was always one of my favorites. I was only a tiny tyke when it was first popular, but I remember it well.

    I thoroughly enjoy these excursions down Memory Lane.

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    1. Thanks. I'm glad ya liked it. But geez, cowboy, did ya have to say you were a "tiny tyke" when "Sealed With a Kiss" was popular...?

      It isn't too late to jump into this blogfest right now and write a post about your summertime favorites. If not, later, then. I'm sure you could come up with some good ones.

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  3. Glad you brought this subject up because there is a summertime song that I loved as a child but can't remember the title nor most of the words. It was mostly instrumental but there was a set of psychedelic-like lyrics (I do know it came out in the late-60s) in the song that really got me in a real summertime mood. For years afterward whenever I thought about the song it brought back vivid memories of sandy beaches, the ocean, and getting hot dogs from a ramshackle stand on Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

    I know all that sounds slightly crazy but I've googled what lyrics I remember and have never come close to finding the actual song.

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    1. Hmmm, psychedelic-like lyrics in the '60s... I'm afraid you're gonna have to narrow it down a little more than that. If you tell us some of the words you remember from that song, maybe we can help.

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    2. yes please, let us know some of those lyrics, maybe we can help.

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  4. Like you, I remember those songs and summer times so well. I remember also calling up the radio stations and requesting songs with dedications. Oh, please Mr. DJ, play this song for me and my crush at the time. That feeling when your name was mentioned was such a thrill. It was so long ago, but when you hear that music, the years melt away.

    The song, A Summer Place, evokes such sentimental feelings with me.

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    1. Oh, and how our hearts would go pitter patter when the DJ would spin "our" song and dedicate it to us. (Not to mention the squeals and occasional jumping up and down...)

      "A Summer Place" is a great song. (Loved that movie, too.)

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  5. BTW, Susan, you certainly were (and still are) one pretty young girl.

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    1. Thanks, but I don't think anyone can accuse me of being "young" any more.

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    2. Some people call that immature... HA! But like it says on one of my hubby's shirts" I may be old, but I refuse to grow up."

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  6. Hi Susan ... recognised and enjoyed the first four - the fifth I'm listening to now ... what fun memories you have of those days ... then the photo - great one of the two of you ...

    Fun - cheers Hilary

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    1. I'm glad you recognized most of the songs. That last one probably didn't get played much outside of the U.S.

      Cheers! I hope you have a super weekend.

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    2. The Green Berets got a lot of airplay here in Australia, I remember it well.

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  7. Dear Susan,
    beautifully done! I had read about the task in a hurry, having so much to do at the moment - think I got it all wrong when sending only the titles to the unknown Armchair Detective. Your songs are good (I only know Sunny&Cher) Thank you!

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    1. Dear Britta,

      Thank you! I'm glad you like the songs.

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  8. I'd never heard "A Kookie Little Paradise" before, but it's a cute summertime song.

    Love the photo of you and your cousin.

    As for my favorite summertime songs, anything by the Beach Boys.

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    1. My hubby was a big Beach Boys fan, too... but mostly their car songs. He still plays their music when he's working in his garage.

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  9. Great list! I think, given your story, "Ballad of the Green Berets" had to be there.

    I think of "I Got You Babe" as a winter song because of the movie Groundhog Day but I shouldn't. Just checked the stats: released in July.

    Thanks for joining us, Susan.

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    1. Yeah, I couldn't leave the "Berets" out, even though it isn't exactly a summery sound to anyone else on the planet.

      I guess a lot of people associate that song more with the movie than with its original release time.

      My pleasure. Thanks for coming up with such a cool idea!

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    2. To me, that's the real fun of a project like this. There are songs we all associate with summer but there's gotta be one or two that has an association meaningful to you alone.

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    3. For sure! And I'm getting to hear an awful lot of new-to-me stuff, too.

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    4. Me, too - on nearly every blog on the list.

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  10. Wonderful list, Susan! Even though some of these songs are from (slightly) before my time, I remember them all well from the radio as a kid. Also, the video for "Sealed with a Kiss" cracks me up -- the dancers seem kind of out of place. Not really a dancing song unless you're doing the slow-dance-clench with a special someone. :)

    Definitely remember "The Ballad..." and the John Wayne movie it was in.

    And while your friend may have been pretty and taller, YOU are definitely the prettiest of the pair, my dear!

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    1. Thanks, Chris! I know what ya mean about the video, but it's actually pretty typical for that time. (We were kinda dorky.)

      Aw, shucks. Thanks.

