Welcome to Monday’s Mewsic Moves Me on Sunday!
What do parks, sun, and water have in common? That’s right summer! This week’s theme is “Summer Songs“.
Are you ready to dance?
Each summer it was a regular thing for our family to have outings at Panther Creek State Park. It was a hot spot for most living in McDowell County. My Girl Scout Troop did weekend camping there on occasion. This naturally brings to mind the pop hit, MacArthur Park, not Donna Summer’s disco cover (1978) everyone knows but the full orchestra original (1968) by actor, Richard Harris. Summers are filled with lots of the three elements in Luke Bryan’s 2017 song Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset. There was no escape for me looking like a lobster as a kid but after that first burn, I turned golden brown. I shudder at the horror of getting a sunburn now. Playing outdoors always left my skin sunkissed but what really did it was being in the water. Summer equal lazy days. We did a lot of swimming in nearby creeks and rivers, so what a jewel it was to find the 1972 footage of The Osmond Brothers jamming to Down By the Lazy River! Are you ready to dance? Hit play to commence to boogieing!
Do you listen to a particular genre during the warmer months? Are you a sun worshipper? What’s your favorite summer activity? Can you think of other songs with the same themes as each of mine – parks, sun, and water?
Thanks, Marie for the songsational job with this month’s themes! Next week, we’ll have a new honorary co-host and if you’re interested in filling in for August, please let me know in comments. Now, n behalf of the 4M crew, you’re invited to join our party!
🎶 This is a mewsic linky party, all other posts are subjected for removal or labeled – NO MUSIC! 🎶
[tweetthis]Hit the #MondaysMusicMovesMe dance floor with me! @xmasdolly [/tweetthis]
Keep those tunes playing, your body swaying, and I’ll be boogieing over to see you soon. Join me on for not-so-Wordless Wednesday!
X💋X💋, Cathy
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Nope. I’m gonna’ have to stick with Donna Summer’s version. 🙂 – And being Italian, going to check the mail gives me a tan. 🙂 During the summer I usually get so dark I look like I’m black.
MM Mimi,
So you were born with an instant tan. I always wished I had a bit more color but nope God saw fit for the Irish/Scot genes to be passed to me. My complexion isn’t super fair but it’s fair enough where a tan is barely noticed on. I remember one summer someone saying, you need some sun on your legs and I replied, what do you mean, I have a tan. lol
That’s my daughter. She’s so white she’s transparent! She’d lay out and come back in excited about her “tan.” We all looked on in amazement but there was no tan. Hahahaha.
MM Mimi,
The only way it was evident that I had a tan was to look for the tan lines. 🙂
Richard Harris – sigh – I fell in love with him when I was 11 and he starred as King Arthur in Camelot with Vanessa Redgrave. I played the soundtrack to death and drove my parents mad! Such a quintessential Englishman – even though he was Irish! He had the most sensuous voice next to Richard Burton.
Gilly,
I don’t know if I’ve seen ‘Camelot’ but a few months ago, we watched an old movie from the 70s, The Cassandra Crossing, starring Harris and Sophie Loren. We enjoyed the flick. It wasn’t until recent months that DH & I began to question if the singer of ‘MacArthur’s Park’ was, in fact, the actor. DH thought the singer sounded like the star but I couldn’t make the connection. After doing a little Internet sleuthing I uncovered the mystery. Okay, it really wasn’t a mystery but it was to me. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your fond memories relating to the song and your young love affair with the man. Alright, that’s an exaggeration. What 11-year-old knows of such things anyhow, right? At that age, hearts swoon and faces blush. 😉
wow, MacArthur park – haven’t heard that in ages….and Donna Summers – …also I’m thinking BeeGees and ..wow so many great groups or artists. We had the best music!
Sandy,
The 80s soared with excellent mewsic and artists. It is hard to pick just one out of so many.
Whoa! Haven’t heard “McArthur’s Park” in ages! Thank you! Richard Harris was/in one of the few actors who could sing. The others were introductions. I’m gonna post my summer songs next week. I have my playlist almost ready of quirky songs.
