Musings on a
Late Summer Soundtrack

Meredith McGrane, contributor

 

Taylor Swift breathes out of my CD player, “Salt air, and the rust on your door, I never needed anything more…” and I feel summer receding like low tide. Taylor’s “August” is a song I reach for as the end of summer creeps in, the days grow shorter, and an end-of-beach-day rollneck sweater over my bikini feels essential. The airy tune feels like nostalgia and fleeting moments. Romanticizing endings waiting to happen. I sway in my living room, Taylor’s voice softly echoes…

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But I can see us lost in the memory

August slipped away into a moment in time

'Cause it was never mine

 

I’m eight years old, watching as “The Boys of Summer” music video plays out on my family’s wood-paneled TV. It’s 1984, and I’m captivated by the black-and-white imagery, evoking a home movie feel. Don Henley’s smooth and soulful voice overlaps with images of a man and woman playfully running down a beach, and I sense something I can’t yet name. Now, I hear it as a song about longing. Romantic and evocative. “The summer’s out of reach,” Don laments. But when he sang about Wayfarer sunglasses, oh, I knew the song was cool!

 

I can see you

Your brown skin shining in the sun

You got your hair slicked back and those

Wayfarers on, baby

 

It’s the summer of 1995, and I’m on college break working at a mall Abercrombie. The minimalist ballad “Nightswimming” by R.E.M is on the in-store track list that plays over and over and…over. As I fold grunge-adjacent flannels, singer Michael Stipe serenades, “September’s coming soon, I’m pining for the moon.” And yes, pining is it! Pining for summer not to end. But pining for this shift to be over! Because isn’t a college summer both the recklessness and water Michael sings of? And skinny dipping.

 

I forgot my shirt at the water’s edge

The moon is low tonight

 

Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness” is a recent pick for my last-days-of-summer playlist, inspired by my daughter. It’s moody yet alive, everything the waning days of summer feel like. Her music video…vintage and imperfect, light leaks and haze, Lana’s smoky voice and pouty lips waving a bittersweet goodbye. Lana sings her anthem through my speakers as I drive north to the beach, one last time. Sunglasses on, sunroof set free. But hey, summer, as Lana says…kiss me hard before you go.

 

Think I'll miss you forever

Like the stars miss the sun in the morning sky

Later’s better than never

Even if you’re gone I'm gonna drive, drive, drive