Summer Love and its double meaning
Our recent warm weather here in Colorado got me thinking back to when I was a young boy, hearing songs on the radio about summer love. Of course, I was too young for them to mean much to me. But when I got a little older, they took on quite a new meaning. My parents divorced when I was only about 4. And they moved away from each other. My mom remarried and lived in Kansas, and my dad remarried and lived in Texas. Each year my younger brother and I would take two 18 hour train trips. At the end of each school year we’d board in Houston, bound for Kansas City. At the end of each summer, we’d make the return trip.
Girls always held a special place in my heart. I was never one of those boys who didn’t like ’em. They had nicer hair, smelled better, and were so much more fun to look at. So, as I got older, of course I had girlfriends. From junior high through the end of my school years I’d find myself “going steady” or passing notes to and from girls in classes…even though that was against the rules.
Eventually, in high school, each year I’d find myself in a “special relationship” for most of the nine months of school. But, inevitably I’d have to drop out of it when it was time to head to Kansas. Then, I’d find a summer love in Kansas and have to give that up when it time to head back to school in Texas.
So summer love was a two-headed dragon for me.
At the time it seemed like a pretty tough thing to overcome each year. However, hindsight provides clarity with a much healthier perspective. You grow out of things like that, and you come to understand how fleeting and unimportant those feelings can be. Not insignificant in your road to maturity…simply unimportant to who you become. And about four years after I left high school, I wrote a song about “the girl” I never knew in summer.
And you won’t be able to understand everything I say in the lyrics to this song. That was by design. In many of my early writings, I wanted to express my thoughts in words that only I could understand. It was my purpose to let the reader or listener get whatever they wanted from it…while only I knew exactly what it meant. That’s how this song, about a summer love that never happened, came about…
I Never Knew You In Summer
Let’s talk…a while…
And try to find the light.
Let’s see what we’ve learned
And what we know.
I want…to know…
Everything about you…
Where you’ve been,
Where you are,
And where you’re going to go, because…
I never knew you in summer.
I always thought I would.
I never made the right decision
Or ever worked with any precision.
Now…I wish I could.
Please stay…with me…
And tell me all you can.
I’ll tell you all my stories and how I want to feel.
Life is…so short…
And now I understand.
Don’t try to hide, when you’ve nothing to conceal.
I never knew you in summer.
I always thought I would.
I never made the right decision
Or ever worked with any precision.
Now…I wish I could.
© 1978 Tony Funderburk
As I copied the words to this song, I noticed my reminder chords in the text. And the melody has never left me. So, I might just produce an updated remake of this song. If and when I do, I’ll be sure and add it to my Rhyme and Reason Podcast. What do you think? Would you be interested in hearing it if I do? Let me know in the comments or an email or a response to my podcast episodes.
Stay tuned,
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