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A Girl Named Summer
Music + lyrics by Peter King
2:47 | :30 soundbite

This song was inspired by a strikingly beautiful girl named Summer who waited tables in a restaurant I used to frequent in Shadyside, a neighborhood in Pittsburgh. I wrote the moon-June-spoon lyrics in a few minutes, whimsically spinning some old cliches. But it was years before I set the words to music.

When I finally did, I was aiming, I think, for some kind of elegant, bluesy-jazzy-uptown style — I'd love to imagine that Nat King Cole or Charles Brown could have sung this. And yeah, the lyrics look pretty slight when you read them on a Web page, but they’re sexy and fun when you sing them.

I’ve got a girl named Summer and she's really sumpthin’
Summer will set your heart a-thumpin’
Got to have Summer
All year round

Well Summer she's as sweet as the cotton candy
She walks on the beach and her pretty feet, they get sandy
Got to have Summer
All year round

Bridge:
And when Old Man Winter comes
And the North Wind rattles our windows
We get to kissin’ by a cozy fire
Soon Summer and I
We’re hot as July

Well I love Summer every single hour
In the spring I sing to my sweet little flower
Got to have Summer
All year round

Bridge:
And when Old Man Winter comes
And the North Wind rattles our windows
We get to kissin' by a cozy fire
Soon Summer and I
We’re hot as July

Well I’ve got a girl named summer and she’s really sumpthin’
In the fall I call her my crazy little pumpkin
I got to have Summer
All winter, spring and fall
Yeah I got to have Summer
All year round