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The Story Of "Summertime's Calling Me"

Writer's picture: Lucian@going2paris.netLucian@going2paris.net

Charlottesville

September 7, 2022


I just downloaded the book below for a whopping $2.99. Best $2.99 I have spent in a long time. Stories behind many of the songs that dominated my Pi Kapp years (1977 to today). What would my college years have been like without this music? Pines parties, Boathouse parties, rolls to UNC, mixers at the Fratty Lodge -- my life would have been much different. To a large degree, beach music has been the soundtrack of my years 18+.




One of the best tunes is "Summertime'c Calling Me." As the following article reveals, it was a milestone song as it marked a turning point where songs began to be written and performed just for the beach music market.


“While driving in the mountains on the way to Appalachian State on a winter’s night in 1975, I was trying to come up with an idea for a song,” former Catalinas member and songwriter John Barker told the author. “Two lines—‘I want to sit there in the sand, and watch those golden tans go walking by’—came to me. After trying for a while to come up with something that everyone could relate to, especially the college crowd, I came up with ‘I know it isn’t fair, cause you might really care, but it’s different now, that summertime’s callin’ me.’ I mean, after all, we all can’t wait for the end of winter’s misery and that first real summer vacation, and so I thought I had what we in the music business call a good ‘hook’ for a song at the very least.


Well, I was driving alone but knew for certain I had to write this down. So I found a matchbook cover in the car and carefully scribbled the chorus down. I knew the rest of the story would come in time.” And so on a frigid November evening, far from the coast, one of the greatest Carolina beach music classics was born. It was the song that would change the genre and start beach music on a path that would lead to more regional, beach music–specific songs. That song was Barker’s matchbook composition “Summertime’s Calling Me.”


The Catalinas were first formed in 1958, and the lineup frequently changed, but in 1967, they recorded their first hit, “You Haven’t the Right” (see Carolina Beach Music: The Classic Years). They recorded some other tracks on Scepter, but none were ever released, and so the group carried on, its lineup ever changing, still waiting for that hit that eluded them. For a while, it looked like that hit might be hard to come by. Barker told me that in the early 1970s, “music was in a confused state, and some of our members were questioning our choices of direction, thinking we would fare better by adapting to the changing times. Some members even suggested that we change our name to something that sounded more contemporary, but thankfully, cooler heads prevailed. But we were struggling, always trying to find better ways to please our crowds and improve our popularity. I remember thinking at the time, ‘We should stay true to our roots and try to write something that would be a hit for our beach music fans.’”


He notes that “the term ‘beach music’ was being used more and more at the time, and there was a noticeable separation of our crowds’ tastes in music. While some were going with the trends of the ’70s, others, especially the fraternities and sororities, were sticking with music by the Drifters, Tams and so on. It became apparent to me that maybe the problem was there was no new beach music being written.” Though within a few years many in the industry would come to that same conclusion, Barker realized it in 1975 and wrote the first of what would become a legion of modern beach music hits—“Summertime’s Calling Me.”


After writing those first lines and the chorus on the way up to Appalachian State, he knew he had a little more work to do, which was to “simply explain the thoughts behind the chorus.” He explained the meaning behind the song’s verses to the author: “I remember this past winter, I told myself to settle down…and I seriously tried to do just that.” (After all, things do look different in the winter, right?) “Now here I am with everything, so beautiful and green…and I can’t believe I told myself what I mean.” (Oh well, maybe I shouldn’t have promised all that after all.) “Maybe someday soon, I can feel this way year ’round, but it’s different now and I don’t want to stay in this town…noooo.” (I’m sure I’ll grow up someday and settle down, but on second thought, now’s not that time.) Chorus, then horn intro again… “I don’t think I’m ready to develop a routine…when it’s cold and snow’s on the ground, it’s a different scene.” (Another way to say “What was I thinkin’?”) “Maybe someday soon, I can feel this way year ’round, but it’s different now and I don’t want to stay in this town…noooo.” (Chorus) “I want to sit there in the sand, and watch those golden tans go walking by.” (You know you’ve done this.) “I know it isn’t fair, cause you might really care, but it’s different now, that summertime’s callin’ me.” (Reality sets in…hope you understand…gotta go.) Repeat chorus to end.


The group went to Reflection Studios in Charlotte to record the song, and with Bo Shronce’s strong lead, the group felt they had a winner. “We couldn’t wait til those boxes of 45s arrived at the studio,” Barker said. “But when they finally arrived, I was disappointed to see that they had misspelled my name on that first order as ‘Johnny Barke.’ Of course, looking back, if you have one of those, you have an original order record. Even I don’t have one of those."


Disappointment aside, the group “started visiting radio stations with the enthusiasm that this could really be our big break. We were hoping our new record ‘Summertime’s Calling Me’ would help us find more work and make life a little easier.” In an interview for Carolina Beach Music: The Classic Years, Gary Barker noted, “We were really excited about it and started performing it everywhere we went, but nothing happened and nobody seemed interested. Finally, we even kinda quit playing it.” The hope had turned into another disappointment.


“And then something very strange happened during one of our jobs at a sorority party at Wofford College,” John Barker said. “We introduced ‘Summertime’s Calling Me’ as our latest recording and stood there amazed at what we saw next. All of the girls in the sorority lined up and performed for us while we played. Not only did they know all of the words to our song, but they had their own version of a line dance they had created for each line of the song. I remember Gary and I looking at each other in disbelief at what was going on.


From that night forward, ‘Summertime’s Calling Me’ grew quickly in popularity, mainly on college campuses in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. It became an anthem for getting out of town, heading for the beach and, most of all, for having fun.” It may be cliché, but as they say, the rest is history. It was the first “new” beach song and predated other now-classic songs such as “I Love Beach Music,” “Myrtle Beach Days” and “Carolina Girls.” As a result, “Summertime’s Calling Me” changed beach music irreversibly. Up until that time, songs that we now claim ownership of as being “beach music” were written to get air time, to sell records and, hopefully, to make the Top 40 on national radio. But many artists looked at the regional popularity of the record and started to write songs like it as a result, and so “Summertime’s” started a new trend: the composition and marketing of songs about the beach designed to be beach music. Within a few years, bands all over the South were recording songs about beach music itself, about sitting on the beach, about summertime and any and all associated areas of beach music. “Summertime’s Calling Me” started all of that.


As John Barker told me, “Time and time again, people I’ve never met approach me to tell me it’s their favorite beach song or how much that song meant to them during their college days. Others tell me they play it over and over when they are on the way to the beach, and it starts their summer. The most rewarding compliment of all is the thought that it may have made a positive difference in someone’s life. After all…life should be fun. I’m glad to say the popularity of ‘Summertime’s Calling Me’ achieved all we had hoped for and more.” I asked if there were any regrets, and he noted just one—“I wish I still had that matchbook cover!” Indeed, it was the big song on the little matchbook cover that changed beach music forever.



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1件のコメント


dkmonday37
2023年10月25日

I’ve heard that story before about writing the lyrics on a matchbook cover and my oh my what a great song it turned out to be and one as stated, that most college kids could relate to, especially those like me who was attending Appalachian State University a few years before it was written. Great story !!!!!

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