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  11. Sigh. So I SEE how it is. I come ALLLLLL the way over here to visit, get me fix of Mrs. Potato Head and what?! WHAT?! Do I see? A pier. A pier at the beach.
    That is definitely NOT my Mrs. Potato Head.

    Man ::shaking my head, mumbling:: a woman goes a way for a few months and phppppllllttt it all goes to hell in a handbasket. Yeesh.

    But I will add [don't I always?] although I appreciate the memories your music invokes, even for the 60s those are some weird choices for summer memories. Heehee

    But that is why I love you. I especially like the pic of you and Phyllis. I always got the "flat chested BF" status, instead of short in stature. Ah well. At least I was tall. heehee

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    1. Aw, come on, give me a break. I'm still a potato head.

      HA! What can I say? Weird people have weird memories.

      Hey! I wasn't short! Just shorter than Phyllis. (And my kids... and some of my grandchildren...) Shut up.

      12:34

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  12. I remember a lot of those songs, especially "I got you Babe," which I heard a lot when I was living in Cali back when I was a kid.

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  13. What - no Summertime, when the living is easy ... Ella Fitzgerald at her best. (I know this gives my age away, but I still love it!)

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    1. I LOVE "Summertime", no matter who's singing it... though Ella's version has gotta be one of the best. But for some peculiar reason, I don't associate that song with summer. Go figure.

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  14. Isn't that first song one of the ones the boys sang in Stand By Me? Yeah, that's a great summer song. And that Sealed with a Kiss song! Ha! Very dramatic. Those dancers are really determined to get the beat going a little faster though. :P

    And great picture. At least you had some style sense. I look like a ragged feral child in all my old photos.

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    1. I dunno if that first song was in "Stand By Me" or not, but if you say so, it probably was. Yeah, those dancers seem to think the song's rhythm was just a "suggestion" susceptible to interpretation.

      Style sense? ME? Well, thank you. I don't believe anyone has EVER accused me of THAT before...

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  15. Awesome throwback songs!
    My song is And She Was by the Talking Heads. I remember singing that out loud with college friends while driving down the beach strip with all the windows down. So long ago!

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    1. Thanks! Glad ya liked them.

      I'm not familiar with your song. I've heard of the Talking Heads before, but I can't say that I've ever listened to them. Not all THAT long ago...

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  16. All great summer songs, though I wasn't familiar with #2. It is fun how music can bring back so many memories. I recently went to a Beach Boys concert and no matter what time of year their songs make me feel like it is summertime.

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    1. It's possible that "Kooky Little Paradise" didn't make much of a splash on the national scene. You're right; music can be so closely attached to our memories.

      I still think it's time to call 'em Beach Men...

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  17. The second one went under my radar, but the others are classics!!

    The Green Beret song always made me feel like I should stand and put my hand over my heart while it was played. I'll do that now to make up for lost time.

    Thanks!
    Cherdo
    www.cherdoontheflipside.com

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    1. That second song must have been more popular in the Baltimore area than it was in other parts of the country.

      HA! I'm sure Barry would appreciate that.

      Welcome!

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  18. I didn't know the second song. It's cute. Love your photo! Summer has such great memories :)

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    1. Looks like a lot of people never heard that second song before.

      Yes, a LOT of great memories, and so many of them are intertwined with music.

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  19. As I get older, it's interesting to me how many songs from the 50s and 60s I know from commercials. I'm pretty sure Summertime, Summertime, sum-sum-summertime is a song I first heard in a commercial.

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    1. That must be because our music from the '50s and '60s was so darned GOOD, smart admen can't resist using them in their commercials, right? Yeah, I'm sure that must be it...

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  20. Such great choices. Sealed With A Kiss was the first song to come to my mind, but, ultimately, I didn't choose it so I'm glad you did. I remember watching Barry Sadler on Ed Sullivan. We all loved his song, but my dad really loved it. Many years later I invented new pink beret lyrics for The Hurricane.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Thanks. I'm looking forward to see what you chose.

      Pink beret, huh? Now that sounds like a fun parody.

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  21. I can't hear that Sonny and Cher song without thinking about Groundhog Day...

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    1. Looks like I need to watch that movie again. I remember that I thoroughly enjoyed it, but didn't remember that song is in it. Time for a memory reboot!

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  22. What a wonderful song "I Got You, Babe" is and it brings back lots of memories for me too! A sweet summer bloghop list Susan.

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    1. I liked Sonny and Cher's sound when they sang together, but that's my favorite song of theirs. I'm glad it's associated with good memories for you, too.

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  23. "I Got You, Babe" is definitely a great pick, one that probably brings back memories for many of us. Love the photo of you! Is your cover photo of the pier in Ocean City, NJ? It looks familiar.

