1. The Undertones - Here Comes the Summer (1979)
First things first: you can’t possibly have a summer songs playlist without including this bona fide classic by The Undertones. Written in 1979 by the Derry band’s guitarist and main songwriter John O’Neill, it was heavily inspired by the pop-punk of their US counterparts The Ramones. Yet as synonymous as that fizzy chorus has become with sunny summer days, here’s an odd fact: this tune was almost called Can’t Wait ’Til Christmas, which would have made for a very different festive period. John Peel may have called Teenage Kicks “the most perfect pop song ever written”, but this runs it pretty close for sheer uplifting exuberance.
2. Bagatelle - Summer in Dublin (1980)
Whether you’re from the Big Smoke or not — and regardless of whether you grew up listening to pub bands play this tune incessantly once the long evenings began rolling in — there’s something about Summer in Dublin that evokes nostalgia like few other songs do. Technically it’s all about leaving the city because of painful lovelorn memories, but when Liam Reilly sings about how the Liffey “stank like hell”, and “young people walking down Grafton Street, everyone looking so well”, you can’t help but feel a pang or two of homesickness — no matter where you are in the world. At the time of its release, a band member opined: “The song is everywhere. Like Kellogg’s Cornflakes, it’s in everybody’s home. But no one is raving about it.” Thirty-five years on, it’s safely established as a timeless Irish summer pop tune.
3. Mundy - July (2002)
You’ll either love or hate this song (and Mundy), but there’s no denying that it’s a catchy little number that brings most twenty/thirtysomething people back to those hazy, carefree summer days of sitting in a park surrounded by your friends, or at a festival singing along to the Offaly man’s best-known song (ideally in the July sunshine). True, it does contain the odious line “I can’t lie on my pocket trout” — we’ll let you figure that one out yourself, particularly as he’s been thinking about “another gorgeous Levi ass” just beforehand — but we’ll let it go just this once.
Pop punk band Ash (Photo by: Alex Lake)4. Ash - Shining Light (2001)
True, it’s not technically a ‘summer’ song — but we defy anyone who hears this tune, taken from the Downpatrick trio’s album Free All Angels, not to get the same golden glow that usually only happens after a concentrated dose of Vitamin D. Tim Wheeler and Co. have a knack for those uplifting melodies and guitar licks that scream summer — and this song is a prime example of them. Wheeler said that the song — which won him an Ivor Novello Award for Songwriting — wasn’t instantaneous by any means. “I’d definitely had at least six months of writing before the song arrived,” he said, “and it felt like a real breakthrough.” Just like the sun through the clouds, you could say. Plus, y’know, the sun is technically a ‘shining light’.
5. The Thrills - Don’t Steal Our Sun (2003)
We could have chosen anything from the debut album by Dublin’s Thrills; practically every song on So Much for the City screams dreamy, laidback, sunshine-filled days, particularly One Horse Town, Big Sur and Santa Cruz (You’re Not that Far). It helps, of course, that the quintet sounded more like they were from southern California than the southside of Dublin. Conor Deasy and his cohorts may have been unfairly maligned for adapting that Americanised twang, but anyone who hears this glorious harmony-laden track, like something The Beach Boys might have discarded in the 1970s, and doesn’t feel summery might want to check their pulse.
6. Italia ’90 - Put ’Em Under Pressure (1990)
Again, it’s not strictly a summer song — but c’mon. This song (produced by U2’s Larry Mullen) was the anthem to the summer of 1990, when Ireland reached the quarter-final stage of the World Cup only to be cruelly beaten 1-0 by the host nation on that sweltering June night. If you’re Irish and don’t feel a swell of pride upon hearing that mystical intro and Big Jack Charlton’s voice leading into that Horslips-inspired guitar riff, time to hand over your passport. All together, now: “We’re all part of Jackie’s army… we’re all off to Italy…”
7. Two Door Cinema Club - Sun (2012)
Cracking tune, this. Two Door Cinema club emerged from the North of Ireland town of Bangor with Tourist History, a debut album that blew the world away in 2010. We came close to picking a track from that album — the euphoric This is the Life — but given the title of Sun, taken from their second album Beacon, it would be remiss of us to overlook it. A song about being away from the “distant drumlins” of their home and pining for their faraway love, it’s a lot more musically cheery than the lyrics suggest. Throw in one of the trio’s signature heart-bursting choruses, and you’ve got a modern indiepop classic on your hands.
