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Summer Romance
(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

RCA Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US,
August - September 8, 1978, Pathé Marconi Studios (EMI Studios),
Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France, June 10 - October 19, 1979 and
Electric Ladyland Studios, New York City, New York, US,
November - December 1979

Mick Jagger - lead vocals, backing vocals, electric guitar
Keith Richards - electric guitar, backing vocals
Charlie Watts - drums
Ron Wood - electric guitar, bass, backing vocals
Ian Stewart - piano

Just a few days and you'll be back in your school
I'll be sitting round by the swimming pool
You'll be studying history and you'll be down the gym
And I'll be down the pub, probably playing pool and drinking
It's over now, it's a summer romance and it's through
It's over now, it's a summer romance and it's through

Just a few days and you'll be back in your class
Sucking up the teacher and trying to get an A pass
Trying to hide your make-up and you're trying to flash your legs
Yeah, no sympathy from your spotty friends
It's over now, it's a summer romance and it's through
It's over now, it's a summer romance and it's through, over, over, summer romance

I can't help myself, help it if I'm older than you, over, over, summer romance
I can't help myself, help it if I'm older than you, over, over, summer romance

I need money so much, I need money so bad
And I can't be your mum, I don't want to be your dad
I'm a serious man, I got serious lusts
Gonna have to do away with this greasy kid stuff
It's over now, it's a summer romance and it's through
I can't help myself, I can't help it if I'm older than you, over, over, summer romance
It's just a summer romance, a summer romance, and it's through
It's over now, it's a summer romance and it's through, over, over, summer romance
Over, over, summer romance, over, over…

Produced by The Glimmer Twins

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Emotional Rescue” LP
(Rolling Stones Records CUN 39111) UK, June 23, 1980

Filler, but fun. I never skip it.

Not the best Stones track; something very slight about it. The ER album continually get's a bashing though I've always liked it; the grooves of Dance, Emotional Rescue, Send it to Me, and especially the laid back cool of Let me Go. Keef's All About You I think is wonderful, and perhaps best of all, the super cool She's So Cold. What a groove, fantastic!

I even like Indian Girl, the music is beautiful, it's the lyrics everyone seems to have a problem with; musically it's a fine track.

The extended versions of around half the album contained on bootlegs is even better.

Summer Romance is a filler, just doesn't have that spark a lot of the others have; there were so many good songs done during the sessions, ER as an album could have been so much better than it was.

A wonderful guitar-fest, with Mick at his howling best. Love it!

A messy, punky, funky track. A little bit amok on guitars as I like it ...

A brilliant, fun track!

Another gem from a sorely underrated album, Summer Romance is positively bursting with energy and vitality. Just listen to those guitars at the beginning … this is the ancient art of weaving in all its glory, as taught by the masters themselves. This is then followed by Charlie’s jet-propulsion drums, grabbing the listener by the throat and setting the perfect stage for Mick’s defiant kiss-off to the plaything who is now yesterday’s papers. The production quality here is marvelous, as is the lyrical contrast between what the narrator’s former paramour will be facing in school and the life of carefree hedonism that he himself will enjoy. And that killer line … “I’m a serious man, I’ve got serious llllllllllusssssssstsssssssssssss” … damn right, Mick!

This is gloriously punked-up country boogie, and I love it, yes I do!!

Drew

It's the best track on ER.

Great,great bass...a good track..

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jp.M
Great,great bass...a good track..

That's Ronnie, if memory serves.

So I pulled ER this weekend. One song that I really liked more than ever was Where The Boys Go. is it punk?

Another of the handful of revved up songs the Stones wrote after punk broke big in 1977 - along with Respectable, When The Whip Comes Down, Lies, Shattered, She's So Cold and Where The Boys Go.

The Stones were heading in a black sound direction in the summer of 76 and then suddenly, in autumn that year, punk changed the musical landscape and it was either time to get hip to the beat of the street or to begin disconnecting from what was going down.

Thankfully the Stones chose the former and completely revitalised their career after a handful of albums that were generally seen as dips in form following the big four that ended with Exile On Main Street.

What's interesting about Summer Romance is that the Stones for the first time in ages are singing to a younger audience instead of to their peers. They're actively trying to re-engage with a teen audience, or to be more precise, a punk teen audience.

Did it work? I'd say, very much so. From my own memory the Stones suddenly became relevant again, they were played more at London parties and for a while at least they were no longer seen as elder statemen of rock but as a still slightly dangerous gang of rock'n'roll protagonists, especially after Keith's recent run in with the Canadian Mounties.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-12-15 22:22 by Silver Dagger.

a great song off of emotional rescue. one of my laments is that this track has never been performed live by the glimmers . a missed oppurtunity of some live magic in the setlist .great vocals , great guitars and great drums .truly a masterpiece with the weaving guitars!!!!!!!!!

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TheGreek
a great song off of emotional rescue. one of my laments is that this track has never been performed live by the glimmers . a missed oppurtunity of some live magic in the setlist .great vocals , great guitars and great drums .truly a masterpiece with the weaving guitars!!!!!!!!!

They planned to play it in 1982.

Pure Stones! Fantastic!

