On the 4th of July in 1966, John Sebastian and The Lovin’ Spoonful released “Summer in the City:” the perfect summer song…about the the imperfections of a hot summer day: Excessive heat, dirt sweat and noise–lots of noise.

But then, to balance things out, relief was offered by the cool of the night, which allowed the nightlife and romance to begin.

“Summer in the City” was critically acclaimed as one of the very first rock songs to use sound effects to enhance the narrative- as opposed to adding novelty or comedy.

John Wrote the song by reworking a tune by his brother Mark, while adding a touch of inspiration from Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain,” which he knew from the 1940 Disney film “Fantasia.” Bassist Steve Boone then suggested a piano interlude that was based on the music of George Gershwin… very highbrow stuff!

All of this helped “Summer in the City” reach the Top 10 in 11 countries…including the US, where it went to #1 on the Hot 100…and later spent several years on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of all time!

“Summer in the City was easily a Great Song of 1966… the ’60s as a decade..and of all time!