Summertime Top Ten: The Other Side of Summer (#4)

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Taking a cue from other myLotters I spent some time at the gym today. I'll be spending time in physical therapy tomorrow. On the positive side, I discovered what it was that hurt my back so badly I had to drop out of respiratory therapy last year: the bicycle. Seriously, I'm not in too bad a shape, but I do need to report this and see what kind of exercises I can add to ease the pain. Meanwhile, here's another song -- again, no surprise as to who it's by -- on my list of favorite summer songs. #4: The Other Side of Summer - Elvis Costello When Elvis Costello's fourth album, Get Happy, was released, I remember Rolling Stone titling the review, "Elvis Costello? Happy? Of Course Not!" The brilliant cynicism that endeared a lot of people to Costello has waxed and waned over the decades (it's hard for me to believe it's been forty years since I bought my first Elvis Costello concert ticket! [six bucks, if you're wondering]), but it's back in full glorious snarl in this song. Taking aim at everything, from the environment ("the foaming breakers of the poisonous surf") to music icons ("was it a millionaire who said, 'Imagine no possessions'? A poor little schoolboy who said, 'We don't need no lessons'?" [John Lennon and Pink Floyd]), Costello takes that rosy picture of summer and, in the words of the Rolling Stones, paints it BLACK. You'll hardly find a bleaker song with "summer" in the title. But then, that Beach Boys feel to the music makes the song sound so happy that you don't even notice. Welcome to Elvis Costello's world. The Other Side of Summer Written by Elvis Costello Recorded by Elvis Costello From Mighty Like a Rose, 1991 The rabid rebel dogs: