We end our week of summer-themed songs with today’s classic summer song of the day, “Summer Nights” from the musical Grease. It’s the song that kicks off the musical, both the stage and movie versions, and sets up the whole plot. It’s all about the summer romance between greaser Danny Zuko and good girl Sandy Olsson (Sandy Dumbrowski in the stage version).
The ’70s were a time of nostalgia for the late ’50s and early ’60s. Witness the popularity of the movie American Graffiti and the TV series Happy Days, as well as the throwback group, Sha Na Na. Grease played right into that nostalgic trend.
Grease is a musical that celebrates the 1950s. All the songs are written to emulate specific musical styles from that era, complete with all the rama lama ding dongs and bomp de bomp de bomps typical of that era. The stage musical debuted in Chicago in 1971 and moved to Broadway the following year. In 1978, producers Robert Stigwood and Allan Carr adapted the musical into a major motion picture starring John Travolta as Danny and Olivia Newton-John as Sandy.
The song, “Summer Nights,” was sung as a duet between Danny (Travolta) and Sandy (Newton-John), with backup by their respective gangs, the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies. The song was written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, who wrote all the songs for the musical. Released as a single in July of 1978, it went all the way to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Cash Box Top 100. It was a top ten hit all around the world, hitting #1 in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the UK.
As a college kid, I initially liked the movie version of Grease, but later came to dislike it when I discovered that the film essentially whitewashed the stage version, smoothing over all the rough edges, sex, and raunchiness. In more recent years I’ve come to better appreciate the movie for being a fun little bit of fluff, despite all the obviously thirtysomethings playing high school teenagers.
Which leads to our daily bonus video of the day, the complete “Summer Nights” scene from the movie version of Grease. Tell me more, tell me more!
