Today’s classic summer song of the day is “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer,” as recorded by the great Nat King Cole. This single was released in May of 1963, just in time for summertime that year, and peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on what was then called the Middle-Road Singles Chart.
“Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer” started life as a German song, written by Hans Carte with lyrics by Hans Bradtke, with the title “Du spielst ‘ne tolle Rolle,” which loosely translates to “You’re Playing a Great Role.” The original lyrics had to do with describing what a great role a certain woman would play in the singer’s memoirs, with lyrics like “I saw you strolling through Milano in a bikini/I saw you dancing on a table/I saw you boxing with a friend of Mangano/In contrast, Brigitte Bardot is a small fish.” Or so says Google Translate.
That original version was a hit in Germany for singer Willie Hagara in 1962. When those lyrics didn’t translate that well, lyricist Charles Tobias was brought in to write English lyrics. The English-language version of the song is all about nostalgia, longing for those “lazy-hazy-crazy days of summer/those days of soda and pretzels and beer.”
I first heard this song when I was a wee tyke of five years old, playing on the loudspeakers at the Lafayette Road drive-in theater before the latest movie started. No doubt I was playing on the playground or waiting in line with my dad to buy a hot dog at the concession stand. I know it was during the summer because the drive-in was open and Nat King Cole was singing about summer and lovers going to the drive-in. It all fit.
When I hear the song today I remember my grandfather Al and his two brothers, Lloyd and Walt. They’d get together during family reunions either in Indianapolis or St. Louis, wearing short-sleeve linen shirts and drinking short bottles of Falstaff beer. In my memory it definitely was lazy and a little hazy, although it never got too crazy.
Nat King Cole was a jazz pianist who transitioned to pop singer. He had a long string of hits, starting in 1942 and going right up to his death in 1965, aged 45. HIs first big hit was “All For You” (#18 in 1943); his last was another summer song, “That Sunday, That Summer” (#12 in 1963). He had one of the smoothest voices out there and was one of the first African-American performers to cross over to a white audience. I still listen to his records, including this one, today.
