{{Otheruses|||Summer Song (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox song | name = A Summer Song | cover = A Summer Song Dutch sleeve.jpg | alt = | caption = Dutch release | type = single | artist = Chad & Jeremy | album = Yesterday's Gone | B-side = No Tears for Johnnie | released = July 1964 | recorded = June 1964<br/>CTS Studios | studio = | venue = | genre = * Soft rock{{sfn|George-Warren|Romanowski|Pareles|2001|p=160}}<ref name="C&J">{{cite news |title= Today in Music History – Dec. 10 |date= 10 December 2014 |newspaper= Ottawa Star |agency= The Canadian Press |url= http://www.ottawastar.com/today-in-music-history-dec-10/ |access-date= 1 June 2015 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> * folk-pop<ref>{{Cite podcast|url=https://slate.com/podcasts/hit-parade/2023/04/americas-60s-and-80s-british-invasions|title=The British Are Charting Edition|website=Hit Parade {{!}} Music History and Music Trivia|publisher=Slate|last=Molanphy|first=Chris|date=April 14, 2023|access-date=April 29, 2023}}</ref> | length = 2:38 | label = Ember (UK) <br/> World Artists Records (US) | writer = Clive Metcalfe, Keith Noble, Chad Stuart | producer = Shel Talmy | prev_title = Yesterday's Gone | prev_year = 1963 | next_title = Willow Weep for Me | next_year = 1964 }}
'''"A Summer Song"''' is a 1964 song by the English pop music duo Chad & Jeremy. The song was written by Clive Metcalfe, Keith Noble and Chad Stuart.
==Background== Like the duo's breakthrough selection, "Yesterday's Gone", "A Summer Song" is a reminiscence of a summer romance. However, "A Summer Song" eschews the Merseybeat sound of "Yesterday's Gone" in favour of a gentler folk-influenced arrangement, with the lyrics also being wistful in tone.
On ''The Steel Pier Radio Show'', Stuart recalled that his collaborators on "A Summer Song", Clive Metcalfe and Keith Noble, were a musical duo linked to Pink Floyd with whom he and Jeremy Clyde had become friendly, and that "A Summer Song" was written and composed in Stuart's flat in London: "We were sitting around jamming on four chords and we came up with 'A Summer Song'." Clive Metcalfe wrote the melody late one night and Keith later added lyrics. Metcalfe said: "We performed it one night at Tina's (a Bistro in Piccadilly London) when Chad was visiting. Chad liked the song and later re-wrote the middle, and we all reworked the lyrics, as you hear it today".<ref>{{cite interview |last=Stuart| first=Chad| subject-link=Chad & Jeremy| others=Ed Hurst |title=Interview|work=Steel Pier Radio Show |publisher=WBIG (AM) |date=October 20, 2010}}</ref> "We never thought 'Summer Song' could possibly be a single," Chad recalled another time. "It was just a pretty, romantic song. Or so we thought...you never can tell, can you?"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chadandjeremy.net/cj/lp1.htm |title=Yesterday's Gone |last=Rhoden |first=Frank Jason |date=2006 |website=Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde |publisher=Electric Paintbox |access-date=April 24, 2016 |quote=}}</ref>
The selection was one of a number to be included on the ''Yesterday's Gone'' album recorded at CTS Studios Bayswater in June 1964 under the production auspices of Shel Talmy, with Johnnie Spence conducting the orchestra.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jasonrh.com/cj/cjdisc.htm |title=Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde |website=Jasonrh.com |access-date=2016-09-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305005806/http://www.jasonrh.com/cj/cjdisc.htm |archive-date=2016-03-05 }}</ref>
"A Summer Song" was issued in both the UK and the U.S. in July 1964. The UK single version opens with Chad and Jeremy trading vocals while the U.S. single features unisonant singing throughout.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Marchese |first1=Joe |title=A Summer Song: RPM Collects Chad and Jeremy's Complete Early Years On "Yesterday's Gone" |url=https://theseconddisc.com/2016/09/22/summer-song-rpm-collects-chad-jeremys-complete-early-years-yesterdays-gone/ |website=The Second Disc |date=22 September 2016}}</ref>
