There's that song again. The one that reminds you of that balmy summer of 1976, when you were young and in love, and you got sunburn in Brittas Bay. Every time you hear that song, you are whisked straight back to the sand-dunes, where you lolled with your schoolfriends, drinking cider and slurping ice-cream, and burning with jealousy because the girl you loved was going out with your best friend. It's a bitter-sweet memory which hasn't faded with age, and when that certain song comes on the radio, those images re-surface in bright, clear technicolor, and you can almost taste the cider and ice-cream once again. Suddenly, your fond reverie is broken by a terrible realisation, and you flush with embarrassment because the song which brought it all back to you was not Fool To Cry by The Rolling Stones, or Movin' by Brass Construction, but Heart On My Sleeve by Gallagher and Lyle. Oh the shame.
Everybody has a song which evokes a summer past, and it's not always a great song. If you're lucky, it could be Summer Breeze by The Isley Brothers, but if you're not, it could be Summerlove Sensation by the Bay City Rollers. In a way, though, it doesn't matter about the quality of the song - it's the memory and what it means to you.
We asked some of the people involved in making the sounds of this Irish summer to tell us their ultimate summer tunes, and reopen those summer memories. No two summer memories are alike, but these recollections have two things in common: an unfading love of music and song, and an unabashed longing for innocence past.
Dave Fanning (DJ and Presenter)
Ireland's Mr Rock has been filling in on 2FM's morning schedule while Gerry Ryan is on holiday, playing quality summer sounds and keeping the chat going at 100 m.p.h. He's back on our screens in September for another season of The Movie Show.
"One of my earliest summer memories was when I heard I Get Around by The Beach Boys. I was about seven years old at the time, and on a family holiday in Bettystown, Co Meath. I had lots of older brothers, and got to know about bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones from listening to their record collections. Another great summer song for me was Whiter Shade Of Pale by Procol Harum. I heard it on Top Of The Pops, and it was like nothing else I'd heard before. It was a real hippie soundtrack. It always reminds me of being 14, playing footie with my friends after school, and then coming home for my tea. I also remember summer 1974. I was around 18 or 19, working in a fairground near Boston, and Eric Clapton's I Shot The Sheriff was on the radio. With the money I made, I went down to New York and did the Dylan trail, hanging around the East Village and living the boho lifestyle.
Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh (Singer, fiddler)
Mairead and the traditional group, Altan, have just finished a tour of the US West Coast, breezing down from Seattle to Los Angeles. They're back home now, and doing a few dates in Ireland, including the Ballyshannon Folk Festival and Kilkenny Arts Week, ending with a National Concert Hall date in the Beo Festival on August 18th.
"My ultimate summer song was a traditional song from Donegal called Tiocfaidh An Samhradh ("The summer will come"). I was about six years old, and I heard it for the first time on my uncle's farm. He would sit at the table after being in the field all day, and sing this song. Every time I sing that song, I think of that time growing up in Gweedore. That Joni Mitchell song, Carey, also reminds me of summer. She's singing about being in Paris and talking about going back home - the colour comes through in her lyrics.
David Kitt (singer, musician, songwriter)
The 24-year-old singer-songwriter from Dublin has just released his debut mini-album, Small Moments, and will be performing at the Witnness festival this coming weekend.
"I'm not sure about a particular song, but one album I associate with summer is Lou Reed's New York. I was about 13, we were going on a family holiday to Portugal, and I bought the album in Duty Free. I remember all the fun of taking the inlay card out of the tape and reading the lyrics. Listening to Lou Reed sing about New York made the city seem like a mysterious, dark, seedy, fascinating place to be. Another album that jumps out was Doolittle by The Pixies, which I discovered during a summer in the Gaeltacht.
Dermot Dunne (conductor, accordionist)
Dermot Dunne is currently conducting a production of Donizetti's The Love Potion for Opera Theatre Company.
"Summer is a time when I listen to the least amount of music - spring and autumn have more musical memories for me. The first thing I think of about summer is not a vivacious hot-tempered piece by Mendelssohn, but the lazy, languid piece such as the 1st Movement of Brahms's 2nd Symphony. There's a beautiful French horn solo which makes me think of long, slow summer evenings. There's a beautiful chord just two bars before the coda which puts summer in a nutshell.
