Summer Looks So Good On You

There is something absolutely wonderful about a sunny day and a great song being played on the radio. I think we have all, at one time or another, dreamed of driving to the beach on a sunny day in our convertible with the top down and a light-hearted, feel-good song blasting on the car radio. I kind of like to refer to it as “the Beach Boy effect.

There is something absolutely wonderful about a sunny day and a great song being played on the radio. I think we have all, at one time or another, dreamed of driving to the beach on a sunny day in our convertible with the top down and a light-hearted, feel-good song blasting on the car radio. I kind of like to refer to it as “the Beach Boy effect.”

A couple of years ago I found myself living that moment one day while driving home from work. It was a sunny and hot July afternoon, and I had the radio up louder than it probably should have been. I must admit, my KIA Rio was not quite the 65 Mustang convertible I envisioned myself driving, nor was my congested bumper to bumper choke-filled commute really holding up to a California coastal road with the beach and Pacific Ocean following alongside the car, but my imagination was fueled by the music, and it was taking me there nonetheless! Ah yes, the power of music!

The song that caught my attention that day, and caused me to crank that radio up, was Lisa Loeb’s “Summer.” It could have been Katrina and the Waves “Walking on Sunshine,” the Beach Boys “California Girls,” or countless other songs that all of us associate with the sun and fun, but on this particular day, for me, it just happened to be Lisa Loeb. Without realizing it, I found myself singing along with Lisa at the top of my lungs, which I firmly believe is what one should do when a great summer song comes on the radio in the middle of a July heatwave. It was right then that I decided I needed to write my own feel-good summer song!

During the rest of my commute home that day I started thinking of all kinds of ideas, and it was the notion of a new love emerging in the summer that seemed to really stick. I then thought of how beautiful everything seems to look on a clear summer day and equated it to how beautiful a new love seems to all of us. Merging the two concepts into one, the opening line, “Summer Looks So Good On You,” and ultimately the title of the song, emerged. When I got home, I quickly ran to my acoustic guitar and immediately started strumming jangly open chords. My goal was to keep it all light and fun. About 30 minutes later, I had the entire song written, lyrics and all. This is not the norm for me as most of my songs take a lot longer, but when I am as inspired as much as I was that day, the song just kind of came out. “Summer Looks So Good On You” is a feel-good song that celebrates the proverbial promises of love, hope, and happiness that a beautiful summer day often seems to provide us! --RC