==Impact== "A Summer Song" was played on ''Juke Box Jury'' and guest-judge Ringo Starr assessed the track as a "miss" (i.e., flop), with no U.S. hit potential.<ref name="Jordan">{{Cite news |last=Jordan |first=Chris |date=13 May 2011 |title=Reaching a verdict on 'Summer Song' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24647651/a_summer_song/ |newspaper=The Central New Jersey Home News |location=New Brunswick, New Jersey |page=48 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=14 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115000532/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24647651/a_summer_song/ |archive-date=15 November 2018 |url-status=live }} {{Open access}}</ref> Indeed, in the UK, where Chad & Jeremy's "Yesterday's Gone" had been a mild hit, followed by the unsuccessful "Like I Love You Today", "A Summer Song" did not reach the charts; possibly because it was released on a very small label and was largely unobtainable in the shops. An article in ''New Musical Express'' complained of that fact. However, in the United States, following the near-Top 20 success of "Yesterday's Gone", the track afforded the duo their career record, reaching #7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 the week of 17–24 October 1964.<ref name="Hot100">{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/chad-jeremy/chart-history |title=Hot 100: Chad & Jeremy |date=2017 |magazine=Billboard |access-date=5 December 2018}}</ref> "A Summer Song" also went to #2 for six weeks on the Adult Contemporary chart.<ref>{{cite book |title= Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2002 |publisher=Record Research |page=51}}</ref> It is considered one of the signature songs of the British Invasion.<ref name="Jordan"/> When Gary James asked him about it, Stuart suggested: "The American market was bigger. [...] You'd never hear something that sweet in the British charts. [...] For some reason in America it worked."<ref>{{cite web|author=Pore-Lee-Dunn Productions |url=http://www.classicbands.com/ChadStuartInterview.html |title=interview with Chad Stuart |website=Classicbands.com |date= |access-date=2016-09-27}}</ref>
"A Summer Song" also reached #6 in Canada and #49 in Australia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.4693.pdf| title=RPM Top 40&5 - October 19, 1964}}</ref> The selection is featured on the soundtracks of the films ''Rushmore'' (1998), ''The Princess Diaries'' (2001), and ''Men in Black 3'' (2012), and was used in the "ESPN's Sports Heaven" commercial that aired during Super Bowl XL in 2006. It also appeared in a 2019 TV commercial for Coors Light.
==Remakes== The Lettermen recorded "A Summer Song" for their August 1965 Capitol Records album release ''The Hit Sounds of the Lettermen'', produced by Steve Douglas. The Lettermen made a second recording of the song for ''"Alive" Again...Naturally'', a 1973 Capitol Records release which the group self-produced with Ed Cobb. Both versions of "A Summer Song" by the Lettermen abridged the original three word title to "Summer Song."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thelettermen.com/Music.html |title=The Lettermen Homepage |website=Thelettermen.com |access-date=2016-09-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907100437/http://www.thelettermen.com/Music.html |archive-date=2015-09-07 }}</ref>
Skeeter Davis's RCA Victor album release, ''Singin' in the Summer Sun'', which Chet Atkins and Felton Jarvis produced, included Davis' version of "A Summer Song". The album was recorded in January 1966 at RCA Victor Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, for release that June.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://countrydiscography.blogspot.ca/2010/12/skeeter-davis.html |title=Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies: Skeeter Davis |website=Countrydiscography.blogspot.ca |date=2010-12-13 |access-date=2016-09-27}}</ref>
In the summer of 1967, the Doodletown Pipers had an Easy Listening hit with their remake of "A Summer Song", produced by Stu Phillips. The Epic Records release reached No. 29 on the Easy Listening charts, affording the group their only chart appearance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicvf.com/song.php?id=124752 |title=A Summer Song (song by The Doodletown Pipers) ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts |website=Musicvf.com |date= |access-date=2016-09-27}}</ref> Also in 1967, the Memories, an Irish group, who became a top showband attraction and scored eight domestic chart hits, remade "A Summer Song" as their debut single, released on Rex Records.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.45cat.com/ |title=Vinyl Database - Records - Music Reviews - Discographies, Discussions, Discoveries |website=45cat.com |date= |access-date=2016-09-27}}</ref>