Cathy,
So glad you joined us on the dance floor. Feel to share any mewsic you want anytime but I’ll look forward to your summer songs next week. 🙂
MacArthur Park is my favorite nonsensical song from the era. Good Morning Starshine is a close second. I love the original and the donna summer version. But I was a Disco fool, so Donna reigns supreme!
We love the Aww…picture, CK <3 and Mac Arthur’s Park, what a beautiful song and music. Granny always was dancing/jiving on Donna Summer’s version 😀 Summer for us (Granny and me) is magic, we love the sun. When everyone is quiet in the house, Granny is working in the garden, or biking, walking, while others are complaining about the heat…mumbles like Grandpaw. She never understood that. She’s not a swimmer nor beach purrson though…but the sun makes her happy, always😸When she sees the bees working like crazy in the heat, she probably was a bee too in one of her former lives, or a Jamaican…MOL😹Thanks for the dance my furriend! Cool Pawkisses for a Happy Week ahead🐾😽💞
These are some great tunes even though I despise summer! MOL And your opening graphic is hysterical!
Melissa,
Summer is not my favorite season, either. I prefer the cooler temps of fall and spring but I try to not complain about the heat or wishing away my days. They go by fast enough on their own. Just stick to the indoors where the air conditioning is as much as you. That’s what I do. 🙂 Thanks for boogieing with me.
I know Cathy…I used to love music so much! Something happened after the burnout with my hearing perception…sounds and noises I used to be able to tolerate or even love, cause me so much anxiety now! That’s why I love living as a hermit in quiet! Though I agree some of the Dan Gibson stuff gets loud. The “Thunderstorm” pieces used to jolt me out of a quiet nap lol! 😉
Rain,
I don’t leave mewsic playing non-stop as I used to and there are times when I’d rather have everything quiet, so I can relate a little. Purrhap, one day you’ll enjoy listening to mewsic again.
I relly enjoyed McArthurs Park,Thank you for posting it!! As usuall I marched to my ouw drummer and went with loves songs.
Mike,
Thanks for dancing with me and there’s no problem ever with marching to your own drummer. Your mewsic choices were great ones!
Great tunes! Thanks for getting my toes tapping!
Kathe,
Anytime. I’m glad to get you groovin’ to the mewsic!
Beautiful post today!
Thanks for sharing the dance floor with me, my furriend. 😉
Happy Summer, Cathy! 🙂 I LOVE the original Richard Harris version of MacArthur Park! (The Disco version, not at all. LOL) It brings back a lot of memories. Thanks for that. I don’t sunbathe (burn and peel was my childhood experience) but love everything about summer, especially hanging out on the back deck. There’s such a feeling of serenity and contentment there. Enjoy those lazy, hazy days!
Debbie,
Oh, I hated the burn and peel part of summer. I did a lot of that each season as a kid, too. It was always such fun to find a cool shady place to feel lazy outdoors with my friends. That made for great summer days. Thanks for dancing with me, my friend!
First, can I do July? Or August, or some month in the not-too-distant future?
A short list this week, but nevertheless action-packed and fun-filled. “MacArthur Park” was written by Jimmy Webb, who wrote all those great songs for Glen Campbell and others. Wikipedia had an interesting story about it: Bones Howe, the producer for The Association, asked Webb to compose a cantata (with different themes, different time signature, tempos, etc.) for the band, and although he did exactly what Howe had asked him to do, The Association turned him down…
John,
Thanks for the additional info on the song. I wonder why The Association turned it down, any clue? Oh well…Harris did a great job on it!
No idea. Maybe they thought it was too hard.
Anyway, may I be the Guest Conductor next month, or some month in the future?
John,
I’d love it if you’d co-host! July is taken but how about August?
August is great! When do you need my stuff?
John,
Anytime you have your themes picked for August 4th and 18th send them to me and I’ll put them under my 4M Mewsic Prompts found at the top left of my home page. It’ll be excellent having you as co-host again!!
The older I get the more that I avoid the sun. LOL. Great song. Thanks for hosting and I hope that you have a wonderful week.
