Shine on

Everybody has a feel-good hit they associate with lazy summers. So we asked the big names of rock and pop what songs remind them of sun-kissed days - and what they'll be listening to this time round

Interviews by Dave Simpson and Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian


Nitin Sawhney
Composer

What's Going On by Marvin Gaye is a brilliant summer track. I always remember my older brother washing the car when I was a kid, that song playing on the car radio. I was about six, we had a Hillman Minx, and I'd be playing football with mates in the road in the cul-de-sac. Beautiful strings and vocals, it really catches something quite emotional. Perfect.

At the moment everyone's listening to Bloc Party, but there's a lot of dance stuff going on too. MIA is quite exciting and I expect her to be nominated for the Mercury. Her whole vibe is fresh, exciting, individual, energetic. I think she'll do really well over summer.

Felix Bunton
Basement Jaxx

An Isley Brothers album I've got with a gold cover with Summer Breeze and Who's That Lady on it [3 + 3, 1973]. We had a Basement Jaxx holiday for everyone who was working for us when we had our own label, just before we signed to XL. Five of us went to Morocco. I took that CD with me. I remember listening to it, slapping a mosquito on my shoulder and just thinking: "Yeahhhh."

This summer, I wanna get the Amerie album, nice R&B that doesn't feel too cheesy. In a holiday bar with a nice cocktail, it will sound good and sexy. I think we're headed to Bangkok. But it would work in Scarborough, if you had an umbrella.

Emily Eavis
Glastonbury organiser

Desire by Bob Dylan always makes me think of summer and the whole album has a really summery feel. Dylan has been a real soundtrack to growing up on the farm, and a soundtrack to the festival too. Then there is Bobby Charles' [1970s Cajun soul classic] I Must Be in a Good Place Now. It's such an upbeat, sweet melody. Stevie Winwood and the Spencer Davis Group's Gimme Some Lovin' is also a real favourite at home. One of my dad's all-time great festival moments was when they played this at the festival in 1971.

This summer, I'll be listening to Hard-Fi, Bright Eyes and the Magic Numbers, who are somewhere between the Mamas and Papas and Big Star. Beautiful harmonies, amazing voices.

Sam Endicott
The Bravery

The track that immediately makes me think of summer is Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. I'm not from Philadelphia, and I've been to, like, one barbecue in my life. But for some reason the story of a kid going to barbecues in Philadelphia makes me nostalgic every time. I don't know; something about that disco-siren synth thing just makes me wanna whip off my clothes and jump on a slip-and-slide.

This summer? I think the new Strokes album is gonna mess everybody up. I just hope it's out in time for summer; I've always thought of them as the kind of band you listen to with a margarita.

Tom Rowlands
The Chemical Brothers

It's a bit bleedin' obvious but Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles is a song that just sparkles in its sound and meaning. It feels optimistic like sunshine - it seems to capture that feeling of coming out of spring into summer - out of the dark, step into the light. Sail the Summer Winds by John Barry reminds me of a mix tape I made one summer that had this nestling among some more twisted music - when I heard it recently I was instantly transported. This summer? It has to be the Magic Numbers.

Mylo
DJ

The two tracks that make me think of summer are Let's Stay Together by the Reverend Al Green and Alphabet Street by Prince. Specifically, a party I was at in midsummer 1999 which consisted of driving round and round a cornfield in a Ford Capri - an excellent sport.

My tip for the soundtrack to the summer this year is Cut Copy's brilliant album Bright Like Neon Love. They're supporting us on tour at the moment and we're frightened because they're better than us!

To be honest, I'm so messed up from going back and forth to the southern hemisphere this winter that I'm not really expecting summer again. It's still summer 2004 as far as I'm concerned.

Peter Hook
New Order

A certain type of record reminds me of summer. Acoustic guitar, not too serious (you save your winters for Joy Division). The sort of records I'm thinking of are Summer the First Time by Bobby Goldsborough; Afternoon Delight by Starlight Vocal band, Take It Easy by the Eagles and Seasons In the Sun by Terry Jacks.

