I can't get it out of my head...

Well, we were tired of the cool weather, so the heat wave of this week should make up for some of the cool days and nights of May. The rains of last weekend were very welcome and the heat and humidity should be very beneficial for the crops.

That is the pat phrase we use here in Iowa when the weather is stifling: "it's good for the corn." It becomes almost a mantra during July and August, but it is true, and does help, I think.

I've been thinking about the summer and how we used to listen to the radio when we were young. Whether it was blaring at the swimming pool, playing in the car, or brought along while walking beans, AM radio, when I was young, was how I heard many songs that are now considered classics.

It seemed that every summer, there were one or two dominant songs that were played over and over and over again. If you loved them, it was wonderful. If you hated them, well, let's just say that they became ingrained into your memory.

Memory is a wonderful thing. A sight, a smell, a sound or a touch can stir some knowledge that has been stored away for years. The associated memory can be just as clear as the day it was formed.

This past weekend, PBS aired an hour-long performance by Carole King, who recorded her most popular album, "Tapestry," in 1971. Many of the songs on that album became hits, but two singles: "It's Too Late" and "I Feel the Earth Move" became hits during the summer of '71. By the way, Carole still puts on a pretty good show.

During the summer of 1976, Paul McCartney and Wings released two singles that became huge hits: "Silly Love Songs" and "Let 'em In." These songs were ones you either loved or hated. "Silly Love Songs" became one of the best-selling singles of the 1970s.

The summer of 1976 saw the early beginnings of the thankfully short-lived disco era. There were a few other singles that summer that have become hard wired into my brain. They include: "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain and Tennille and "Afternoon Delight" by the Starland Vocal Band. Both artists proved to be one-hit wonders, but they sure got a lot of airplay in the summer of '76.

I'm sure if you stop and think about it, you can come up with a list of songs that you loved, as well as a list of songs that you couldn't wait to no longer hear. How about 1986's "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel? 1975's "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell? 1974's "Sundown" by Gordon Lightfoot? 1997's "MMMBop" by Hanson, which I feel could be used as weapon because of it's ability to get inside your brain and never come out.

One summer while walking beans, my cousin and I kept track of how many times the hot songs of the day were played. We had a small transistor AM radio (the iPod of its day) that we carried back and forth doing rounds. One day we heard "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" by Andy Gibb seven times in a 12 hour period. It beat out Barry Manilow's "Looks Like We Made It" that day, which we heard six times. That was the summer of 1977, and the song was number one on the Billboard charts for three weeks. Looking back, it was probably one of those things that should be remembered as something bad, but it was 1977 and we could receive one station on AM radio -- what else were we going to do, talk to each other?

The advent of digital music and the iPod has dramatically changed the landscape of the music industry. There will probably be top songs of the summer of '09, but in my mind they won't be as big as the songs from the summers of my youth.

I still hate "Silly Love Songs."

As always, I welcome your comments. You can reach me by email at tstangl@lemarscomm.net, telephone 712-546-7031, x40 or toll free 1-800-728-0066 x40.

Thanks for reading, I'll keep in touch. Feel free to do the same.