Patrick,
Me, too! I don’t want to make my skin look older than it is.
As old as I am, I’m not that familiar with the song (I know, you’d think I lived in the dark ages). I do love music though!
I can’t be in the sun that much anymore, but boy howdy did I love it; going to the beach, and yes some of the parks we have around here in FL. I ‘sunned’ too much, and have the spots to show for it. 🙂
xoxo
Sally,
Don’t worry about not knowing my song picks. I’m the same way. I’ll visit someone with some tunes that fall in line with the decades I should be most familiar with and they somehow went straight over my head years ago. That’s one reason why I love this hop, I get introduced to a lot of good tunes. 🙂 I figure anyone who lives in Florida must be there because they love the sun. I never was a huge fan but as a kid, I loved playing outside a lot. These days I only go out to do yard work as needed and if I’m outdoors I’d rather it be in the upper elevations of the mountains in the warmer months. Unfortunately, the sun hurts the skin and we try to watch about getting too much exposure.
Love that leaf on the head idea…very green thinking in more ways than one!
Love the sun hat and the glasses. Traveling incatnito. 😃
I’m here! I’m here! Still waiting for Summer to arrive, but I’m here and ready for it. Looking forward to all the great summer tunes today. Thanks for the dance!
Mary,
Summer hasn’t arrived there? Where did you say you live again? I’ll pass some of this summer weather your way gladly. lol I am trying to not complain but it does get kinda too warm for me. Yesterday we had to go to the store and the heat & humidity was more than I carried for. What really floors me is how it’s the end of June so soon! Whew, the year is disappearing!! Thanks for sharing the dance floor with me this morning and here’s to a boogietastic week, my friend!
Me, i’m a sun avoider. No way i want leather skin and possible skin cancer. Great Anne Frank quote.
Mimi,
I’m a sun avoider, too. The downfall of a pretty tan is leathery skin. It makes a person look at least ten years older. I know we all think other people our age looks older but I’ve seen some pictures of friends who are notorious sunbathers and if I didn’t know their ages then I’d swear they were well into their late 60s to early 70s easily. I’m so glad that I lost the interest in sunbathing early on. Of course, it’s hard to avoid sun damage because if you’re outdoors the it’s bound to happen. Thanks for visiting, my friend!
The only things I like about summer is garden fresh zucchini and corn. 🙂
Ellen,
I’ve never been a huge fan of zucchini but corn…I love fresh garden corn. My late inlaws grew the sweetest yellow corn when we were first married. That was a real treat to have, too. Mmm, I’d like to have some of that right now. Thanks for stopping by!
I love Richard Harris’ song! I remember it from my youth. Since I suffered a burnout in the early 2000’s I honestly find music to be noise for the most part. I used to love the 80’s stuff and I always listened to FM radio. Now though, I can hardly handle Dan Gibson music at best!! But once in a while I can listen to a video online and bring back some memories! 🙂
Rain,
What this, you suffered from MEWSIC burnout? How is that even possible? Are you sure you’re from earth? I have to agree that a lot of mewsic today is noise but every now and then something catches my ear in a delightful way. I love the older stuff, too. The 80s was a prime decade for some excellent hits. I’m not familiar with the name Dan Gibson so I had to ask Google. I’m listening to Solitudes 25 Natural Beauty which I’m finding rather relaxing. The birds chirping in the first track is a bit too loud to suit my ears at time but the melody is quite nice. Thanks for turning my ear to his mewsic. 😉 Have a boogietastic week and thanks for visiting, my friend!
In early July of 1968 my Dad and I flew out to Iowa and visited his youngest sibling, who lived in a small town (small to me, born and raised in New York City, that is) of about 8,000 people. I bought that single there (I was 15, by the way) and played it on their record player over and over. Fortunately, we weren’t sent home by kick in the you-know-where. I could truly listen to this song all day even now (and yes I’m singing it in the backyard.) Why do people hate on this song? I don’t know what it is about. I like Donna Summer’s version, too, but…there is just something about this song. Thank you, Association, for rejecting it. Thank you, WABC in New York City, for having faith and playing it on your survey! I’ve heard Luke’s song a couple of times and it does make me wish I was young again but the Osmonds – wow, no lazy river there, they really rocked it, didn’t they? Summer songs always bring me back to my childhood, which is why i’m featuring tomorrow…well, you’ll hear.
