By Frank “Smokin” Truat
Although summer may still be technically with us until September 22nd this year, most of us see Labor Day as the unofficial end of summer. The warm days will still be with us, but locally we shift into those activities that will take us into autumn. Nights will be a bit cooler, days a bit shorter, the kids will be back in school, The NFL gets rolling and high school football begins. I always dreaded the end of summer as a kid. I always missed the freedom that summer was all about and as the calendar hit the end of August, the days of total freedom were almost over.
This time of the year always reminds me of two songs about guys in love who will have closure now that September is days away. “Sealed With a Kiss” is a song released by the Four Voices for the summer of 1960. The first hit version of the song would come out two years later in the summer of 1962 sung by Brian Hyland peaking at number 3. As families would take off during summer vacation, many teens would face the hardship of losing their steady for the entire summer. With the lyrics “Though we gotta say goodbye for the summer, darling I promise you this, I’ll send you all my love, every day in a letter, sealed with a kiss,” you can feel the pain for this poor guy whose summer is bound to be one of loneliness and concern. To make matters worse, he had to mail a letter to her since texting and cell phones were decades in the future! Gary Lewis and The Playboys version of that song hit number 19 in 1967 and then along came Bobby Vinton in 1972 with his version also peaking at number 19, starting a comeback career for Bobby in the 1970’s. The other song that will find closure is “See You in September” by the Tempos, released in the summer of 1959, but made popular by the Happenings in 1966 and coincidentally also peaking at number 3. The lyrics say it all…”Summer vacation is taking you away. Have a good time, but remember, there is danger in the summer moon above. Will I see you in September, or lose you to a summer love?”
Yes, it was the worries of many teenagers back in the day. For those in love today, thankfully summer vacations don’t last all summer, usually about a week or two at most, and with texting and zoom are we really all that far apart? Boy, it must have been a cruel summer for those facing these uncontrollable events. You’ve got to believe that all was well for those young lovers and that they reunited in September. Did I actually find something nice to say about September? Wow!
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