Singer-songwriter Todd Snider hears the sound of summer in the song "Brandy" by Looking Glass.
In an interview with NPR's Melissa Block, Snider remembers hearing the song when he was a little kid. "We were grilling outside, and the radio was playing, and [my father] had the grill spatula, and he was making burgers," he says. "And when that song came on, he pretended that spatula was a microphone, and he sang and danced to it."
For Snider, the song is a reminder of happy times. "I love the background — the horns make me think of the '70s," he says. "I miss this time in America." Snider was only 6 years old when he first heard the song, and he still loves it. "Every time that song comes on now, it makes me very happy," he says.
Need more summertime tunes? Click here to listen to Heat Wave, a 6-hour stream of songs for summer.
NPR Music's series It's Time To Party: Summer Songs features a 5-song playlist of music that celebrates the season every Wednesday.
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Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)
“Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” entered the Billboard charts in June of 1972 and stayed there all summer long. It hit number one in August. But like Brandy and that sailor, Looking Glass didn't last. They had one other top forty single before breaking up. Lead singer Elliot Lurie, who wrote “Brandy,” tells NPR, "I wish I could have had ten of them, but I'll take one." He's gone on to manage other artists and actors and to do music supervision for movies and TV. Lurie says "my second best known song is the theme to (the TV show) Lizzie McGuire."