Pure Pop’s Songs of Summer 2023

By Henry Lipput

As we approach what used to be called the dog days of summer (now most of the season is being dogged by the high temps), I wanted to put together a playlist of recently released summer-themed songs and a couple of classics.

The playlist starts out with songs that celebrate the joys of summer (“Summer,” “Summer Dreamin’,” “Summer Blue,” and “The Version” [which doesn’t mention summer but in my review I called it “a horn-driven burst of sunshine” and wouldn’t you just love to hear it blasting from a car driving by?]). It’s the feeling you got when school was out for the next few months and except for maybe mowing your parents’ lawn you just hung out with friends. For the rest of us maybe we can get some time off from work and enjoy the longer days spending time with family and friends.

There’s a song about summer love and falling for someone at the local pool (“Right in the Middle of Summer”) and two songs that reflect what Nat King Cole called the hazy, lazy days of the season (“Sunlounger” and “Summer Be Gone”). Then we have two classics: a song about what it’s like to live in the concrete jungle (“Summer in the City”) and another classic as a nod to the dog days (“Hey Bulldog” – did you really think I’d put together a playlist that didn’t have a Beatles’ song?).

All these songs can be found on the accompanying Spotify playlist.

But because not everything is on Spotify, I’m also including another celebration of the season, “Summer Is Here,” which is available on Bandcamp (as are most of the songs on this playlist so you can get yourself a download and support indie music).