A cover by Swedish pop rock band the Hounds was released as a single by Gazell on 23 August 1967, backed by the song "Never Try to Catch the Sun.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Hounds - A Summer Song (song) |url=https://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Hounds&titel=A+Summer+Song&cat=s |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251020013943/https://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Hounds&titel=A+Summer+Song&cat=s |archive-date=20 October 2025 |access-date=20 October 2025 |publisher=Sverigetopplistan}}</ref> Their rendition reached No. 6 on ''Tio i Topp'' and No. 18 on Kvällstoppen in Sweden, becoming their fourth consecutive top-ten single there.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hallberg |first1=Eric |title=Tio i Topp - med de utslagna "på försök" 1961–74 |last2=Henningsson |first2=Ulf |publisher=Premium |year=2012 |isbn=978-91-89136-89-2 |edition=2nd |location=Stockholm |page=181 |language=sv |trans-title=Tio I Topp With The Eliminated On Try 1961–1974}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hallberg |first=Eric |title=Eric Hallberg presenterar Kvällstoppen i P3 |publisher=Drift |year=1993 |isbn=9-789-16-302-14-04 |edition=1st |location=Stockholm |page=176 |language=sv |trans-title=Eric Hallberg Presents Kvällstoppen on P3}}</ref>
A version of "A Summer Song"<sup>1</sup> by Laila Kinnunen was issued by Mediamusiikki in 2000 on the compilation CD ''Muistojen Kyyneleet'', which featured selections Kinnunen had recorded with the Erkki Melakoski (fi) orchestra for the Yleisradio TV series ''Kuukauden Suositut''. Kinnunen's performance of "A Summer Song" was prepped to air in that series' 1966 season.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com |title=Database and Marketplace for Music on Vinyl, CD, Cassette and More |website=Discogs.com |access-date=2016-09-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421065208/http://www.discogs.com/ |archive-date=2012-04-21 }}</ref>
A French rendering of "A Summer Song", entitled "Souviens-toi des nuits d'été", was released in 1965 by Frank Alamo on the Rivièra label. The B-side of Alamo's single "Qu'est-ce Que Peut Bien Faire Un Garçon", "Souviens-toi des nuits d'été" was also included on a four track EP and was subsequently included on the singer's 1966 self-titled album release.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.retrojeunesse60.com/frank.alamo.html |title=Frank Alamo |access-date=2012-09-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030070524/http://www.retrojeunesse60.com/frank.alamo.html |archive-date=2012-10-30 }}</ref> "Souviens-toi des nuits d'été" was also recorded by Line Renaud, her rendition being included on a four-track 1966 EP, released by Disques Line.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://linerenaud.net/ |title=Line Renaud |website=Linerenaud.net |date= |access-date=2016-09-27}}</ref>
A Finnish rendering of "A Summer Song", entitled "Kesämuisto",<sup>1</sup> was recorded by {{ill|Eero ja Jussi & the Boys|fi|the Boys (suomalainen yhtye)}} (with Jussi Raittinen and Eero Raittinen) for their 1991 Audiovox Records album release ''3 Kitaraa'' (fi), and the selection was one of several on the album recorded at Ogeli Recording Studio between January and February 1991.<ref>{{cite web|author=Raimo Öystilä |url=https://www.rmsyke.fi/ejb/index.html |title=Eero ja Jussi & The Boys / Eero Raittinen / Jussi Raittinen |website=rmsyke.fi |date= |access-date=2016-09-27}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} ;Further reading *{{cite book |last1=George-Warren |first1=Holly |last2=Romanowski |first2=Patricia |last3=Pareles |first3=Jon |title=Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll |date=2001 |publisher=Fireside |isbn=9780743201209 }}
{{Chad & Jeremy}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Summer Song, A}} Category:1964 songs Category:1964 singles Category:Chad & Jeremy songs Category:Song recordings produced by Shel Talmy Category:Songs written by Chad Stuart