Music writing prompt
What’s Your Go-To Summer Song?
Put your windows down, crank it up, sing your head clean off
Picture this:
A sun-drenched field of wildflowers swaying in the breeze. A meadow under a tree made by the heavens. A perfect shady spot for a blanket and a picnic basket where you and your young love spend a lazy afternoon.
Or…
A day by the pool filled with joyous screams and popsicles and ice cream and sunburned shoulders. A transistor radio playing the latest top-40 hits and the buttery smell of scorched Coppertone.
Or…
The sun blazing down, the open road ahead of you. Nothing but time to kill and rubber to burn. The cooler is packed and you have one bag and a single change of clothes. The windows down, your hair blowing in the hot wind…
Picking one song for a piece like this was harder than I thought. In fact, I’m starting it right now and I’m not convinced I chose properly. Sometimes you don’t hear the right song for the right moment until it hits you right in the ear hole.
The question is — what is the right song?
For this prompt the idea is simple: SUMMER.
With all the changes and our adoption into Suite 1984, we’re kicking off a new chapter at Songstories. Summer is looming just around the bend in the northern hemisphere, and we wanted to give you a little sunny homework assignment.
Hop in and put your windows down. Stick your bare feet on the dash.
Waiting On a Sunday afternoon For what I read between the lines Your lies
Sometimes it’s the feel of summer you’re looking for. As a guitarist I’ve never been married to lyrics; I can’t help but get lost in the feel of a song. This one feels like freedom. 1994 was a banner year for my own personal freedom, and one of the best years in history for music.
Maybe it’s the power of suggestion in the title that makes me think of cruising down the road with the windows down, or the major power chords in the key of E-Major. Or the fact that I did so with my out-of-my-league girlfriend at the time. I can still see her hair in her face and hear her voice singing with me as I poorly mimicked Scott Weiland.
Leavin’ On a southern train Only yesterday You lied Promises Of what I seemed to be Only watched the time Go by All of these things you said to me
Simpler times is what summer is about. Space to roam. Sitting around, soaking up sun with friends or taking road trips. It sounds like freedom just before the dawn of responsibility and adulthood.
Making out under the stars during fireworks. Staying out too late when nobody on the planet knew where you were. Picnics and flip flops and beach trips and pool days.
Tell me, dear reader, what song makes you think of summer?
Could it be Summer Breeze by Seals and Crofts? Or Summer In The City by The Lovin Spoonful? Rock Lobster? Lovely Day? Margaritaville? D’yer Mak’er? Walking On Sunshine? Weezer? Don Henley?
Tell us a story about what you feel when your favorite summer jams come on.
Breathing Is the hardest thing to do With all I’ve said And all that’s dead for you You lied Goodbye
On behalf of the entire Suite 1984 team, we would love you to tell us a story. I’m not tagging anyone because I’m lazy and it feels like summer.
*You can put it in the comments if you want, but we really want you to write us a story about your song!
Source: Musixmatch Songwriters: Robert Emile Deleo / Eric Kretz / Scott Richard Weiland / Dean Deleo Interstate Love Song lyrics © Milksongs, Triple Kauf Noplate Muzak