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    1. I hope that song brings back good memories for Cher, too.

      Nope, not in New Jersey. I took that picture last year in Cocoa Beach, Florida. They have one of the longest piers as any I've ever seen.

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  24. That picture is great!

    Sum Sum Summertime almost made my list too! My dad played his summer mix (that also included heavy doses of Johnny Cash & Dolly Pardon) over an over again in the car on summer road trips. Thing is...he played them enough that I began to despise each and every one of them, hehe. They were great trips though.

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    1. Thanks!

      I know what you mean about too much of a good thing. Our younger son fell in love with "Turn, Turn, Turn" one year, and played it over and over and over again. Relentlessly. Now I was glad he liked one of "my" kinda songs, but OY! I was about ready to throw that cassette out the window.

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  25. Some classic summer songs! And a couple I hadn't heard before :) I adore that picture of you two! Looks, and sounds, like that was a really fun trip!

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    1. Thanks! We had a LOT of really fun trips to the ocean. Crabbing, fishing, clamming, playing in the ocean, laying on the beach, eating a ton of seafood, (which we'd caught) playing Pinochle, and singing around a campfire in the evenings.

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  26. First time i even heard the first 3. Some good picks indeed at your feed

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  27. What a great list. I can't believe I didn't think of some of these, but then this is also about our memeories. Sealed with a Kiss is on of my faves!. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks. I'm glad you like "Sealed With a Kiss", too. A little bit cheesy, maybe, but I guess some of us were a little cheesy back then, too.

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  28. Excellent selections, Susan. I can only add Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer In The City" because I can't consider the '60s without it. Ok, the Drifters' "Up On The Roof" too.

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    1. Thanks. Oooh, good choices. You shoulda joined the hop! "Under the Boardwalk" would be another good un.

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  29. It's amazing. *Just* this morning, a hair stylist called my daughter a 'girly tomboy.' I love that picture of you and Phyllis so much. I'm happy that you sought it out and posted it. It actually brought affectionate tears to my eyes while listening to 'I Got You, Babe,' which I have always loved to sing in the shower.

    And this:

    'Any of you other gals remember hanging out in a friend's club cellar doing the cha-cha and dancing the bop with a doorknob?'

    was what started me getting all prepped for teary nostalgia. I love stuff like that.

    Wonderful post, Sus. Thank you for participating!

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    1. Thanks, Suze. I'm glad you liked it. And I'm very glad to hear the girly tomboy classification is still going strong. I trust your daughter will do us all proud.

      Thanks for hosting this fun hop. Teary nostalgia is my middle name.

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    2. 'Teary nostalgia is my middle name.'

      Oh. So we have the same first and middle name. ;)

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  30. So many good tunes. I like "Summer in the City" by Lovin' Spoonful - "hot town, summer in the city, back of my neck getting dirty and gritty. "More than a Feeling" by Boston soars me to the past. "Peaceful Easy Feeling" is the Eagles road trip song. And "Running on Empty" - Jackson Brown yearning. Aaahhhh - summer. And current tune - "Happy" by Pharrell and I like "Rude" by Magic

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    1. Ooh, good picks all the way around. (You shoulda joined the hop!)

      Happy weekend!

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  31. When I was a teenager, the choice for music in Germany was either what came over the big pond (after a certain delay), or very cheesy, schmaltzy pop music of German origin. I knew all of your songs except "Kookie Little Paradise." And since I listened to a lot of AFN, I even was familiar with "The Ballad of the Green Berets."

    Love that picture of you from 1965!

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    1. Cool. I'm surprised you were familiar with most of the songs. Evidently, nobody remembers "Kookie Little Paradise" but me.

      Thanks. It sure doesn't seem like that was almost fifty years ago.

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  32. I loved all of your stories behind the songs. I remember Lazy, Hazy,Crazy Days of Summer, and Sealed With A Kiss. I was a huge Sonny and Cher fan, and I used to do a mean Cher impression. You were adorable in that photo, and you still are Susan!

    Julie

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    1. You used to do a mean Cher impression, huh? Cool. I used to do a pretty good Marilyn, We would've made quite a pair.

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  33. Wonderful wonderful post !
    Love reading your picks and the last story is wonderful.

    cheers, parsnip

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  34. Oddly enough, the song that takes me back IS Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer. It speaks to me of days at the beach from just before dawn to long after the sun had gone down but the air was still hot and the water warm.

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    1. Yeah, that is a super feel-good song. I'm not sure why I didn't pick for one of my five. From just before dawn? You sure knew how to squeeze the most out of your days at the beach.

