My Personal Songs of the Summer

Myra Dodd
3 hours ago
3 min read

There has been much contention over this topic online, and I am here to shut it down with some answers once and for all. For me at least...

Album Cover: "Heavy Metal" by Cameron WInter

Love Takes Miles - Cameron Winter

"Something will take you by your pants and swing you over its head and kick you back and forth."

Like so many other bright individuals, I was severely Geese-pilled this summer with "Love Takes Miles" being the cream of the crop for me. To me, this song is about the love that we find and the love that finds us. A song about wanting, and an equal parts uplifting and devastating little track in a jangly package. This was my first summer home since moving away for college, and I felt way more attuned to the love all around me. When listening, I feel like I'm experiencing bottled up love and warmth.

Album Cover: "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out" by Yo La Tengo

Our Way to Fall - Yo La Tengo

"With all our might, we'll try to make it ours"

Yo La Tengo finally clicked for me this summer, and God, this whole album is gonna be an all timer. This track in particular is extremely simple, and yet it's one of the most beautifully comforting songs I've ever heard. Told through the narrative of two people beginning to fall in love, it's rather understated lyrically but provides the perfect backdrop as the lovely instrumentals take center stage. In the context of the album, it feels bright. Like the sun is just beginning to peak out after a mid-summer day rain. I spent as many hours over the summer enraptured by this feeling as I could.

Album Cover: "Illinois" by Sufjan Stevens

The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! - Sufjan Stevens

"I can tell you- the telling gets old, terrible sting, terrible storm, I can tell you the day we were born"

I think it would be okay to deem this the best song of all time. It makes me want to rip all of my hair out each and every time I listen, and I mean that as the highest compliment. Every verse in this song feels like a gut punch, and then the swirling instrumentals kick in, and I'm caught between ascending and crying. The use of the wasp sting as a metaphor for regret allows Sufjan to look back at his past, making these devastating feelings real and tangible in a way a child could understand. Something that he might not have at the time, as he proclaims, "We were in love!" multiple times throughout the song, as if he is just discovering it himself. I've always pictured the narrative taking place at a summer camp. A setting that I think perfectly complements the theme of the loss of innocence upon growing up. This presents a further separation from Sufjan's youth and relationship. A place, time, and person he can never go back to.

Saturday Night - The Blue Nile

"Who do you love? Who do you really love?"

My absolute favorite album and find this summer has got to go to The Blue Nile's 1989 album Hats. This song is a dazzling synth pop masterpiece. It's an album closer and it feels like one as it is heavily reflective, continuously posing the question "Who do you love?" A lot of this album is about loneliness and love in the city, with the backdrop of gorgeous synth and string melodies. I've seen it referred to as "the ultimate night album" on multiple occasions, and I, of course, agree, but I think those people fail to realize it hits at literally any time.