One of our records, Technique, always makes me think of summer. We started it in Ibiza in March when their summer begins, and got completely hammered for four months. It was 1988 and I'd just discovered the demon E. A while after it came out and we'd split up, I was in Heaton Park in Manchester and this kid had the biggest ghetto blaster I've ever seen and he kept following me around playing the album. Even in my gloom it sounded totally summery.

This summer I've discovered Baby Bird again. Now that I do DJ-ing I look for things to annoy 'em in the middle, and I thought of You're Gorgeous. But the whole LP [1996's Ugly Beautiful] is actually pretty good. And like everyone else I'm listening to Bloc Party

Abi Harding
The Zutons

Hot Fun in the Summertime by Sly & the Family Stone - that kind of explains itself. And Good Day Sunshine by the Beatles - when you first wake up in the morning it's a great track to stick on and get yourself in a good mood, to put a smile on yourself. This summer I hope people will be listening to the Futureheads; also Kings of Leon because I recently bought the album and am really getting into it. They'll be a big one to watch at all the festivals.

Ian Broudie
Singer-songwriter

When I was a kid there were a lot of 1960s kitchen-sink dramas like The L-Shaped Room, and I always associate summer with the songs. I also have strong memories of things like Itchycoo Park [by the Small Faces] and the Kinks being on radio. They make me think of a sweltering city day.

This summer? I've got a vested interest, but I hope everyone will be listening to the Subways. They're a band from Welwyn Garden City I've been working with, and their single, Rock'n'Roll Queen, will be out in the summer. There are always songs with summery titles about, like that Dodgy one, Staying Out for the Summer, but they're not necessarily summery songs. A good song should sound summery in the summer, and wintry in winter.

Roots Manuva
Rapper/Producer

Isley Brothers, Summer Breeze. My teenage years ... my older brother buying his first stereo for his bedroom when he got a job. Soul music was big in our house but I distinctively remember thinking this sounded like rock. It had a massive guitar, meeeauauaaaawwwww. It sounded like a gold tune.

This summer I'm going to the States and whenever I go, I come back thinking everything I previously hated about American music is wicked! In 1999 all that southern bounce, over-synthesised rap was about. I thought it was shite until I heard it in New Orleans, and the chicks coming along playing the tracks on blasters. There's something about being in the dodgy parts of the ghetto and witnessing what music means to the people livin' through it. So I know I'll come back with a load of American sounds.

Antony
Antony and the Johnsons

Nina Simone's album Baltimore sets me thinking of hot nights in NYC with no air conditioning. Moondog is always brilliant for summer mornings. Coco Rosie's new album will, I am sure, be the soundtrack of my summer. It is extremely beautiful, a manifesto for their incredibly original ideas.

Moby
Producer

Long Hot Summer by the Style Council; Me and Bobby McGee by Kris Kristofferson; Is This It by the Strokes; Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side. This summer? To be honest, I'm on tour and I'm woefully ill-informed regarding what's going on in the rest of the world. I assume that people will be listening to whatever form of hip-hop is trendy at the moment, crunk or grime or grunk or crime or whatever it is!

Ricky Wilson
Kaiser Chiefs

Dodgy's Staying Out for the Summer. This may not be a hip choice, but I remember watching Glastonbury on TV in 1996 - I was too young to go - and this was the soundtrack. The track has always stuck in my head as an anthem of summer months, along with all the early Beach Boys' stuff, especially California Girls.

This summer I'll be mostly be listening to the Cribs' The New Fellas album. It's a pop gem; we just had them on tour with us and they have so many fantastic songs. I expect everyone will be listening to new albums by Coldplay, Oasis and Franz Ferdinand. I can't wait to hear these three records myself, so maybe they'll get a few spins when I'm not listening to the Cribs.