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    2. My childhood beach was walking distance, 5 minutes from my house and predawn was when the tide was all the way in so we could jump over the beach wall and be in the water already. it was the best time to be there, before the hordes arrived.

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    3. That must have been wonderful! I've never lived that close to the water, but I would have LOVED it. You must have a ton of good memories from those days.

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  35. I love your choices and your stories! What great tunes you went with, as well as the reference to Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer. Thanks for sharing these!

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  36. Pretty sure I have Sum Sum Summertime on a 1958 radio show that I found on vinyl and couldn't resist- although it set me back 75 pence or thereabouts. All of these posts are making me dangerously close to attacking the front room storage mess to reclaim my record player!

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    1. Good luck reclaiming your record player! I have a LOT of old records, but our turntables are pretty warped.

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  37. Hadn't heard of a couple of those, Susan. For me it's pretty much anything by The Beach Boys plus Mungo Jerry's In The Summertime.

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    1. Mungo Jerry's song is a fabulous choice. Ditto the Beach Boys. My hubby listens to a lot of their car songs when he's working in his garage.

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  38. I'm not familiar with A Kookie Little Paradise. I enjoy songs from this era, but one of our so-called oldies stations now plays 70's and 80's music. Great photo. Thank you for digging it up for us.

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    1. HA! Most of our local radio station consider music from the '80s to be "oldies", too. Cracks me up. Glad ya liked the picture. Once I got its image in my head, I wasn't gonna rest until I found the darned thing.

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  39. I do remember four of your songs but am not familiar with the final song. The summers of my youth are so far away that no songs come to mind. I do remember Nat King Cole's "Mona Lisa" and also "Too Young" (not sure of artist) in the summer of 1950/51. What a disappointment I am to be sure but way back then we were out and about so much and no portable radios or the like or even car radios that I remember, but then we didn't own cars when we were young either.

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    1. Nah, you could never be a disappointment. I remember your songs, too. I'm not positive, but I think Nat King Cole also sang "Too Young."

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  40. I don't know about summer songs, but I went to a jazz festival last week and made a new discovery: Snarky Puppy. Hard to describe their sound but they are a tight outfit. Lots of members but the number doesn't get in the way of the music, which is the way it should be. I would recommend this band for sound of the summer. I know I'm getting their whole discograpy soon, plus pianist Bill Laurance's debut album.

    Greetings from London.

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    1. When I'm in the mood for it, I really enjoy jazz. Then again, if I'm NOT "in the mood" for it, it doesn't take long for the sounds to change my mind. I've never heard of Snarky Puppy; I'll have to check them out.

      Greetings back atcha!

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  41. I remember watching the show Sonny & Cher with my mom. lol I was really young, but I remember the song too. :)

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    1. I loved Sonny & Cher's show. Funny banter, good music, and wow! the outfits Cher wore!

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  42. Hi, Susan, good choices. Loved I Got You Babe and I remember that one by Nat King Cole. My mom used to play it all the time.

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    1. Hi, J.L. It seems like everyone who can remember "I Got You, Babe" is a fan. Nat King Cole was a classic. He had the ability to make ANY song sound good. I like his daughter's voice, too. (Ever heard them singing "Unforgettable" as a duet? It really IS unforgettable!)

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  43. Great photo! How adorable were you? Fun choices, Susan. I don't recall ever hearing A Kookie Little Paradise (that sort of thing happens at my age), but I recognize the others. Not being a big fan of hot weather and growing up in brutally hot summers, I probably would have gone with Summer in the City: back of my neck getting dirty and gritty… all around, people looking half dead… Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head [usually barefoot]. Those are the summers I remember.

    VR Barkowski

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    1. HA! "Summer in the City" is a GREAT pick! That one resonates with some of my childhood memories, too. (As an adult, I refuse to let those little sweaty dirtballs populate my neckline...)

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  44. A walk down memory lane... with all the music I love, I am not sure I could pick out 5 favorites... these are some really good ones... I do remember 'Summer in the City'... there were so many really good songs...

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    1. Yeah, I know what you mean. There is SOOOOO much good music, and to make the choice even more difficult, our "favorites" may vary, depending on mood. "Summer in the City" is a great choice.

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  45. I remember very well 4 of your 5 choices. Love your header photo! So beautiful!

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    1. Four outta five is a great percentage! Means you're 80% as old as I am... HA!

      Thanks. I think I'd love just about any picture that includes the ocean.

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  46. Hi Susan,

    Takes deep breathe..............arggghhhh!!!! NOT another blog hop. Make them STOP! Sorry about that. Phew, I do feel better, however!

