Well-Tuned: It’s Getting Hot In Here, So Let’s Make A Playlist

As of this writing the eastern half of the United States is experiencing an early heatwave. Record temperatures are giving everyone a taste of what is to come this summer. Some welcome it, some do not. This will be my first summer living in the Pee-Dee region of South Carolina. After enjoying the mild winter, I have been warned over and over about what is to come. The one description I keep hearing from the locals is Hell’s Front Porch. Well, I have sat on that porch a time or two in my life, so I am not too concerned about it. Being an hour from the Atlantic also makes the coming torridness palatable to say the very least.

Thirty-five years ago, I experienced my first southern summer when I left the mountains of West Virginia for the first time. One of my early jobs was as an industrial roofer working in the extreme heat while living in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a city that would be my home for five years. Each day it was hot tar, torches and lifting heavy chunks of the old roof while I toiled away in the oppressive heat, occasionally on top of some of Winston’s tallest buildings. The temperatures would reach numbers that I would compare to the conditions that the guys who worked the blast furnace in the steel mill back home had to endure. The heat dictated when we started our day, which was usually well before sunrise, to try to get off the roof before the oppressive late afternoon sun would start bearing down. In the evening I would come home, fire up the oil lamp and sit on my porch with a hot chisel to scrape the tar and asphalt from the bottom of my boots. It was a hot, heavy and nasty summertime job.

As the summers came and went I got used to the heat. Hell, I grew up with no air conditioning and yeah, that was in West Virginia, but I am telling you, it got hot. I slept on the floor a lot back then, if you want to call it sleep. There is nothing quite as miserable as trying to sleep in the heat. You learn to adapt.

Eventually I moved back home to West Virginia, and it would not be long until I got to experience a different kind of heat. The kind of heat you cannot escape until your shift is up, working in a plant that contained block long ovens running 24/7 used to bake coatings onto steel sheets that would eventually become jar lids. No ventilation, low ceilings, fans that felt like blow dryers. You would lose ten pounds each summer just sweating in there. Eventually, I got used to that heat too.

Summer is my favorite time of year. As a kid I never spent a minute inside. Even if it rained, I would sit outside on the front porch swing or out on the back porch to watch the storms, especially at night. I spent most of my time at the local pool. Back then it was so crowded that it was elbow to elbow in the water most days. They would play the radio over the public address system throughout day. Even now, when I hear certain songs it takes me back to those fun times hanging out with my friends at the pool.

Today, I was reminded of those summers when I heard Chicago’s Saturday in the Park playing as I was driving home from work. It got me thinking about some of the other songs that either remind me of summertime or just heat in general. Heat is not always bad. Some songs just capture the mood and make you feel the heat in a more smoldering, carnal way too. That is a heat that just about everyone likes!

There are thousands of songs related to the heat, whether it is the kind the sun generates or type that comes about when you’re with or want to be near that someone special, the subject is well covered in all genres of music. In my mind, one group comes to the forefront when I think summer. The Beach Boys. Is there any other band or artist whose catalogue is loaded with songs pertaining to summertime activities other than maybe Jimmy Buffett? Just like what Keith Sweat or maybe Barry White is to that other kind of heat I mentioned above. When you come across each of these four artists, you know exactly what you are going to get before you ever hear them sing one note.

So, as I sat out back in my newly built, screened-in gazebo enjoying another South Carolina sunset, I began to reminisce back through the years to create a playlist of some “hot” songs. Of course, there are the obvious ones that you might expect but like the last time I put a playlist together here at Well-Tuned, I have decided to avoid the tried and true for the most part. Some are about the weather, some are just…hot. Each has their own feel and takes me back to summers of the past and the memories that are brought to life whenever I hear them. I hope you recognize some of them and if you do not, make sure to check them out…

In no particular order:

Somewhere Down The Crazy River-Robbie Robertson

Some Like it Hot-Power Station

In the Summertime-Mungo Jerry

The Heat is On-Glenn Frey

Sun is Shining-Bob Marley

Hot Fun in the Summertime-Sly and the Family Stone

Summer in the City-The Lovin’ Spoonful

Hot ‘Lanta (At the Fillmore East, 1971) The Allman Brothers Band

On Fire-Van Halen

Here Comes The Sun-The Beatles

The Boys Of Summer-The Ataris

Suddenly Last Summer-The Motels

Too Hot to Handle-UFO

Summer Breeze-Seals and Crofts

Lovely Day-Bill Withers

They say you can dress for the cold, you cannot for the heat. Well, I will take one of my fishing shirts, shorts and Hey Dude shoes over the winter garb any day of the week dear reader. I left that, along with my snowblower, back in West Virginia. I’ll think about all that impedimenta as I sip margaritas while sitting in a rocker on Hell’s Front Porch later this summer…listening to some good tunes of course.

Till next time…

E Pluribus Unum