2 1 2 0

I rather like it.

a complete throwaway track.

however, the stones show once again they can take uninspired writing and take it to breathtaking heights through their performance.

Exhibit 1, I Wanna Be Your Man.

Great track off a great album! Mick, play this live, please!

Pete.

I like every song of the loveable EMOTIONAL RESCUE and also this one.

"Summer Romance" is of the class of Stones songs that are different. But I wonder, what kind of song is it really? I venture one characterization: Possibly, it is a "reggae ballad". Not simply a ballad, not really reggae, but all the same, "reggae ballad".

Great song!

Good rockin' punk tune. Classic case of the Stones trying to out punk the punks. It's got a good bit of Ramones influence, imo. Overall better than most of the other tunes on ER. Being the second track on ER it quickly hinted the Stones weren't going to outright become a disco band, because if Emotional Rescue followed Dance, I think they would have lost me.

Their direction during this period seemed to be driven more by the stuff other musicals acts were taking, namely punk and disco and their relevance as artists who were leading the rock pack took a hit as a result. I'm sure some like Silver Dagger above believe this change kept them relevant but I was still listening to Sticky Fingers and Goats Head soup and was convinced that that brand of rock was not tapped out. And judging from the Stones live show popularity and set lists these days I'm not the only one.

I want to blame the record companies for this misdirection since they were necessary to finance and market any record back in those days and certainly had Mick's ear and were always looking for the next "new" thing. AC/DC's Back in Black probably woke a few of them up.

peace

Before I heard Handsome Girls, I imagined this is what the stones sounded like on the 78 tour when listening to songs like Summer Romance and Where The Boys Go.

I dismissed the when it came out over 2 tracks: Summer Romance and Where The Boys Go. It seemed the Stones were trying desperately to sound relevant, pandering to a young audience (and I was a teen at the time).

Add in Indian Girl and it sent me over the edge - it sounded like their worst 60s songs. Lazy, embarrassingly bad.

I actually gave my copy of the album away after a couple of listens.

At best, a pile of mostly throwaway songs. The only real original sound to me was the song ER. Though they tried to add reggae, pop, punk and blues, it all sounds contrived.

One of very few good songs on Emotional Rescue. And its still a throwaway.

Thats actually the main problem I have with ER. The songs weren't terrible. Let Me Go, Indian Girl. They had potential. The problem was the Stones were on autopilot. Every song sounded like they were just meandering through it. It was just a means to an end and thats why something like Indian Girl never reaches its full potential. Cause the Stones are mindlessly strumming through it while Jagger is almost mumbling the lyrics.

Thats why Summer Romance kind of shines. Cause the frenetic pace actually shows some life. But in the end, it is still a throwaway and doesn't measure up that well. Its just not AS BAD as the other stuff on ER.

What's contrived about All About You, Down In The Hole and She's So Cold?

I can maybe speak for Buffalo, since it seems we wrote similar things. I don't think there's anything contrived about those songs. Actually, Down In The Hole is the ONLY song I love on the album. I think its the one song that sounds real and genuine. And they put that on an album amongst all their disco songs. Which is why for years it actually passed me by, but that's a great song that sounds like the Stones.

She's So Cold I wouldn't call contrived, but I see where someone would be coming from if they were saying that. It sounds like they're trying too hard for a straight ahead rock hit. You can hear it in how different something like that sounds from Start Me Up. She's So Cold literally says nothing throughout the whole track. Its just the same repeated phrase over and over again backed by a riff that is 100% nothing special. To me, thats why I think its more the Stones sleeping through it than being contrived.

All About You is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I don't like it, but thats because its a slow boring Keith song to me. Another "turn on the recorder and let's see what I come up" with kind of deal. But I also don't think THAT'S contrived because thats what Keith songs are. Or thats at least what they became, as evidenced by all the albums that followed ER. So thats one that I think you either like Keith's songs or not.

"Desperately trying" and "throwaway"! At the same time?

In case, much in the same manner as many songs on EXILE ON MAIN STREET.

I respect that view, but I have to mention that T+A, Wanna Hold You, Too Rude and Can't Be Seen (and other non-ballads) followed after ER + that your description of SSS would have been bull's eye for SMU as well, imo

Yeah, I knew that as I was saying it. There's something about SMU that feels more charged. Maybe its the fact that its such a staple that I can't think of it any other way. But there's some extra "oomph" to it that I think the throwaway rockers on ER don't have, but that simultaneously keeps SMU from being as great of a song as Satifaction, Brown Sugar, Jumpin Jack Flash, etc.

As for the other Keith songs, I just meant the ballad ones. I love his rockers or faster ones. I'm just mentioning that this was his first slow song (if I'm correct) since Coming Down Again, and there's something about Coming Down Again that feels less stream of consciousness. Like his newer ballad songs ended up being. And All About You was kind of the first sign of those "future Keith ballads", where they are all, at least to me, pretty interchangeable. I think stuff like T&A and Can't Be Seen are much better though and, while they aren't Happy, they are pretty good.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014-12-16 02:07 by RollingFreak.

We don't disagree that much. Yep, SMU is more of a rock song than SSS.

The Worst is another more structured Keef-ballad, btw.