Alana,
I’d say just about any city you visit feels small being born and raised in NYC. lol I didn’t know Harris’ ‘MacArthur Park’ was so disliked until now but I love it. I actually like it better than Donna Summer’s cover. You’re right the Osmonds totally rocked ‘Down by the Lazy River’. Summer songs always make me think of when I was a kid, too. Those were the good old days if only I could understand that at the time. Thanks for boogieing with me on the dance floor, darlin!
I agree with you, alan. Its agreat song, and I don’t know why so many people don’t like it.
Robin,
I didn’t know until now that this version wasn’t liked by many but I think it’s pAwesome!
MacArthur Park by Donna Summer, a cool blast from the past! My fav tunes for summer were the Beach Boys. I used to worship the sun, back in the day, and paying for it now. I also don’t care for hot weather so I’m not out and around much during the warmer months. I love the cooler months, especially fall and love to get outside for walks, festivals, travel, etc.
Eugenia,
I don’t care for the summer heat & humidity at all but I try to not complain much about it because I know how fast the seasons vanish. It’ll be winter before I know what happened. The sun is quite damaging to one’s skin and I believe tanning beds aren’t very safe, either. I think people are convinced that’s a safe alternative but it might be years from now before we discover just like everything else that it’s not a good thing after all. You gotta think you’re altering your skin pigmentation deliberately frequently and that can’t be a good thing. It’s like vapers, they think that’s a safe alternative to smoking but early studies are proving there are health hazards with it, too. Until things cool off again, have a happy summer!
Funny how things declared as bad for us are many years later! And vaping – one can opt for no nicotine. But, anything done to excess can be bad for us.
Eugenia,
Are you saying vaping use nicotine? I don’t think the articles I read mentioned nicotine being a factor but other things. It makes sense to me anytime if you put something into your lungs not everything escapes when you exhale and your lungs act like a sponge soaking up what’s taken in. Excessiveness definitely plays a part in one’s health. I need to curve my appetite for ice cream which is my biggest weakness.
I use e-cigarettes, especially when I am writing and having a cup of coffee. I used to smoke and the e-cigs helped me quit. (8 yrs ago). Mine looks like a cigarette and is blue. The cartridges I use have flavor but there is zero nicotine. I don’t use them much anymore. But every now and then I have the urge.
Eugenia,
Am I understanding e-cigarettes and vaping are different? I know DS was into vaping. I don’t know that he still is but since I haven’t heard him talking about it, I hope that he gave it up. I’m glad you broke the ‘cigarette’ habit for sure. It’s a hard one to break. I smoked for a year, maybe two in my early teens and found this short sprint difficult to let go. I’m happy that it’s far, far behind me. Every time I have to fill out a doctor’s questionnaire, I think it’s so silly (sorta) I have to check ‘YES’ to Smoke since it’s been so many years ago but you just never know how such things will affect your health. Coffee…oh, boy I love coffee and I hope I never ever find out that it’s horrible for me! If I do then I don’t know what I’ll do with myself.
MacArthur Park is a favorite from back in the day. I love summer and all the wonderful things it offers.
Love the kitty and love the words. I feel like that often too.
Thank you for joining the Awww Mondays Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Awww Monday and week, my friend. Love and hugs. ♥
Sandee,
Summers are wonderful times. There’s something magical, especially during with the early morning & evening hours. I love those times the best!
Summer does bring back those lazy carefree times and their music. MacArthur Park is a good choice.
Jacqui,
I love the long days of summer! It’s so nice to be out in the evening to enjoy the beautiful sunsets and light breezes that make me think ‘lazy’. Well…more like ‘relaxing’. It’s great! Thanks for joining me on the dance floor!
Fun in the park sounds pretty wonderful!
