Summer more than a season — it's a song list

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Interviews, performances

Obama pays tribute to Kennedy honorees
Dec. 6: Before being honored at a special gala at the Kennedy Center, five of the nation's best in entertainment and the arts were lauded by President Barack Obama. NBC's Lester Holt reports.

Choir sings lullaby Christmas songs

‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’

The doc who rocks

Ron Wood arrested

6. “Endless Summer Nights,” Richard Marx (No. 2, 1988)
Almost two years after he wrote the music for the song that would become “Endless Summer Nights,” Richard Marx took his then-girlfriend, Cynthia Rhodes, to Hawaii for a short vacation. The trip home reminded him of coming back from summer vacations when he was a kid. While the lyrics were inspired by his visit to Hawaii, he says he wrote the song as a theme to the summer love you cannot have because you go your separate ways in the fall (even though he and Rhodes were married after their trip).

7. “Summertime,” DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince (No. 4, 1991)
One of the earliest rap acts to have a hit on the Hot 100, DJ Jeff Townes and rapper Will Smith were friends from Philadelphia. Smith was still a teenager when they had their first hit, “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” in 1988. Three years later, the duo scored its biggest hit (and only top 10 single) with “Summertime,” which sampled a 1975 Kool & the Gang B-side, “Summer Madness.” “Summertime” entered the Hot 100 just before the official start of summer, during the week of June 15, 1991.

8. “In the Summertime,” Mungo Jerry (No. 3, 1970)
Skiffle pop group Mungo Jerry is a one-hit wonder in the United States, thanks to the original “In the Summertime,” which entered the Hot 100 the week of July 11, 1970. In its native United Kingdom, the group had nine chart entries. Named for a cat in a T.S. Eliot poem, Mungo Jerry was led by Ray Dorset, who worked as a lab assistant when “In the Summertime” hit but was soon able to give up his day job. “In the Summertime” is the only song to appear twice in the summer songs top 10, thanks to the remake by Shaggy.

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9. “The Boys of Summer,” Don Henley (No. 5, 1985)
Like “The Theme From ‘A Summer Place,’ “ Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer” was not a hit in the summer. The single debuted on the Hot 100 the week of November 10, 1984, preceding the release of its parent album, “Building the Perfect Beast.” At first glance, one might think Henley was writing about baseball, but the title serves as a metaphor for wanting to reconnect with someone from the past and realizing you cannot return to yesterday.

10. “Cruel Summer,” Ace of Base (No. 10, 1998)
The original version of “Cruel Summer,” by British girl group Bananarama, debuted on the Hot 100 the week of July 21, 1984, and peaked at No. 9 that fall. Fourteen years later, Swedish quartet Ace of Base recorded the album “Flowers” for European release. But before Arista would issue the CD in the United States, label chief Clive Davis wanted some changes: “Cruel Summer” was upped to title status and became the first American single. Ace of Base had its first top 10 hit in four years when “Cruel Summer” peaked at No. 10 in August 1998.

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