Donal Lunny (traditional musician and producer)
The well-known traditional multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer will be performing with his band, Coolfin, at the National Concert Hall on August 17th, as part of the Beo Festival. E Irish Concert Orchestra in new piece for orchestra, percussion and bodhran, Duiseacht.
"My summer song would be Daydream by The Lovin' Spoonful. It was the late 1960s, and Ireland had a few good summers around that time. I had just come up from Newbridge to study graphic design in Dublin and was playing in a band called Emmet Spiceland, and doing sessions in pubs like Toners, Keoghs and Doheny & Nesbitts. I remember many sunny days and sultry nights. It was easy to make friends - the recession hadn't started yet, and there was a bit of hippy flower power in the air. Another song which conjures up a happy feeling is Lowdown by Boz Scaggs. I was on tour with The Bothy Band in the States, in an air-conditioned van, and that song was always on the AM radio. Every time I hear it I'm right back in the van with Micheal O Domhnaill, Triona Ni Dhomhnnall and Matt Molloy.
Mairin Fahey (violinist, singer)
The featured violinist in Riverdance has released her solo album, and will be playing a solo concert at Whelans on Wexford Street on August 13th.
"I suppose the music of Ray Charles reminds me of summer, particularly a song called Class Reunion. Myself and my husband, Chris Kelly, always used to go motorbiking around France in the days before Riverdance, and we would play lots of Ray Charles at the campsite.
Joe and Steve Wall (singers, songwriters, musicians)
The sibling pair who used to front The Stunning, but now operate as The Walls, will be performing at Witnness this coming weekend. Joe: "Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin is my ultimate summer song. The first time I heard it, we were just kids, and had moved to Ennistymon in Co Clare. I had a friend whose older brother had a great record collection, and I got to hear all the heavy stuff like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Whole Lotta Love was also the theme to Top Of The Pops, and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. We were around 12, and throwing lots of shapes on air guitar. That's when we wanted to be rock stars.
Steve: "I suppose the one that sticks in my memory the most is This Charming Man by The Smiths. It was 1983 or 1984, and that summer I had just bought a Honda 175, and I was spinning around from Ennistymon to Galway, where I had a job in the Druid Theatre. Every time I hear that song I think of driving through the Burren on that blue Honda, with my walkman blasting away. The first line in the song was very apt, the line which goes, `Punctured bicycle on a hillside desolate'. I was a bit of a Morrissey head too - I wore the National Health glasses and everything."
John O'Neill: (guitarist, producer)
John O`Neill has returned to the stage with the reformed Undertones, who will be playing Witnness this weekend.
"The first song which comes to mind is Groovin' by The Young Rascals. It's the ultimate summer song for me. I heard it first when I was camping with my friends at the seaside resort of Buncrana. I must have been around 13 or 14, and was just starting to play the guitar. It was a sunny time. This was before Bloody Sunday, and the Troubles were starting, but at that age you don't watch the news - you just watch the end of it to get the football results. I was a Chelsea fan, and Chelsea had just won the FA Cup that summer.
Philip Donnelly (guitarist)
The "Clontarf Cowboy" is back on the road after a 12-month absence, and will be slinging his axe around Ireland during the coming month.
"If I were to think of my favourite summer songs, they would have to be Summer In The City by The Lovin' Spoonful and All Along The Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix. They remind me of a time when I used to play in a band called Elmer Fudd, and we were the first Irish band with twin lead guitars, sort of a cross between Mountain and Uriah Heep. I always go back to that decade when bands recorded live, no overdubs. There was a much more organic feel to the music, the mixes were much better.
Jim Corr (musician)
The Corrs' third album, In Blue, has just gone to Number 1 in eight different countries, and the single, Breathless, has already been a massive hit.
"It's a strange choice I suppose, but for some reason when I think of Summer I think of Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty. I remember I had just bought a little Nordemende radio, and I used to listen to it all the time. This song was always playing, so it sticks in my mind. The group hadn't started properly as yet, but I did have a little keyboard, and was playing a lot of 1980s music on it."
