As the University slinks into summer, finals fall out of mind, deadlines fade to the past and Grounds becomes noticeably emptier. With students scattering into the first few weeks of summer — whether heading to internships in new cities, returning home to family and friends or settling into the rhythm of unstructured days — the University has transitioned into the slower, sun-soaked season of summer.
The warmth of the season brings a feeling of anticipation of the months ahead — long afternoons that stretch into evenings, drives with no particular place to be and the sense that time and external pressures have been lifted. Here are four songs to set the tone as summer slowly unfolds.
“Doin’ Time” by Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey’s 2019 cover of Sublime’s “Doin’ Time” captures summer in a warped and distorted glow. The song opens by echoing the 1935 jazz standard “Summertime,” filtered through Sublime’s laid-back reinterpretation with the lyrics “Summertime, and the livin’s easy.” Through these lyrics and Del Rey’s airy vocals, she paints summer as a moment of heavy heat, slowed time and dreamlike haze.
Beneath the track’s sun-drenched sound lies a slightly melancholic undertone, reflecting a sense of emotional entrapment masked by warmth and leisure. Del Rey sings, “Take this veil from off my eyes / My burning sun will someday rise,” marking a sense of hope and overcoming not unlike the first light of a summer morning breaking through after a long night.
“Ventura Highway” by America
Written by Dewey Bunnell and released on America’s 1972 album “Homecoming,” “Ventura Highway” draws from Bunnell’s childhood memory of passing “Ventura” signs, indicating the city north of Los Angeles on U.S. Route 101 along the California coast — an image utilized to represent openness, freedom and escape. The chorus’ lyrics — “Ventura Highway in the sunshine / Where the days are longer / The nights are stronger than moonshine” — evoke an idealized stretch of summer where time feels expanded and unhurried.
Built on layered acoustic guitar chords and the gentle textures of early 70s soft rock, the song carries a shimmering and impressionistic quality rather than telling a literal narrative. It feels less like a story than a series of passing moments on a summer road trip, where the focus is not on the arrival but on the journey itself. In this way, the song evokes the feeling of leaving something behind without directly knowing what lies ahead — a fitting soundtrack for summer’s sense of freedom.
“Feels Like Summer” by Childish Gambino
Built around a minimalist soundscape, “Feels Like Summer” by Childish Gambino portrays summer as an immersive, all-encompassing experience. With hazy undertones and psychedelic pop elements, Gambino uses understated vocals to create the sensation of a world slowed down by heat — the kind of stillness that settles over streets in the middle of a long summer afternoon. The repetition of its central refrain — “You can feel it in the streets / On a day like this, the heat / It feel like summer” — frames the song as something almost meditative, capturing summer as a shared atmosphere that lingers in the background of daily life.
Rather than focusing on a specific story or progression, Gambino builds the song through layering and repetition, allowing its summery mood to gradually accumulate. The result is a dreamy quality where warmth feels constant and everyday moments feel stretched out. In this way, the track captures summer as something collective and ambient — not just a personal experience, but a shared environment that quietly shapes how time feels as it passes.
“Summer Night City” by ABBA
Whereas the earlier tracks dwell in daylight warmth, ABBA’s “Summer Night City” shifts the atmosphere into something more defined by movement, energy and nighttime momentum. Through pulsing synths and disco energy, the song captures the transformation of summer after dark, where cities can feel more alive. This shift is reflected in the lyrics — “When the night comes with the action / I just know it’s time to go / Can’t resist the strange attraction,” framing summer evenings as a transition into something faster and louder than the heat-soaked stillness of day.
Rather than lingering in introspection or open-road stillness, the song builds a sense of urgency and motion, driven by its rhythmic foundation and glowing electronic textures. The atmosphere of nightlife feels electric and crowded, a contrast to the expansive calm of long summer afternoons. In this way, “Summer Night City” captures the season at its most kinetic and exhilarating.
Taken together, these songs offer different ways of experiencing summer — from hazy afternoons and open-road freedom to the electric pull of night life. By combining nostalgic Americana, dreamy indie textures and disco energy, this selection captures the season’s shifting moods in a way that mirrors how it is actually lived. These melodies become reminders to notice summer not as one long stretch of time, but as a series of fleeting moments that each carry their own atmosphere.
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