8. The Divine Comedy - The Pop Singer’s Fear of the Pollen Count (1999)
Arguably Ireland’s greatest living songwriter, the vastly underappreciated Neil Hannon has made it his life’s work to unearth the humour in the bleakest of situations — and invariably, in the most poetic manner, too. That’s not to say that his songs aren’t profound, but tracks like this fluffy little gem — basically an ode to hayfever — are perfectly suited to lazy summer days when those anti-histamines just ain’t working. As he sings himself: “Laugh at the tears you’re crying / Smile while your head explodes / You don’t have to take this lying down / So blow your nose, baby.” Indeed.
9. Picturehouse - Sunburst (1998)
“What a daaaaaaayyyyyy…”. As cheesy as this tune may be, it’s simply impossible not to get swept up in the pure exhiliration of that chorus. Released by Picturehouse in the late 1990s — and taken from their second album Karmarama — it became something of a one-hit wonder for the Dublin band and spent seven weeks in the Top 20. But what a wonder! “Sunburst was probably the ballsiest song I think Picturehouse ever had,” said former drummer Johnny Boyle, who opened the song with that memorable drum fill, reportedly inspired by the Ben Folds Five song The Battle of Who Could Care Less. In any case, it remains a must on any Irish summer playlist.
10. Simple Kid - Staring at the Sun (2003)
Whatever happened to Simple Kid? The Kerryman, known as Ciarán McFeeley to his mother, blazed into our hearts with a brilliant debut album of lo-fi, scuffed and utterly charming indiepop in 2003 with SK1, and followed it with SK2 in 2006. Since then — apart from a one-off single in 2012 — there’s been zilch. Luckily, we have this track to keep us ticking over in the meantime. Not a cover of the U2 song of the same name (more on which opposite), but a woozy, nifty number that makes the Kid sound like Ireland’s answer to Beck. True, the actual song is more about the frustrations of modern life, but it’s a good a reason as any to revisit that brilliant debut album.
11. The Blades - Hot for You (1980)
While we’re on the topic of underrated acts, let’s talk about The Blades. This Dublin band, prime purveyors of exceptional new wave in the late 1970s and early 1980s, released two albums before splitting. This song was their debut single and epitomises everything great about the band who should have been as big as U2; jangly guitars, taut basslines and a bustling, finger-clicking pop chorus that sees Paul Cleary croon to the object of his affection: “The sun is burning and I’m getting hot for you”. The good news is that the trio reformed in 2013, so you still have a chance to hear this gem played live.
12. The Coronas - San Diego Song (2007)
Oooh, this tune is a divisive one for many. In fact, even The Coronas would probably argue that they’ve moved on from their first single, the ‘J1 anthem’ that was written when lead singer Danny O’Reilly spent a summer in — you guessed it — San Diego, California. Nevertheless, despite undeniably student-oriented lyrics like “We sleep all day and we drink all night / We are not wasting our time”, it’s got ‘responsibility-free summer’ stamped all over it. “I’ve always been an honest songwriter. It was written when I was 21 and sleeping all day and drinking all night,” said O’Reilly. “That’s what it’s about.” Can’t argue with that logic.
13. Ginnels - It’s Not A Summer (Without You) (2012)
Not the most well-known song on this list, true; but this song by Dublin-based band Ginnels is a peach of a tune and the album that it’s drawn from, Crowns, is well worth investigating. An exercise in thrashy, jangly indie-rock blended with a starry-eyed lovelorn sentiment, it’s an impossibly infectious number that’ll indubitably make you swoon — and then make you shake a leg immediately afterwards.
14. U2 Staring at the Sun (1997)
To be fair, U2 have a number of songs suitable for summer days; we thought long and hard before discarding the Los Angeles-referencing Where the Streets Have No Name and the surging chorus of Elevation for this tune. Taken from the much-maligned Pop album, it’s a laidback rock tune with a rich summer strum, and with opening lyrics like “Summer stretching on the grass, summer dresses pass”, it’s the obvious contender for inclusion. Whether it’s about an LSD trip or a metaphor for the band throwing caution to the wind and daring to be experimental? That’s for you to decide.
15. Enya - Caribbean Blue (1991)
Alright, alright. We’re bending the rules a little… again. But what could evoke a more summer-themed image than a song title like Caribbean Blue? Taken from her 1991 album Shepherd’s Moon, it’s one of Enya’s most famous — and most timeless — songs, and with good reason. On a summer’s day, there’s nothing more relaxing than the soothing sounds of the Donegal woman in your ears, an ice-cold beverage in your hand and the sun beating down on your brow. Just us, then?
See More: Featured, Irish Music, Music, Playlist, Summer
