Summer Wine

"Summer Wine" is a song written by Lee Hazlewood. It was originally sung by Suzi Jane Hokom and Lee Hazlewood in 1966, but it was made famous by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood in 1967. The Nancy & Lee version was originally released on Sinatra's Nancy in London album in late 1966 and later as the B-side of her "Sugar Town" single in December 1966. The song itself became a hit, reaching #49 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in April 1967. In early 1968 "Summer Wine" was included on Sinatra and Hazlewood's album of duets, Nancy & Lee LP. It was the first of Sinatra and Hazlewood's string hit duets.

In May 2017, retail clothier, H&M, used Nancy & Lee's version in their "The Summer Shop 2017" ad campaign^[1] and as a result, the track debuted at #1 on Billboard magazine and Clio's Top TV Commercials chart for May 2017.^[2]

Lyrically, "Summer Wine" describes a man, voiced by Hazlewood, who meets a woman, Sinatra, who notices his silver spurs and invites him to have wine with her. After heavy drinking, the man awakens hungover to find his spurs and money have been stolen by the mysterious woman; the subtext of which being they experienced intercourse and as payment she took his "silver spurs, a dollar and a dime". He then declares a longing for more of her "wine". One interpretation is that the man singing the song was seduced by the woman in order to steal his money and belongings. Another interpretation, sometimes cited, is that the song contains an allegorical description of drug use and that the lyric "she reassured me with an unfamiliar line" specifically refers to cocaine though that is anomalous for the apparent period setting.

Covers

The song was later covered by Demis Roussos with Nancy Boyd, The Corrs featuring Bono of U2, Ultima Thule, Gry with FM Einheit and his Orchestra, Anna Hanski & Lee Hazlewood, Scooter (on the 2000 album Sheffield), Jack Grace and Moimir Papalescu and The Nihilists (with the male and female parts switched). A cover version by Ville Valo & Natalia Avelon, recorded for the soundtrack of Das Wilde Leben, was the 4th best-selling single of 2007 in Germany^[3] and was certified Platinum by the BVMI.^[4]

"Summer Wine" was also covered by Ed Kuepper and Clare Bowditch on the cult Australian music game show RocKwiz.^[5]

A French cover called Vin de l'été was released by Marie Laforêt & Gérard Klein in 1969.

A Spanish cover called "Néctar de Verano" was released by Kela Gates -

A Hebrew cover called also "Yen Kayitz" (=Summer Wine) was released by Chava Alberstein and Dani Litani in 1976 to the translation of Ehud Manor.

Hong Kong singer Mimi Lo covered this song in her album "You're my Everything" in 2007.^[6]

A Flemish cover called Toverdrank (English: Potion) (on the album Een man zoals ik (English: A man like me)) was performed by Guido Belcanto and An Pierlé in 2011.^[7]

Two different German cover versions were released by Roland Kaiser (with Nancy Sinatra) in 1996 and by Claudia Jung & Nik P. in 2011.

Slovak cover called Mladé víno (Young wine) was released by Marcela Laiferová and Zdeno Sychra in 1967.

An Icelandic cover called Sumarást (Summer love) was released by Hljómsveit Ingimars Eydal in 1968 and by Helgi Björnsson og Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir in 2007 for the movie Astrópía.

On April 18, 2013, Lana Del Rey released a music video for her and Barrie-James O'Neill's (from Kassidy) cover of "Summer Wine" by Lee Hazlewood.^[8]

The Canadian singer Cœur de pirate made a cover for "Summer Wine", which was used on the "Trauma" TV Series soundtrack.

References