Summer's Calling

This is the second of two summersongs... this one is my attempt to shake off the summertime blues and write something genuinely hopeful, complete with a spoken intro and healthy helpings of cheese and bubblegum all round.

This is an odd one really. I had a couple of riffs hanging around that desperately wanted to be together. The main piano riff started out on the guitar but worked much better on the keyboard, and it's one of those things you can endlessly invent melodies over (hence all the guitar parts and vocal harmonies). But actually getting them to gel into a song was ridiculously, ridiculously hard, and writing lyrics was even harder. I guess I'm just not a cheerful songwriter. I really wanted the spoken intro to be a bit more poetic, but I realized in the end it's a frothy little song. I almost did the spoken bit in a Barry White voice but resisted temptation.

I wanted the arrangement to be a bit sparser than my usual wall of sound stuff, but it didn't quite work out like that, as you'll see.

Vocals are a little rough here and there and I didn't break out the drums and process them separately but it's been a long day and I need a beer. NOW.

• play
• pause
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• min volume
• max volume

posted by unSane (5 comments total)

I'm gonna paste the lyrics small cos I'm not so happy with them

SUMMER'S CALLING
words/music © John Brownlow

(spoken)
Well I know what happened, baby
I know how hard it’s been
How he broke your heart
And left you standing in the rain
But it’s time to pick yourself up
Put on your prettiest dress
And some cheap sunglasses
And take a walk in the sun

We don’t have much
But it’s just enough
I know this time
We’re gonna make it
We got time on our hands
And we’re young and in love
Give us a single chance
We’re gonna take it

It took so long
But it’s almost here
The winter’s gone
And the skies are clear
It seemed sometimes
It would never end
But it’s over now
And the sun’s your friend

CHORUS
Summer’s calling
Summer’s calling
Summer’s calling
Can’t you hear?
Summer’s calling
Summer’s calling
Summer’s calling you
Loud and clear

Like a runaway train
On a southbound track
We’re gonna bail this town
And never look back
We’re gonna lose this pain
We’re gonna ditch this fear
We got the world at our feet
And it all starts here

CHORUS

Hazy days and lazy nights, we’ll be together
Holding hands and travelling light, into forever
All those half forgotten dreams we told each other
We’ll make them happen ‘cause it seems it’s now or never

CHORUS TO END

(on fade)
I heard what happened, how he broke your heart
It’s time to take a walk out in the sun

posted by unSane at 6:54 PM on July 23, 2010

Oh, yeah, and I had a GREAT bass part but I had to transpose the song up a tone to make the vocal work and it made the bass part impossible to play. I should really tune the bass up and re-record it... it was SUCH a good driving part for the chorus. Dang.
posted by unSane at 7:31 PM on July 23, 2010

Oh, man, not just a spoken word intro, but it mentions the rain! Perfect.

Nice guitar solo -- it sounds a little out of left field at first but it actually fits into place.

I like the backup vox on the chorus. Sweet. Good outro, too.

Can you maybe just capo the bass? (I'm not sure how stringed instruments work.)
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 4:37 AM on July 28, 2010

Have never tried capoing a bass -- worth a try I guess!
posted by unSane at 6:27 AM on July 28, 2010

Wow -- it totally worked. For some reason I had always assumed you couldn't capo a bass. Thank you, Karlos.
posted by unSane at 8:13 PM on July 28, 2010