It was 1966, and the Lovin' Spoonful band released a single that would top the charts in America, Canada, and New Zealand. The song, 'Summer In The City,' reached number three on the New Zealand charts and eight on the UK singles chart. The hit song was a collaborative effort between the Lovin Spoonful's bassist, Steve Boone, John Sebastian, the band's frontman, and Mark Sebastian, John's brother, who was not a group member. The song contrasts life in the city during the day and night. It describes how hot and crowded it is during the day, but the city takes on a different life at night, and the opportunities are endless.
John Sebastian based the song on a poem that Mark had written when he was only 15 years old. The poem had an excellent chorus, and John had to create some tension at the beginning to make it more significant. Boone added the middle eight, which John thought sounded like the Gershwin composition, "An American in Paris." The band then incorporated city ambiance into the track, including car horns and traffic noise. They even hired a soundman to get the perfect soundscapes of the city, including street sounds.
The band was particular about the traffic sounds and wanted the scene to build. So they start softly, and the horn at the song's beginning comes from a Volkswagen Beetle, which eventually grows into a gridlock nightmare. The sound of car horns and traffic was the first time these sounds appeared on a hit song. Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff used this idea to produce the Soul Survivors track "Expressway (To Your Heart)" a year later.
The song's release was enormous, and the Lovin' Spoonful's hit was pure summer feeling, according to one YouTube user's comment. Over fifty-five years later, it remains arguably one of the best songs ever written about the weather, in this case, heat. Another user commented that the song is timely, especially now that much of the world is experiencing high summer temperatures.
The Lovin' Spoonful's 'Summer In The City' is a unique song that combines Mark Sebastian's youthful imagination, John Sebastian's talent, and Boone's middle eight to create a hit that would remain relevant for over fifty-five years. The incorporation of city ambiance into the track was a new concept at the time, and it opened the door for other musicians to experiment with city sounds in their music.
Watch the Lovin' Spoonful's 'Summer In The City' video to experience the 60s era in New York, where the song was based. The Lovin' Spoonful's 'Summer In The City' song remains a masterpiece that reminds us of the beauty and chaos of city life then and now.