Rishi Rich
Britney Spears/Jay Sean producer

Keep On Moving by Soul II Soul. That summer when it came out it was big around the world. I was probably about 11. It was the sort of record you'd imagine driving round in a big open-topped car to, although obviously I wasn't old enough. This summer I think reggae will make a huge comeback. There's this new sound called raggaton which is reggae mixed with Latin music. It's big in Miami at the moment. It should have

Brendan Benson
Singer-songwriter

The Cars album by the Cars. It's the first record I ever bought, and I was consumed by it. It's got My Best Friend's Girl and Moving On Stereo on it. Summer of 1978, I was probably trying to go steady with some girl. I didn't have a car but I had the Cars.

This summer I'm listening to Floating by Jabe. It's like this drone, traditional Irish-Celtic music but a dance track. I dunno if it'll take off but I can imagine having a few beers and getting down to that.

Sean Rowley
Guilty Pleasures DJ

Oh Lori by Alessi. "I'd like to ride my bicycle with you, all summer" ... It transforms me back to a beach in Woolacombe, north Devon. Listening to the Radio 1 roadshow, with fingers getting sticky from an ice cream. That's the dream, I think the reality was trying to keep dry under a blanket reading Planet of the Apes comics.

Recently I haven't had that all-consuming passion that overtakes your life like a teenage crush, but I've now got that back with the Magic Numbers. I've also got hold of an album by Edgar "Jones" Jones. It's called Soothing Songs for Stray Cats and it's a smorgasbord of styles: 1950s doo-wop, garage, be-bop, Sly Stone. He used to be in a band and called himself Edgar Summertyme. Need I say more?

Jimi Goodwin
Doves

Bedward by Prince Far I. It reminds me of an old flame and the south of France. The sound of summer 2005? Oh, probably some old tosh coming out of Ayia Napa.

Jem
Singer-songwriter

Whenever I hear or play De La Soul's Fanatic of the B Word or Keepin' the Faith, it immediately takes me back to the amazing times I had in the summer of 1991 when I was 16. A golden time when the trials of life were nowhere to be seen. I'm possibly not the best person to be asked what will be the soundtrack of this summer as I still live in the past! But this summer I'll sure be blasting Dr Alimantado's Best Dressed Chicken in Town and Funkmaster Flex's The Mix Tape, Volume One.

Miquita Oliver
Popworld presenter

The song that always reminds me of summer is Don't Walk Away by [R&B girl trio] Jade, from 1992. I listened to it loads when I was just getting into hanging out in the park with boys, wearing high-topped Reeboks. This summer, I think the new Gorillaz track, Good Times Inc, will be around a lot. I already wanna be in the park listening to it.

Johnathan Rice
Singer-songwriter

Any of the songs from Van Morrison's Veedon Fleece are my favourite songs of the summer. They will be the sound of the Celtic summer for when I'll be touring the UK. And when the sun goes down, anything from Spoon's Kill the Moonlight. Spoon are one of the greatest rock'n'roll bands of the last 10 years, and Britt Daniels has emerged as one of America's finest songwriters.

Jaff
The Futureheads

Anything by the Beach Boys must make everyone in the country think of summer. For me personally, Neil Young's Harvest and After the Goldrush are very significant. We [the Futureheads] often used to go away to my caravan before the band got really busy and we'd listen to Neil Young a lot. Whenever I hear Out on the Weekend, I think instantly of those summers.

All the oldies will be out again, but I'm sure that Bloc Party and Kaiser Chiefs will have huge anthems this summer. Oasis and Coldplay have new records out so they'll probably be the soundtrack. I'll be blasting out Neil Young.

Girls Aloud
Kimberley Walsh

Bananarama's Cruel Summer reminds me of summer a couple of years ago. It was our first summer as a band and we were thinking of covering this for a B-side. We went for [Duran Duran's] Girls On Film instead.

