Every summer for as long as I can remember(or at least every summer since I have been driving), I have associated a particular song as the anthem of the summer. I'm sure lots of people do this. Millions. Sometimes, it's because it's been chosen for me, by radio conglomerates and savvy marketing executives and played ad nauseam on the radio. Other times, it has been picked out by me, because of a particular event that stuck in my head. I can hear one of these songs in the middle of December, and all of the sudden I smell sunscreen. As I started thinking about how I came to get these tunes lodged in my brain, I started remembering experiences I had with them. I'm going to go ahead and scrapbook these memories in written form right now. Follow along, if you wish. Or go jump into the pool. Or into a pile of leaves. The choice is yours.
Waterfalls, TLC. Summer 1995
There used to be a time when I sat around and watched MTV in between pool sessions and part time jobs. This was a song that I absolutely adored, from the summer of 1995. I had just graduated from high school and I was working on perfecting my tan and getting skinny at the local YMCA. I would wake up, work out, tan, go to work, and come home and do who knows what else with my free time. And when I stop and think about the lyrics and the video, it's a totally depressing song. But it signified my entrance into adulthood(oh brother) and a summer before my life would transition from high school girl to college adult.
Scream, Michael and Janet Jackson. Summer 1995. It turns out I had two anthems that summer.
I might have tuned in for the premiere of this video. I probably did. While i wasn't working at my dad's church scrubbing bathrooms during the summer of 1995 and again, working on my tan, I watched a lot of music television. I am a Jackson fan, and I couldn't wait to see this video. I could watch it over and over again. Will you think it is so super ridiculous that I think it's like a piece of art? The cinematography, costumes, dance moves, everything. Perfection. And I really wished that I could work an eye liner like Janet's(and Michael's, for that matter) make-up artist. For some reason I remember spending a lot of time driving around Branson with my friend Celeste in her mustang that summer. I realize it might seem kind of weird to go to Branson to hang out for the summer. But we did. And I knew this song backwards and forwards.
Summertime, Will Smith. Summer 1991 and beyond....
I will go out on a the very unstable limb of a bradford pear tree and say that this is probably the anthem of any child of the 90s, whether you like hip hop or not. Will Smith told it like it was, and even though my neighborhood was nothing like the one he was describing in the song, I felt like he was talking to me. And I wanted to drive around in my Grand Am with the windows rolled down, looking gansta. I would have loved to have a drop-top, but the silver car with the persnickety transmission was my ride(I just cringed typing that. And maybe I made one of you gag. sorry). Even though the song came out when I was in junior high, Hot 106.1 played it during my formative high school and college years. Drums, please.
Men in Black, Will Smith. Summer 1997
The movie was kind of okay. The song was the highlight for me. More pool time, more lake trips, and a very memorable choreography performance at a rest stop in Arkansas.
No Such Thing, John Mayer, re-release 2002
Ah yes. The summer that I had lost my job, lost a contract on a house I absolutely adored, and sulked at the pool. I commiserated with John Mayer and his earth shattering lyrics as I watched the lifeguards at the pool, wishing I could be young and fresh-faced again. I was 25. Perspective has never been my strong point.
Cologne, Piano Instrumental Version, Ben Folds. Summer 2010
Last summer I played this song over and over and over again. It is heartbreaking, haunting, and depressing. And I love the piano in it. The lyrics give a shout out to the crazy astronaut who drove with diapers. Which is just weird enough to make it a fun summer song. It reminds me of New York. Ben Folds always makes me cry. Yes, sometimes it is fun to cry.
And now we come to this past summer. As the years pass, it's harder and harder to pick an anthem, because my days are not always carefree and poolside. There are sandwiches to make, toys to step on, and wasps to avoid. I waited for the perfect one to hit me on the head. And while I didn't get to choose it this time, the grand champion was Price Tag. Oh my word I hate that song. But my kids love it. And we currently have 8 different versions on iTunes(which i had NOTHING to do with.) So this next year, when i hear that horrible song with its cha ching cha ching and ba bling ba bling, I will not curl up in a ball and die, but instead think of two kiddos jumping on the couch, singing. While I reminded everyone in the house I was pregnant.
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