| "A Summer Song" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Chad & Jeremy | ||||
| from the album Yesterday's Gone | ||||
| B-side | "No Tears For Johnnie" | |||
| Released | July 1964 | |||
| Format | 7" single | |||
| Recorded | June 1964 CTS Studios |
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| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 2:38 | |||
| Label | World Artists Records | |||
| Writer(s) | Chad Stuart, Clive Metcalfe, Keith Noble | |||
| Producer | Shel Talmy | |||
| Chad & Jeremy singles chronology | ||||
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"A Summer Song" is the title of a 1964 Top Ten hit by Chad & Jeremy; the song was written by group member Chad Stuart with Clive Metcalfe and Keith Noble.
Like the groups' breakthrough hit "Yesterday's Gone", "A Summer Song" is a reminiscence of a summer romance; "A Summer Song" eschews the "Merseybeat" sound of "Yesterday's Gone" in favor of a gentle folk-influenced arrangement with the lyrics also being wistful in tone.
The track was one of a number of tracks for the Yesterday's Gone album recorded at CTS Studios Bayswater in June 1964 under the production auspices of Shel Talmy with Johnnie Spence conducting the orchestra.[1]
"A Summer Song" was issued in both the UK and the US in July 1964; the UK single version opens with Chad and Jeremy trading vocals while the US single features unisonant singing throughout.[2]
"A Summer Song" was played on Juke Box Jury drawing from guest Ringo Starr the assessment of the track as a "miss" (i.e., flop) with US hit potential. Indeed in the UK - where Chad & Jeremy's "Yesterday's Gone" had been a rather mild hit since followed by the unsuccessful "Like I Love You Today" - "A Summer Song" did not reach the charts while in the US following the near Top 20 success of "Yesterday's Gone" the track would afford the duo their career record reaching #7 on 17-24 October 1964. "A Summer Song" also went to number two for six weeks on the Adult Contemporary chart [3]. Chad Stuart would suggest: "You'd never hear something that sweet in the British charts...For some reason in America it worked. I don't honestly know why" -"[perhaps] because the American market is bigger."[4]
"A Summer Song" also reached #7 in Canada and #49 in Australia. The track is featured on the soundtrack of the film Rushmore, and was used in the "ESPN's Sports Heaven" commercial that aired during Super Bowl XL.
The song has also been recorded by Skeeter Davis and the Lettermen.