A Summer Playlist (without Shaggy)

Summer is a very easy time to be happy. In the last few months I was dumped (I like to refer to myself as a dumpling) and I was made redundant, but every day I step out of my door to a massive blue sky, a bougainvillea that is currently going nuts and flowering all over the joint, and air that just smells green and I am filled with joy. So here is my ultimate summer play list to augment and add sparkle to the beautiful weather, like MSG on the ramen noodles of life. I’ve ordered them for you to live out your perfect summer day. You’re welcome.

FIG JAM – Butterfingers



I can’t think of a better way to start the day than with the affirmation “Fuck I’m good, just ask me”. Butterfingers may have this whole, "we're so flippant" comedy-Skip-hop thing going on but their lyrics are actually some of the wisest I’ve ever heard. Sentiments like “Stand up strait, don’t take no shit, head is on your shoulders, shoulders on your hips” (Get Up Outta The Dirt) is a nice refreshing slap in the face of self-indulgence. Listen to this while eating brekkie and punching every soft surface in your house. You will feel good.

78 Stone Wobble – Gomez (they won't let me embed. It's because they are sneaky.)

The start of this song is exactly like diving under the first wave of summer. I was on a bus last Sunday and let me tell you, Sunday public transport users have no idea what they’re doing. Weekday commuters get it, but Sunday riders bumble onto the bus, all teeth and sweaty grins. They have no idea where they’re going or how to buy a ticket. They shout out to their friends who are sitting right beside them, all bubbling over with the joy of riding with the people. This happened on Sunday and it was really hot and the window was stuck and everyone smelled like fucking plebs yammering on about appalling nonsense. I took a breath, put my ipod on, and washed them all away with this song. It was good.

Sky Blue Sky – Wilco



So it’s still morning and time to go for a nice bike ride with this song playing. Take this time to think about, like, “love”… or something.

Take It From Me – Girlfriend



This is kind of an obscure addition as many people may not remember this flash in the pan from the early 90s, but I was IN LOVE with Girlfriend, and hearing this song again recently got me higher than I have ever been. It instantly took me back to childhood and being so completely carefree, and having SO MUCH ENTHUSIASM AND ENERGY that I could spend the entire day rollerblading up and down the driveway. Also, CHECK THEM FUCKING OUT! The clothes and the dancing! This song is EVERYTHING THAT IS GOOD ABOUT THE WORLD!!

Minha Menina – The Bees



Middle of the day. Dance in the sun. Drink a beer.

Harley and Rose – The Black Sorrows



When I was a kid I pretty much expected adult life to be a summer’s afternoon painting the deck and listening to the Black Sorrows. It didn’t occur to me that I might have other responsibilities in adult life, and that a deck only offers a finite amount of surface area to paint, and probably wouldn’t need painting every weekend. This song now consequently makes me think of being a kid, and all the things you could get away with being a kid. I’m not talking about eating icy-poles and playing under the sprinkler- I still do that. I’m talking about things like lying on by back on the floor, squirming around with my legs in the air singing the same line off some Wollongong tv jingle over and over when Mum is doing the washing up and then moo-ing like a cow when she asks me to move, or crawling around the house with my brother in my sleeping bag, like worms. The first time I voted I was like, “I gave up childhood for this?”

La Mar – The Beautiful Girls



So it’s getting to afternoon time now, and everyone’s a little bit sun weary. This song is like aloe vera for the soul (feels good but don’t get it in your mouth. Tastes horrible)

Just Like a Baby – Sly and the Family Stone



The sun’s going down, but temperatures are rising IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!!! I mean, this song is like liquid sensuality, warm honey dripping from glowing guitars onto ice-sculptures shaped like ladies. I don’t know. I’m not very poetic. BASICALLY THIS SONG MAKES ME THINK ABOUT SEX.

Festival Song – Pez and 360



This song comes on and I’m dancing and grinning like an idiot. Every time.

Sweet Summer’s Night on Hammer Hill – Jens Lekman



Party time. Fun in Scandinavia with just a hint of Supremes. Just the way I like it.

Harvest Moon - Cassandra Wilson



This song is for the end of the night, when everyone is sitting around in salty swimmers, skin tingling from sunburn, mosquito coils burning, cicadas singing, condensation dripping down fingers from cold beers in the warm night. This is when we stretch out our souls and feel the warm flowers of summer growing bigger in our hearts until they reach up to our throats and tumble down our chins in a long sigh.

Happy Summer everyone.