With temperatures feeling like 40-plus degrees across large parts of Ontario and Quebec this week, and the world at large posting its highest daily temperature ever, it was definitely getting dirty and gritty in the cities. So, envy to those on holiday, or working (sure!) on the dock at the cottage – or better still, legitimately sipping a cocktail there, toes dangling in the cool water. Sigh.
For those of us not so lucky, it’s a pity, as the Lovin’ Spoonful sang in their classic hit ‘Summer in the City’: “All around, people looking half dead/ Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head.”
Co-founded by Canadian Zal Yanovsky, who played lead guitar, along with American frontman John Sebastian, the Lovin’ Spoonful had produced a string of hits in the mid 1960s, but only reached No. 1 with ‘Summer in the City’ in 1966, surpassing “Wild Thing” by The Troggs on the charts and remaining for a few weeks until Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman” took its place.
The classic has been covered over the years by the likes of Styx, Joe Cocker, Isaac Hayes, and B.B. King – but the Lovin’ Spoonful’s original version is the one still remembered today – particularly every time it’s so hot there “doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city.”
Lyrics
Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn’t it a pity
Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city
All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head
But at night it’s a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it’ll be alright
And babe, don’t you know it’s a pity
That the days can’t be like the nights
In the summer, in the city
In the summer, in the city
Cool town, evening in the city
Dressing so fine and looking so pretty
Cool cat, looking for a kitty
Gonna look in every corner of the city
Till I’m wheezing like a bus stop
Running up the stairs, gonna meet you on the rooftop
But at night it’s a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it’ll be alright
And babe, don’t you know it’s a pity
That the days can’t be like the nights
In the summer, in the city
In the summer, in the city
Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn’t it a pity
Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city
All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head
But at night it’s a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it’ll be alright
And babe, don’t you know it’s a pity
That the days can’t be like the nights
In the summer, in the city
In the summer, in the city