“Get up in the morning
Check out the weather
If it looks like sun
I get my things together
Throw some cutoffs on
Got my tank-top and tennies now
And head for the beach.”—The Raspberries, “Cruisin’ Music,” written by Eric Carmen, for the band’s album Starting Over (1974)
Some might say that “Hot Fun in the Summertime" is the greatest song that Brian Wilson should have written but didn't. My own nomination is for this one, the last chart entry before lead singer Eric Carmen left The Raspberries. It’s got all the essentials for The Summer Song—sun, sand, cars, and, of course, girls.
When he wasn’t channeling F. Scott Fitzgerald (see the song titles “Boats Against the Current” and “Winter Dreams”), Carmen was literally channeling the Beach Boys on his transistor radio. If you don’t believe me, try listening to “She Did It” from his Boats Against the Current solo album, or, in his Raspberries days, his take on the romantic dilemma of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?”, “Let’s Pretend.”
(A word of advice: Steer clear of the cover version of the latter by The Bay City Rollers. While Carmen sings the tune with conviction, you’ll probably feel the goo coming off your hands from the overhyped Seventies answer to the Beatles.)
A week ago, Carmen turned 60. It’s hard to believe that the composer of “Go All the Way,” “Ecstasy,” “Tonight,” and “I Wanna Be With You” is now a settled-down family man.
But the sound of this particular Raspberries single is so fresh that it’s easy to overlook the time-capsule lyrics (“Those suntanned girls/Are lookin' outta sight/A beach-drenched chick/Would never get uptight”).
If there were any justice in this world, the Raspberries would have been hailed as the greatest thing to hit pop since—well, The Beach Boys. But life isn’t fair.
The hell with it. Find this song on iTunes (or, in my case, a Raspberries CD), and play it loud.
Summer’s here—late, it’s true, for the New York area—but not too late to “check out the weather,” hop in the car and catch a wave.
Some might say that “Hot Fun in the Summertime" is the greatest song that Brian Wilson should have written but didn't. My own nomination is for this one, the last chart entry before lead singer Eric Carmen left The Raspberries. It’s got all the essentials for The Summer Song—sun, sand, cars, and, of course, girls.
When he wasn’t channeling F. Scott Fitzgerald (see the song titles “Boats Against the Current” and “Winter Dreams”), Carmen was literally channeling the Beach Boys on his transistor radio. If you don’t believe me, try listening to “She Did It” from his Boats Against the Current solo album, or, in his Raspberries days, his take on the romantic dilemma of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?”, “Let’s Pretend.”
(A word of advice: Steer clear of the cover version of the latter by The Bay City Rollers. While Carmen sings the tune with conviction, you’ll probably feel the goo coming off your hands from the overhyped Seventies answer to the Beatles.)
A week ago, Carmen turned 60. It’s hard to believe that the composer of “Go All the Way,” “Ecstasy,” “Tonight,” and “I Wanna Be With You” is now a settled-down family man.
But the sound of this particular Raspberries single is so fresh that it’s easy to overlook the time-capsule lyrics (“Those suntanned girls/Are lookin' outta sight/A beach-drenched chick/Would never get uptight”).
If there were any justice in this world, the Raspberries would have been hailed as the greatest thing to hit pop since—well, The Beach Boys. But life isn’t fair.
The hell with it. Find this song on iTunes (or, in my case, a Raspberries CD), and play it loud.
Summer’s here—late, it’s true, for the New York area—but not too late to “check out the weather,” hop in the car and catch a wave.
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