Songwriting Diary: Summer Remains

Some of my recent lyrics and their backstories

Me strumming my guitar among some late summer camping carnage

“The boys of summer hurt my head”

I recently wrote a song called Summer Remains about a fading summer from a long time ago.

How long ago? I remember the Don Henley song Boys of Summer playing regularly on the radio. As much I wanted to dislike its pop sensibilities, something about the nostalgic tone and theme stuck with me.

I have extreme fondness for the end of summer and the reflection that comes with this time of year. I’ve always found it inspiring. For those reasons, I think it’s the most powerful of the changing seasons.

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“The Aspen is running low on fuel

I swore to Rod I’m not going back to school”

My friend Rodney was the only one in our group of pals who had a car when we were teens, so we practically lived in it. It was a 1976 Dodge Aspen he got from his grandparents and it was our prime escape vehicle for a couple of years.

I guess gas was relatively cheap as I’m sure that old Dodge must’ve sucked it like crazy and none of us had much money. I don’t recall for sure, but I suspect it was always running low on fuel.

We went everywhere in that car.

We drove it to Montreal for rock shows, we took it to country fairs and we piled into it for week-ending trips to drive-in theatres.

And the camping trips in that car were legendary. There were usually four of us, crammed in with coolers, guitars, tents, bags of clothes and enough cases of beer to fill the massive trunk.

The Aspen, sometimes used as a towel rack

I don’t remember ever saying to Rod I would not go back to school after our summer adventures ended.

But I’m sure I thought about it.

I’m sure he did too.

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“By Autumn, you had drifted away

And I held on to summer remains”

This is inspired by Paul Simon’s ‘April Come She Will’ which he wrote after hearing a girlfriend recite a nursery rhyme called ‘The Cuckoo’. It’s a song about fading love, using small scenes from changing seasons as a metaphor.

There’s also a beautiful version of ‘Cuckoo!’ by Benjamin Britten that was famously used in Wes Anderson’s ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ (which incidentally is my favourite film of his).

All of these have a deep sense of nostalgia and longing, which I’m a complete sucker for.

Leaving a campsite in late August with the Aspen idling in the distance.

You can hear Summer Remains on Bandcamp here. And please click the follow button when you’re there:

Full lyrics for Summer Remains:

There’s not much more you need to hear
Here is the last song I’ll write this year
The boys of summer hurt my head
And I was stuck on everything you said
They’re all remains…
They’re just summer remains.

The Aspen is running low on fuel
I swore to Rod I’m not going back to school
I lost my nerve that day on the beach
We all felt summer slipping out of reach
They’re all remains…
They’re just summer remains.

The sunset reflected low in your eyes
You kissed me and tried to not act surprised
By autumn you had drifted away
And I held tight to summer remains
They’re all remains
They’re just summer remains.