Song of the Day – Summer of Love
The SF Chronicle is currently running a series on the Summer of Love, aka, 1967. This is the 40th anniversary of that crazy summer, just one in the hippy era at Haight Ashbury in San Francisco. When I see those words, Summer of Love, part of my mind thinks of the actual cultural reference, but then I start thinking about when I first moved to San Francisco, back in 1987. It was the 20th anniversary of the Summer of Love, and San Francisco, quite the provincial little city, always in love with itself, was all atwitter, just as it is now. I moved to a flat just a few blocks from Haight Ashbury, and spent much time perusing the shops (both upscale and second hand) and trying to find people qualified to cut my hair. Nowadays, the Haight is still mostly filled with locally owned businesses, and there are always stoned looking teens hanging out with the truly homeless, looking for a handout. There are also a couple of chain stores there, most notably a Ben and Jerry’s scoop shop and a Gap. I guess if you’re going to have an ice cream shop that isn’t Double Rainbow, Ben and Jerry’s tries to capture that same Summer of Love vibe. And if you’re going to have a stupid corporate clothing giant there, it might as well be Gap, since they’re based in SF. Anyway, I remember getting to know the Haight, and feeling like it was my own neighborhood, and really liking that late summer of 1987.
The other thing that phrase, Summer of Love, makes me think about is the B-52s song by the same name. Some of my readers are old enough that the B-52s seemed kind of edgy, kinda punkish, with Rock Lobster and Song for a Future Generation either floating your boat or kinda worrying you about what the world was coming to. Others, my younger readers, remember them as the more boring, milquetoast band that inflicted Love Shack upon the world. But for me, the B-52s is Bouncing off the Satellites, and the song is Summer of Love. Imagine you’re 21, it’s your last summer at home before moving to the big city, you have your candy apple red rag top VW bug, and it’s a hot dry summer in the valley. You hang out with your friends and plan the future. One of my soundtracks for that summer, in my mind, (along with Depeche Mode and The Cure) is the B-52s. So, in honor of that crazy summer 40 years ago, and my own summer 20 years ago, here’s your song of the day, Summer of Love (click to listen!)
Extra Bonus Track! Just because you NEVER hear this song on the radio, and I think it sounds fresh and tasty and summertime-ish, I’m throwing it in for good measure. Girl From Ipanema Goes to Greenland (click to listen!). Enjoy!
11 Comments
Gina
I love the B-52’s, old person that I am. Both of those songs were favorites of mine when they came out.
Thanks for the morning happy!
Ml
I’m a fan of the B-52’s as well 🙂
Here’s to the Summer of Love and the year I was born!
MsMamma
Wonderful post! What a nice little slice of a memory! Who could forget “Rock Lobster”…
ally bean
The idealism of the summer of love is in such harsh contrast with the fanaticism of the world today. I suddenly feel like I need to tie-dye something, just as a quiet rememberance of how once upon a time people thought love could make the world a better place.
Beenzzz
I love “Girl From Ipanema GOes to Greenland!” I think that’s their best song. 🙂
Joan
I think of the 2 Dead shows I went to one summer in the late 80’s.
Maya's Granny
Ah, harking back to your past and mine at the same time. Although, I had left the hippy movement by 1967.
Py Korry
Love this album! Overall, it much more mellow than the other B-52s albums, and that’s because guitarist Ricky Wilson was dying when this recording was being made.
It was certainly their “transition” album. After that it was “Love Crap/Shack” and I started to really fall out of love with them…
lalunas
Summer Love reminds me of the Greece song with Oliva Newton-John & John Travolta. Hey lets go and you can sing the B52 song and I sing the Greece song and we’ll walk up and down the Haight.
Starshine
I’m having my own summer of love by gettin’ hitched this summer!
Lindsey
I just recently went to SF and saw a whole bunch of advertising about the Summer of Love reunion. I know that I’m a bit young to be a part of it (I’m only 16) but I went through a huge stage where I was obsessed with everything sixties, from the early sixties (marilyn monroe, andy warhol) to the late sixties (summer of love, the vietnam war, protests) and everything in between (hunter thompson, nixon, the fabulous music–my favs being janis, rollingstones, jimi hendrix, and bob dylan). Now I’m mellowing out over that whole thing, but I still hope I can make it over for the reunion. I go to SF every couple months anyways so I think I’ll be able to (my dad is a little hyped up about colleges, namely stanford where he’s an alum, so it’s college visits for me).