    Oh yeah, music transports us. A snapshot of a moment in time. I Got You Babe! A perfect summertime song. I wont mention "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry. You know I'm into this summer's summertime songs. "Summer" by Calvin Harris is one I really like.

    Take care of yourself and cute photo of y'all.

    Gary :)

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    1. Hi Gary.

      Yeah, I know how you feel about bloghops, but this one is a little different. I mean, who doesn't like to think about the memories associated with favorite songs?

      I LOVE "In the Summertime". It's such a cheerful sound. I'm not sure if I know "Summer" or not... I'll have to check it out on Youtube. Sometimes I know a song by its sound alone, but haven't a clue about its title or artist.

      You take care, too. Thanks!

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  47. Hello Susan
    What a fun post! I so enjoyed reading this and listening to your choices. I do remember these oldies and now I have I Got You Babe on my mind and it will be there a few days. haha Not a bad song to keep hearing over and over.
    When I think of summer I think of all the songs we danced to at Garner State Park. Besides the beach that was a favorite spot to visit as a teenager.
    It was so nice to see that you came by for a visit. I really appreciate you doing so and leaving me a sweet comment.
    hope you are well.
    Love
    Maggie

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    1. Hi-ya, Maggie. I'm so glad you enjoyed our little "Stroll" (another great song!) down Memory Lane.

      I hope you're doing well, too. No complaints here. Still kicking, but not too high.

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  48. I am having trouble keeping up with my blogging since deciding that my writing needed to take front burner. Sorry for arriving so late to this party. I love your new picture at the top of the beach.

    Songs are amazing for pulling us straight back into a memory. Some "summertime" songs I love had nothing to do with summer, but were what was playing on the radio that summer. For instance, I can still vividly recall skating around my next door neighbors garage (it had nice, smooth concrete) to the song Do You Think I'm Sexy by Rod Stewart. That is a great memory for me. Thank you for sharing yours!

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    1. Hey, no problem! I think it's terrific that you're concentrating on your writing. And there's no such thing as being "late" here.

      That's a terrific memory about skating in your neighbor's garage while listening to the radio. We skated on the sidewalks... and the streets. I wonder if any kids do any skating anywhere nowadays.

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  49. Thanks for sharing your stories! I l only knew 2 of your songs, but I think I love the most that so many of the "Summer Songs" on this blog tour relate somehow to "summer camp" :-)

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    1. Hmmm, I don't know about summer camp. I didn't notice that, but then again, I've never BEEN to summer camp. HA! To me, a summer camp song is "Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda," (or however it's spelled)

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  50. SUSAN ~
    I was down and out for nearly a week: computer issues.

    I got a brand new used computer at about Noon today and just now found this blog bit.

    I knew most of these songs, but the one that means the most to me is Brian Hyland's 'SEALED WITH A KISS'.

    Twenty years after it was originally recorded, my buddies and I ('The League Of Soul Crusaders') frequented a dance club in West Los Angeles called 'The Music Machine'. The house band was 'The Gumbies' and they closed every weekend set with 'Sealed With A Kiss'.

    For a couple of years, we Soul Crusaders had good times at 'The Music Machine' - even if none of us can remember them. But I can't hear the song 'Sealed With A Kiss' without being immediately transported back in time to 'The Music Machine'. We were in our prime then, and someone could have made a VERY POPULAR 'Reality TV Show' about us, if 'Reality TV Shows' existed then.

    Also... that picture of you... Phyllis may have been more "statuesque", but it's YOU the Soul Crusaders would have been hitting on. (You probably would have wound up with our leader, Torch - he got most of the good-looking girls.)

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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    1. Welcome back. Computer problems are no fun. I'm glad you were able to find a new old one to get you back in business again.

      Great story about "Sealed With a Kiss." I had no idea it was still that popular in the '80s. But what's REALLY great is what you said about the picture. Thanks. Torch, huh? We would've been quite the pair. One of my nicknames was... ready for it? Lurch.

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  51. Those songs are almost as great at the picture of you and Phyllis. :)

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  52. Hah! High five to another tomboy! (Even if you were girly.) I've got so many songs from my summers that it would be impossible to only pick five, but I enjoyed yours...or at least the ones I knew. My speakers are in storage. *sigh*

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    1. Cool! Even with three grown kids and thirteen grandchildren under my belt, (so to speak) I guess I'm still a little bit of a tomboy. The best of both worlds.

      Bummer. Kinda hard to listen to music without the speakers...

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  53. Aww, I wish I was by the ocean right now...

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