Brian,
The parks in our area are generally jammed during the summer. Don’t people have yards? lol It’s really nice to drive by a park to see it bustling with activity. It gives me a good feeling to see the community coming together to enjoy the outdoors while letting kids play on the swings. 🙂 Thanks for dropping by for some mewsic and boogie time!
Hi, Cathy!
Happy Monday’s Mewsic Moves Me on Sunday, dear friend! Wow – I love that flashy dancing girl GIF with the strobe light effect! Where did you find it?
Donna Summer’s discofied cover of “MacArthur Park” is fabulous, but the 1968 Richard Harris original is epic. Harris couldn’t sing well, but he put so much feeling into the song that it clicked, resonated with millions of people. The song was intended for The Association but they shied away from it. The Irish actor chose to record it. Recorded and mixed in the final days of 1967 and backed by The Wrecking Crew, the group of veteran mewsicians that played on countless hit records of the 60s, “MacArthur Park” became one of the most unlikely hit singles in mewsic history. The opus was long, cumbersome and complex, not “AM radio friendly,” and Harris, with his weather-beaten features and raspy voice, was not your typical rock star of the period. In a 1992 reader poll in the Miami Herald, “MacArthur Park” was voted the worst song of all time in terms of “Worst Lyrics” and “Worst Overall Song,” yet I believe it is one of the greatest songs and recordings of all time. It touches me deeply every time I listen, and it was a solid hit, reaching #2 on the Billboard chart. Luke Bryan’s 2017 release “Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset” is new to me. It is a great country song about the joys of outdoor summer activity and summer love. The two go hand in hand. That vintage clip of The Osmond Brothers doing “Down By The Lazy River” is quite a find. Those sibs are not lightweights by a long shot. They could get down and rock and they were talented showmen.
A song that immediately comes to mind that somewhat goes along with your theme is “The Rain, The Park And Other Things,” the psychedelic sunshine pop hit by The Cowsills, but it was on the charts in the fall, not the summer. There is a genre of “summer songs” and I found a list of the 100 Biggest Summer Songs as documented by Billboard. Singles on the survey from my Boomer years include “Tossin’ And Turnin’,” “Light My Fire,” “Windy,” “Summer In The City” and the Beach Boys’ cruisin’ song “I Get Around.” The songs that most remind me of summer are “Summertime” by Billy Stewart, “In The Summertime” by Mungo Jerry, “It’s Summertime, U.S.A.” by The Pixies Three, “See You In September” by The Tempos and “Save Your Heart For Me” by Gary Lewis And The Playboys. I spent most of my time outdoors as a boy and, like you, got a sunburn before turning brown for the remaining weeks of summer. Today I try to avoid the sun to prevent further damage to my skin. My favorite summer activity was body surfing at the beach. I spent hours every day riding waves and didn’t even want to take a break to eat lunch or dinner.
Thanks for more tunetastic mewsic and memories, dear friend Cathy. I hope you and DH had a wonderful weekend. I’ll see you soon!
Tom,
The flashy dancing girl I found on Google images. I think I did a search for animated dancers and came up with it. If you like it, feel free to borrow it. 😉
I’m unsure how well The Association would’ve carried “MacArthur Park” but Harris did a stellar job with it. Vocally he’s not purrfect but the passion in which he sang more than made up for it. I love everything about the original. I’m glad this song got the attention that it deserved taking it to #2 on the music chart. Luke Bryan’s song was a discovery for me. It was the title got me curious since he said so much about my summers as a kid. Like you, I spent a lot of time outdoors from early morning until the sun went down. I tried doing the sunbathing thing as a teen like my friends but it was too boring to me and way too hot. I know my skin suffered some damage but hopefully, I won’t have to deal with the consequences for my ignorance. Having a pretty tan does look nice but keeping a pale complexion helps to make you look younger when you’re older. The Osmond Brothers really could rock it down, couldn’t they? I have to admit when I was young I thought it was weird how they rocked it out because I was used to their more mellow style but nowadays I think it’s really cool. 🙂 Thanks for joining me on the dance floor, my friend. Have a boogietastic week!