Okay, so the summer might have temporarily abandoned us but we here at entertainment.ie currently scouring the interwebs to see if there are any sort of ritualistic dances we can perform to entice our solar friend out from behind those clouds. In the meanwhile, below is our attempt at a selecting a handful of songs to put you back in that summery mood even if the skies are currently a little greyer than we might like!

 

LCD Sounsystem - 'Drunk Girls'

LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy has described this song, the first single from the band's third (and last) album This Is Happening as "dumb", but adding that he likes "dumb, short stuff" and judging by this excellent tune, so do we. A four minute Bowie-esque party of a song, 'Drunk Girls' is exactly the sort of song that would serve as a perfect soundtrack to an afternoon lazing (or dancing!) in the sun.

 

Len - 'Steal My Sunshine'

Remember Len? No? Well, that's hardly surprising but odds are this track will bring you back to the summer of 1999 when this tune was all over the airwaves. It reached #3 in the Irish charts and then, a success which the Canadian band have been unable to replicate since.

 

Django Django - 'Life's a Beach'

There probably aren't many nations less qualified to sing about the virtues of a beach than the Scots, but that's what Scottish art-rockers Django Django have done here and the resulting track 'Life's a Beach' is a belter.

 

Toots & The Maytals - 'Funky Kingston'

A classic. You can practically feel the rays of sunshine emanate from this, one of the most famous reggae songs ever committed to tape. Despite its ripe old age (it was released over FORTY years ago) the song is still a bona fide summer classic.

 

The Beach Boys - 'Heroes and Villains'

It might seem a slightly odd choice to select this as our sole Beach Boys representative on the list, given that they have a discography littered with songs about all things surfing but 'Heroes and Villains' represents the best of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys' songwriting prowess even if it quite literally almost drove Wilson mad in the process.

 

 

The Beatles - 'Here Comes The Sun'

Arguably George Harrison's best known Beatles contribution, 'Here Comes The Sun' is one of the few Beatles songs to be recorded without any influence whatsoever from John Lennon who was recovering from a car crash when the song was written and recorded in the summer of 1969.

 

 

The Lovin' Spoonful - 'Summer In The City'

Few songs accurately convey exactly what it feels like to be in the sweltering, gritty heat of a big city in the middle of the summer as this one from The Lovin' Spoonful. You can practically feel the sun's rays coming out of the speakers when you put this one on.

 

 

Creedence Clearwater Revival - 'Proud Mary'

Creedence Clearwater Revival's John Fogerty had an uncanny knack of penning rock n' roll tunes which were eminently danceable. One of CCR's biggest hits, 'Proud Mary' was covered by everyone from the likes of Solomon Brune and Ike and Tina Turner.

 

 

Ice Cube - 'Today Was A Good Day'

An intrepid blogger did some thorough investigating and concluded, based on the song's lyrics, that the good day to which Ice Cube is referring to in this song was January 20th, 1992. On that date the LA Lakers beat the Seattle Supersonics on a smogless day in LA, for example. Read the full story here.

 

 

Jurassic 5 - 'Concrete Schoolyard'

We could have chosen any one of several Jurassic 5 songs for our list, eventually opting for 'Concrete Schoolyard' from the LA hip-hop ensemble's 1998 debut album. Chali2na, in our humble opinion, is the owner of the best vocals in the hip-hop and they're expertly displayed within.