Summer Song Jukebox
Vacation
Growing up, it seemed like every summer had its own signature song. Some lucky summers had several, due to either some really good experiences or just some really good music.
Continued below ....

Click title to listen.    Links updated 7//23
Connected successfully. Number of songs found: 102
1In the Good Old Summertime Julien Neel trudbol1902
2Harbor Lights Frances Langford1937
3White Cliffs of Dover Vera Lynn1940
4The Things We Did Last Summer Jo Stafford1946
5Love Letters in the Sand Pat Boone1957
6Oh, Baby Doll Chuck Berry1957
7One Summer Night The Danleers1958
8Summertime Blues Eddie Cochran1958
9Summertime, Summertime The Jamies1958
10Gotta Travel On Billy Grammer1959
11Here Comes Summer Jerry Keller1959
12See You in September The Tempos1959
13Theme From A Summer Place Percy Faith And His Orchestra1959
14On the Way to Cape May Cozy Morley1960
15You Don't Want My Love Roger Miller1960
16Let's Twist Again Chubby Checker1961
17School Is Out Gary US Bonds1961
18Coney Island Baby The Excellents1962
19Once Upon A Time Tony Bennett1962
20Palisades Park Freddy Cannon1962
21Remember Then The Earls1962
22Sealed with a Kiss Brian Hyland1962
23Vacation Connie Francis1962
24Pipeline The Chantays1963
25Surfer Girl The Beach Boys1963
26Surfin' USA The Beach Boys1963
27That Sunday, That Summer Nat King Cole1963
28The Lonely Surfer Jack Nitzsche1963
29Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days Of Summer Nat King Cole1963
30Wildwood Days Bobby Rydell1963
31Wipeout The Safaris1963
32Wonderful Summer Robin Ward1963
33All Summer Long The Beach Boys1964
34California Sun The Rivieras1964
35Dancing in the Streets Martha and the Vandellas1964
36Girls on the Beach The Beach Boys1964
37Summer Song Chad and Jeremy1964
38Under the Boardwalk The Drifters1964
39Yesterday's Gone Chad and Jeremy1964
40Summer Sounds Robert Goulet1965
41April Come She Will Simon and Garfunkel1966
42Bus Stop The Hollies1966
43Paint It Black Rolling Stones1966
44Summer in the City The Lovin' Spoonful1966
45Summer Wind Frank Sinatra1966
46Summertime Billy Stewart1966
47Sunny Afternoon The Kinks1966
48The Girls in Their Summer Dresses Harry Belafonte1966
49If You're Going to San Francisco Scott McKenzie1967
50Ode to Billy Joe Bobbie Gentry1967
51Summer Rain Johnny Rivers1967
52First of May Bee Gees1968
53Indian Lake The Cowsills1968
54Hot Fun in the Summertime Sly & the Family Stone1969
55In the Summertime Mungo Jerry1970
56Theme From Summer Of '42 Michel Legrand1971
57Saturday in the Park Chicago1972
58School's Out Alice Cooper1972
59Summer Breeze Seals & Croft1972
60 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) Bruce Springsteen1973
61Summer (The First Time) Bobby Goldsboro1973
62Beach Baby First Class1974
63Night Moves Bob Seger1975
64More Than a Feeling Boston1976
65Summer War1976
66The Boys Are Back in Town Thin Lizzy1976
67You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth Meatloaf1976
68Rockaway Beach The Ramones1977
69Scenes from an Italian Restaurant Billy Joel1977
70Daylight Katy Gordon Lightfoot1978
71Summer Lovin' John Travolta, Olivia Newton John1978
72Summer Night City ABBA1978
73Fire Lake Bob Seger1980
74Jersey Girl Tom Waits1980
75Our Last Summer ABBA1980
76Suddenly Last Summer The Motels1983
77Twisting by the Pool Dire Straits1983
78Boys of Summer Don Henley1984
79Cruel Summer Bananarama1984
80Desert Moon Dennis DeYoung1984
81Magic The Cars1984
82Summer Of '69 Bryan Adams1984
83Love at the Five & Dime Nanci Griffith1986
84Copperline James Taylor1988
85Endless Summer Nights Richard Marx1988
86Turn the Radio Up (Make Me Lose Control) Eric Carmen1988
87Summertime DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince1991
88Fields of Gold Sting1993
89That Summer Garth Brooks1993
90How Bizarre OMC1997
91Summer Girls LFO1999
92Graduation (friends forever) Vitamin C2000
93Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me) Train2001
94Summer Skin Death Cab for Cutie2005
95All Summer Long Kid Rock2008
96Girls In Their Summer Clothes Bruce Springsteen2008
97California Gurls Katy Gurls2010
98For the Summer Ray Lamontagne & The Pariah Dogs 2010
99Gone in September Mike Posner2010
100Someone Like You Adele2011
101Summertime Sadness Lana Del Rey2012
102Waiting for the Summer VHS Collection2016
A prized few of these songs endure just as long as memory does, bookmarks of a fleeting, critical moment in our lives. Just as often as not, intertwined around some captivating, or at least entirely comfortable, creature of the opposite sex.

For me, such a summer relationship could make time seem to stand still—for a week or two at a time anyway.

This list may not capture all the high notes of your summer youth, but you can fix that. Just drop us a line. We''ll endeavor to incorporate your (musical) experiences, within reason.

And if, perchance, the song left out was one high note you thought you and I had shared together, then my sincerest apologies. My memory is not what it used to be.

No guarantees this list will carry you all the way to next summer. There's only 90 some songs here. But used judiciously—no point in excessive reminiscence anyway; it can be painful—you'll make it thru the fall and into the cold, lonely nights of winter.

At which point you will be on your own. Alone with your memories. Just as you were before.

So, hey, enjoy.
Bonus Selection: The power of sight plus the power of sound. MTV's premier broadcast, when the music channel debuted at 00:01am, Saturday, Aug. 1, 1981. The VO intro played over rocket-launch and moon-landing imagery coupled with an animation of the soon-to-be globally recognized MTV logo: "Ladies and Gentlemen, Rock and Roll." The first cut played was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles (The Age of Plastic, rel. 1979, Island Records.)



For feedback, including your summer song suggestions, email websitesammy. Just click here.

Play entire songlist: