Summer in the City

Infobox Single
Name =Summer in the City


Cover size =
Caption =
Artist =The Lovin' Spoonful
Album =Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful
A-side =
B-side ="Butchie's Tune"
Released =1966
Format =7" 45rpm
Recorded =
Genre =
Length =
Label =Kama Sutra KA-211
Writer =Mark Sebastian, Steve Boone
Producer =Paul Leka
Certification =
Last single ="Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind"
(1966)
This single ="Summer in the City"
(1966)
Next single ="Rain on the Roof"
(1966)
Misc ="Summer in the City" was a 1966 hit single by The Lovin' Spoonful, written by Mark Sebastian (brother of John Sebastian) and Steve Boone. It came from their album, "Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful". It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 13, 1966, replacing The Troggs' hit "Wild Thing". It remained at the top spot for three weeks, and was followed by Donovan's hit, "Sunshine Superman". The song featured a series of car horns, during the instrumental bridge, starting with a Volkswagen Beetle horn, and ending up with a jackhammer sound, in order to give the impressions of the sounds of the summer in the city.

The signature keyboard part is played on a Hohner Pianet, and the organ is a Vox Continental.

tory

When at Blair Academy, Mark Sebastian submitted the lyrics as a poem for the literary magazine. That poem, entitled "Summer In the City," had the refrain "but at night it's a different world, go out and find a girl, come on, come on and dance all night, despite the heat it'll be alright, and babe don't you know it's a pity, the days can't be like the night, in the summer in the city." His older brother John changed the slower verses to a more upbeat model, keeping the title and the refrain. Mark's part remains as he wrote it, words and music. Bassist Steve Boone added the instrumental coda in the middle.

Media appearances

The song was featured on "The Simpsons" episode "Papa's Got a Brand New Badge", "Only Fools and Horses" episode "Miami Twice", in the opening scenes of the Bruce Willis action film ', in a Gatorade commercial, the 1994 PBS documentary ', in the 1989 movie "The Karate Kid Part III", and recently in an advert for the UK retailer Marks and Spencers. The song was used in the Designers at Debenhams advert "Actor". The song was also featured on the show, [Family Ties] , when Steven Keaton (Michael Gross) sings the first few lyrics while narrating a home movie.

On a VH1 Classic episode of "Classic Albums" featuring "Disraeli Gears" by Cream, it was asserted that the predominant guitar riff of the song "Tales of Brave Ulysses" from "Disraeli Gears" was inspired by the keyboard riff of "Summer in the City".

The song gave its name to and is featured in the first film by German art-director Wim Wenders, "Summer in the City," from 1970.

Covers and samples

Cover versions of the song include BB King in 1972, Quincy Jones in 1973, Joe Cocker in 1993, The Stranglers on their 1997 album "Written in Red", and Joe Jackson released in 2000 a live album titled "". The album opens with a cover of the song. The Butthole Surfers covered the song on "Music for Our Mother Ocean (MOM)" Series No. 3 released in 1999. STYX covered the song on their "Big Bang Theory" released in 2005.

The Quincy Jones cover of "Summer in the City" has been sampled by Massive Attack in the song "Exchange" from their acclaimed album "Mezzanine", Nightmares on Wax in his song "Night's Introlude" on the album "Smokers Delight", and also by The Pharcyde on their seminal hit "Passin' Me By" from the album "Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde". Another cover, by the Gutter Brothers appeared on the soundtrack to the "Only Fools and Horses" film "Miami Twice". The song has also been covered by UK jazz-dance act, Incognito on the 2006 album "Bees + Things + Flowers."

Comedians Horatio Sanz and Fred Armisen sang the song on the 2004 season finale of "Saturday Night Live" during a sketch that contained different cast members singing songs that had a summer theme.

In the summer of 2006, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the national railroad system of the Netherlands used the song in advertisements for train service from Amsterdam to the sea.

An instrumental version of the song is used in commercials for the sports drink Gatorade.

Bobby Darin was offered the song, but turned it down and instead recorded "If I Were a Carpenter." Darin also had a hit recording of Sebastian's "Lovin' You."

In 1967, a Polish rock band, Polanie, covered the song on their first and only album. Apart from "Summer in the City," they also included Cool Jerk and many other covers of popular songs.

The Pilobolus dance company used the song for their performance on Conan O'Brien in 2008.

In 1989 the band Eat also released a cover of the song. Eat (band)

References

"The Billboard Book of Number One Hits" Published: 1988