Cheryl Tweedy

I played Beverley Knight's Salvador, from her last album, all summer long last year. Beverley Knight has such a beautiful voice. It's a really moving song. I wish it came out as a single so more people could have heard it.

Nadine Coyle

I heard this track called Gasolina by Daddy Yankee a few months ago and it's amazing. Really fresh. He raps in Spanish and it kind of mixes up hip-hop, reggae and Latin. I can't understand what he's saying but it just has summer written all over it!

Nicola Roberts

Kanye West, Diamonds Are Forever. He can do no wrong. The last album was amazing and this is so instant, using the sample of Shirley Bassey. Pure summer.

Alexis Petridis
The Guardian's rock and pop critic

Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers' Rock'n'Roll with the Modern Lovers is full of nursery-rhyme songs about ice cream and hot afternoons. It's sung with a childlike glee that should theoretically make you want to thump everyone involved, but instead ends up charming and infectious.

Also, there's an old deep house record called All Night Long by Mood II Swing. A lot of deep house is like a protracted attempt to bore everyone in earshot to death, but this magically conjures up a hot night in the middle of city.

For this summer, the new Saint Etienne album is fantastic, a genuine return to form. It's produced by Xenomania, who work with Girls Aloud, which is the kind of mercurial connection only Saint Etienne would make.

Rachel Stevens
Singer

All I Need by Air, from Moon Safari. It's gorgeous - and just reminds me of those warm, languid, lazy days. But this summer it's got to be the Scissor Sisters - perfect outdoor barbecue music, a real favourite. I'm also looking forward to hearing Justin Timberlake and Jamiroquai's new stuff.

James Skelly
The Coral

Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles because it's about the sun (not the newspaper). And this summer, In the Morning by the Coral (of course).

The Subways
Billy Lunn

156 by [Copenhagen popsters] Mew makes me want to sink into reclusion, but then also shout and scream for joy and see the beautiful and most vulnerable aspects of everything. A true summer song. This year, the Caesars' Jerk It Out is a fantastic pop song from a great band. It has such a hook that people won't be forgetting them too quickly.

Charlotte Cooper

Red by Elbow. Last year when me and Billy went to V festival we heard this song ring out from our tent and we felt compelled to sprint to the stage. It was dusk, it had been a beautiful summer day and that track just encapsulated that.

Sparks
Ron Mael

Pipeline by the Chantays. I loved (and still do love) surf music and this atmospheric instrumental was the perfect background music for surf, sun, and picking up sun-bleached blondes.

This summer I'll be listening to music from a car radio. Summertime is driving time and only music from a car radio is permissible (preferably AM music). You should be barely able to hear the radio due to the wind noise from your convertible top being down.

Russell Mael

Palisades Park by Freddie Cannon. I'm from Pacific Palisades, California. During the summers when we were in school, this song was played constantly and we all thought it was the soundtrack for our town, which had a park called Palisades Park. We'd play baseball there and try to impress the girls with our batting prowess and golden summer tans. This summer I'll be listening to an advance copy of the new Sparks album. We will be in rehearsals for our fall tour so our summer soundtrack will be these songs.

The Faders
Toy

Bob Marley's Buffalo Soldier. It reminds me of my first summer holiday abroad, me and my friends playing it non-stop! This summer? Kaiser Chiefs. They're quirky and unique in comparison to some of the drab stuff around at the moment.

Molly

[Afrobeat anthem] Hot Hot Hot by Arrow instantly reminds me of being at the Notting Hill carnival. People will be listening to Gorillaz this summer because they have some great tunes and their new stuff is of the moment.

Cherisse

Will Smith's Summertime reminds me of being in the car with my dad when I was younger. It was played on the radio non-stop. This summer, [Crunk star] Ciara definitely has that same funky vibe that I wouldn't mind listening to in the park on a hot afternoon with friends.

Brandon Flowers
The Killers

I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston makes me think of summer. And this years summer track? Has to be "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers.