"Summer in the City" is a 1966 hit single by The Lovin'
Spoonful, written by Mark Sebastian (brother of John Sebastian)
and Steve Boone. It came from their album,
Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful. It reached number one on
the Billboard Hot 100 on August 13. The song featured a series
of car horns, during the instrumental bridge, starting with a
Volkswagen Beetle horn, and ending up with a jackhammer sound,
in order to give the impressions of the sounds of the summer in
the city. The song is ranked number 393 on
Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All
Time.
The signature keyboard part is played on a Hohner Pianet,
and the organ is a Vox Continental.
When at Blair Academy, Mark Sebastian submitted the lyrics
as a poem for the literary magazine. That poem, entitled
"Summer In the City," had the refrain "but at night it's a
different world, go out and find a girl, come on, come on and
dance all night, despite the heat it'll be alright, and babe
don't you know it's a pity, the days can't be like the night,
in the summer in the city." His older brother John changed the
slower verses to a more upbeat model, keeping the title and the
refrain. Mark's part remains as he wrote it, words and music.
Bassist Steve Boone added the instrumental coda in the
middle.
The song was featured on
The Simpsonsepisode "Papa's Got a Brand New Badge",
Only Fools and Horsesepisode "Miami Twice", in the
opening scenes of the Bruce Willis action film
Die Hard: With a Vengeance, in a 2006 Gatorade
commercial, the 1994 PBS documentary
Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns, in the 1989 movie
The Karate Kid, Part III, in an advert for the UK
retailer Marks & Spencer and in a commercial for Dutch
brewer Grolsch. The song was used in the Debenhams advert
"Actor". The song was also featured on the television show
Family Ties, when Steven Keaton (Michael Gross) sings
the first few lyrics while narrating a home movie.
On a VH1 Classic episode of
Classic Albumsfeaturing
Disraeli Gearsby Cream, it was asserted that the
predominant guitar riff of the song "Tales of Brave Ulysses"
from
Disraeli Gearswas inspired by the keyboard riff of
"Summer in the City."
The song was featured in German art-director Wim Wenders'
first film, 1970's
Summer in the City. Comedians Horatio Sanz and Fred
Armisen sang the song on the 2004 season finale of
Saturday Night Liveduring a sketch that contained
different cast members singing songs that had a summer theme.
"Summer in the City" was used as background music on American
Idol Season 8 during tryouts in Phoenix, Arizona.
Cover versions of the song include BB King in 1972, Quincy
Jones in 1973, Canadian Rockers "The Stampeders" on their 1975
Album "Steamin", Tim Curry in 1982, Joe Cocker in 1993, and The
Stranglers on their 1997 album
Written in Red. In 2000, Joe Jackson released a live
album titled
Summer in the City: Live in New York, which opens with a
cover of the song. The band Eat released a cover of the song in
1989. Country music artist Larry Stewart recorded it on his
1999 album
Learning to Breathe. The Butthole Surfers covered the
song on "Music for Our Mother Ocean (MOM)" Series No. 3
released in 1999. Styx covered the song on their "Big Bang
Theory" released in 2005. It was also sampled by Dan Le Sac Vs
Scroobius Pip in 2006 for their song "First Time We Met Musik".
A modified version of the chorus was used in the third single
Thru Ya City from Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump by De
La Soul, Feat. D.V. Alias Khrist. In 2008, Barry Hay (The
leadsinger of Golden Earring) covered this song together with
the Metropole Orchestra.
The Quincy Jones cover of "Summer in the City" has been
sampled by Massive Attack in the song "Exchange" from their
acclaimed album
Mezzanine, Nightmares on Wax in his song "Night's
Introlude" on the album
Smokers Delight, and also by The Pharcyde on their
seminal hit "Passin' Me By" from the album
Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde. It has also been sampled
by Black Moon on their 1994 song "Reality" and also sampled by
Joe on the remix to his 2001 hit "Stutter". Another cover, by
the Gutter Brothers appeared on the soundtrack to the
Only Fools and Horsesfilm "Miami Twice". The song has
also been covered by UK jazz-dance act, Incognito on the 2006
album
Bees + Things + Flowers.