Song Lyric Saturday: "The Summer Place"

Welcome to Song Lyric Saturday, a new feature for my NaBloPoMo month of March--and it may make occasional appearances even after that's over, but we'll see how it goes. I'm not a big fan of short stories in traditional form, but when they're set to great melodies and last for under four minutes, sometimes they really work for me. 

The "summer place" of my childhood was Budd Lake, New Jersey, where my maternal grandfather and a couple of his sisters owned small houses, and extended family came and went throughout the warm months. My mother's generation didn't keep up the tradition, and when her siblings chose a summer place of their own, they went down to the Shore (yes, that Jersey Shore) instead of to the lake. And by the time I entered my teens, my immediate family had moved to Florida, which is a summer place year-round (like it or not). 

The idea of returning to the same vacation spot year after year fascinates me, although it doesn't hold quite the same appeal as traveling to new places I haven't seen.

I visualize "The Summer Place" in this Fountains of Wayne song (from Sky Full of Holes, 2011) as somewhere out on Long Island, but I suppose it could be down at the Shore. I think it's nearer to the ocean than to a lake, and I don't get the sense it's out on Cape Cod. But it might not be anywhere except in someone's mental landscape...

She's been afraid of the Cuisinart 

Since 1977

Now when she opens up the house

Well, she won't set foot in the kitchen

Her brother's dating an architect

They're coming up for the weekend

He never gave her the proper respect

But she still meets the ferry to greet them

Oh, at the summer place

We've got the space if you've got the time

And the summer place is so far away

It's another state of mind

(Mind, mind, mind)

She ran away back in '78

Just down the beach to the neighbor

They brought her back after sunset

But dad sad "Don't do me any favors"

Her mom would sit on the patio

She said she needed the sea air

She'd drink a fifth of Seagrams

And then she'd sink down into her deck chair

Oh, at the summer place

We've got the space if you've got the time

And the summer place is so far away

It's another state of mind

(Mind, mind, mind)

At 15,

Shoplifting

Was the only game she liked to play

At 40,

She's still bored

She thinks about it then decides to pay

And still she can't help feeling

Those good old days don't seem so far away (seem so far away)

But should just yesterday

She took a handful of mushrooms

That she got from a surfer

She spent a night in a hospital room

So the doctors could observe her

Oh, at the summer place

We've got the space, you should drop on by

At the summer place the injuries fade

But the memories last a lifetime

(Lifetime, lifetime, lifetime)

"The Summer Place" lyrics and music video provided by SongLyrics.com

Is there a "summer place" that means something to you...or is yours just another state of mind?