Today’s song of the day is a jazz ballad, “Summer Wind,” by Frank Sinatra.

Fun Facts:

• Frank Sinatra has been called the greatest American singer of 20th-century popular music.
• “Summer Wind” was originally released in German as “Der Sommerwind” and was written by Heinz Meier.
• The song was rewritten to English by Johnny Mercer, who used the Southern European sirocco wind as his metaphor for the changing seasons and passing of time.
• Wayne Newton was the first American artist to debut the English version in the states, and this was the title track of his album Summer Wind.
• The song was made most popular by Frank Sinatra’s recording in 1966, which ranked at 25 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• The song has been featured on The Simpsons, Blade Runner 2049, The Pope of Greenwich Village and the Netflix series Ozark.
• In this Frank Sinatra version of the song, he uses both an electric organ and a big band, and the lyrics have been modified to exclude the second chorus.
• Michael Bublé, Barry Manilow, Westlife and Willie Nelson are amongst a few of the big names who have all covered the song on their jazz album classics

Lyrics

(Musixmatch)

The summer wind came blowin’ in

From across the sea

It lingered there so warm and fair

To walk with me

All summer long, we sang a song

And then we strolled on golden sand

Two amigos

And the summer wind

Like painted kites

Those days and nights, they went flyin’ by

The world was new

Beneath a bright blue umbrella sky

Then softer than a piper man

One day, it called to you

And I lost you, I lost you

To the summer wind

The autumn wind and the winter winds

They have come and they have gone

And still the days, those lonely days

They go on and on

And guess who sighs his lullabies

Through nights that never end

My fickle friend, the summer wind

The summer wind, the summer wind

The summer wind