Summer Pop Songs That Are Classics of a Seasonal Genre

Summer has always been a magical time for pop music, largely because the season is synonymous with freedom and fun for pop’s core teen audience.

That’s why the titles of more than three dozen hit singles during the rock era have started off with some variation of the word “summer”--including such landmarks as Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues” and the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Summer in the City.” The number of songs with summer as a theme or sub-theme probably reaches into the hundreds.

Varese Sarabande, the Sherman Oaks record label that recently released a retrospective on bubble-gum pop, now salutes the summer pop tradition with a CD that brings together summer-themed recordings, both hits and obscurities.

There are major omissions in this single-disc package, starting with “Summertime Blues,” the Jerry Capehart-Eddie Cochran song that was a hit not only for Cochran in the ‘50s, but also for Blue Cheer in the ‘60s and the Who in the ‘70s.

Still, the new collection--conceived and produced by Cary E. Mansfield and Bill Pitzonka--is ideal for summer parties (which means year-round in Southern California) and as a starting point for drafting your own list of the great summer songs.

*** Various artists, “25 All-Time Greatest Summer Songs” (Varese Vintage). Most summer songs are calculated novelties that are only of interest when attached to memories of a particular time in one’s life.

This package contains some of the most memorable of those novelties--including the Jaimies’ hyperactive “Summertime, Summertime” and Mungo Jerry’s good-natured “In the Summertime”--as well as Annette’s relatively anonymous “Beach Party” and Connie Francis’ “Vacation.”

The best summer songs, however, touch us with an innocence or optimism that transcends a particular era.

Here are some selections from “All-Time Greatest” that fall into the latter category--records that should catch your ear regardless of the season. They are in the order they appear on the disc.

The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Summer in the City.” Because I grew up in Southern California and associate summer records with sunshine and the beach, this gritty 1966 hit, with its talk about escaping to rooftops, always struck me as more about big-city congestion than glorious summers. By contrast, the Spoonful’s earlier hit, “Do You Believe in Magic,” seemed more like a reassuring summer song. As Los Angeles itself has become more congested over the years, it’s easier to appreciate “Summer in the City”--and the yearning for good times that is embodied in the song.

Chad & Jeremy’s “A Summer Song.” One reason this single made it into the Top 10 in 1964 was that Chad & Jeremy were part of the British rock invasion. The only reason it’s on this list, however, is that songwriters Clive Metcalfe, Keith Noble and David Stuart captured so deftly the unchecked romanticism of summer love. The lyrics are little more than greeting-card sentiments, but who can resist the devotion in such lines as, “When rain beats against my window pane / I’ll think of summer days again and dream of you.”

Martha & the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Street.” The lyrics--which call out the names of cities around the country--are simply a variation on what Chuck Berry did in “Sweet Little Sixteen,” but Martha Reeves’ driving vocal and the Motown musicians’ scorching beat are knockouts. The 1964 single--produced by Smokey Robinson--was such a marvelous blueprint that “Dancing” became a hit again over the years for the Mamas & the Papas, Van Halen and the team of Mick Jagger and David Bowie in 1985. This, however, remains the version.

The Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon.” Think of this as the great anti-summer song. The mood in this 1966 gem may be leisurely, but the tone is almost perversely dark--a piece of biting satire about a wealthy bloke who is grumbling because the tax man has taken his money and left him in his stately home without even enough dough for him to sail his yacht.

Percy Faith and His Orchestra’s “The Theme From ‘A Summer Place.’ ” This was the theme for a 1959 movie about young love, and composer Max Steiner expressed the gentle allure of summer romance so well in this instrumental that the song soared to No. 1 on the charts.

Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood’s “Summer Wine.” This team is best remembered for Sinatra’s 1966 hit “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” but this psychedelic-accented tale of summer seduction was also a goofball classic.

Gary U.S. Bonds’ “School Is Out.” Bonds came out with this 1961 hit a decade before Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out,” and it had the liberating ring of a recess bell. Among the classic lines: “I can root for the Yankees from the beaches. . . .”

Freddy Cannon’s “Palisades Park.” There’s no direct reference to summer in this 1962 hit, but “Palisades Park” is one of the most effervescent pop records ever. The single came complete with the sounds of an amusement park calliope and the screams of roller coaster riders. Trivia note: The song was written by Chuck Barris, of TV’s “The Gong Show” fame.

The Legendary Masked Surfers featuring Dean Torrence’s “Gonna Hustle You.” This song, originally recorded by Jan & Dean, was reworked in 1973 by the duo’s Dean Torrence and the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, and it is a hoot--a track with a bit of a harder edge than is normally associated with the Beach Boys.

War’s “Summer.” A decade after “Summer in the City,” this record served as the West Coast equivalent of several East Coast hits of the ‘60s by transplanting some New York R&B; sentiments into a SoCal setting. It’s moodier than the pure surf’s-up energy of the Beach Boys’ summer tales.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).

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Robert Hilburn, The Times’ pop music critic, can be reached by e-mail at robert.hilburn@latimes.com.