Black Music Sunday is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music, with over 270 stories covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new.
Folks across the nation have been hit by sweltering heat waves this spring and summer, and my thoughts have turned to songs I grew up with, which, back then, never referenced climate change but did talk about heat and hot sun.
I’ll never forget the opening lyrics to “Under the Boardwalk,” sung by The Drifters in 1964:
Oh, when the sun beats down and burns the tar up on the roof
And your shoes get so hot you wish your tired feet were fire proof
Under the boardwalk, down by the sea, yeah
On a blanket with my baby is where I’ll be…
If you don’t know The Drifters’ history, Musician Guide has a complete biography written by Ronald D. Lankford Jr:
The Drifters held their ground as a premier doo wop and R&B band from the early 1950s until the mid-1960s, recording such unforgettable hits as «Some Kind of Wonderful» and «Under the Boardwalk.» «The Drifters are part of an … exclusive fraternity,» maintained Bruce Eder in All Music Guide, «as a group that managed to carve out a place for themselves in the R&B firmament and also define that music.» While lineup changes plagued the group throughout both decades, lead singers like Clyde McPhatter and Rudy Lewis, along with the production team at Atlantic Records, assured the Drifters’ continued success. Twenty-five of their 37 hits reached the top ten, and five topped the charts at number one. Innovations such as the string section the group used on «There Goes My Baby» influenced the soul sound developed by Phil Spector and Motown Records during the 1960s. Although hits stopped coming for the group after 1964, the Drifters continued to draw fans through performances in various combinations in England and the United States from the 1970s onward.
«The Drifters are an institution,» noted Bill Millar in The Marshall Cavendish History of Popular Music. «Very few vocal groups have remained popular for more than 30 years, and in an area notable for its lack of consistency the Drifters’ longevity is almost without parallel.» The complex history of the Drifters can best be divided into two separate phases: the first begins with McPhatter’s leadership in 1953, and the second six years later when Ben E. King took over lead vocals. In the first stage, the band performed as a classic doo wop unit, incorporating harmonies from groups such as the Mills Brothers as well as from gospel. In the second stage, they performed as an R&B band, recording a series of pop hits that can still be heard on oldies radio stations.
Interestingly, “Up on the Roof,” written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin in 1962, echoes “Under the Boardwalk.” I remember many a sweltering night when I lived in an old crumbling four-story walkup, un-air-conditioned apartment in a brownstone in East Harlem (aka Spanish Harlem) when we either had to sit out on the fire escape or head up to the roof to catch a breeze.
Bill Janovitz at All Music wrote:
Carole King wrote the song with her former partner and husband, Gerry Goffin, soon after penning their first hit, «Will You Love Me Tomorrow,» while working for impresario Don Kirshner at his Brill Building-like company, Aldon. Goffin’s lyrics are playful, wistful, and empathetic: «At night the stars put on a show for free/And, darling, you can share it all with me/I keep a-telling you/Right smack dab in the middle of town/I’ve found a paradise that’s trouble proof/And if this world starts getting you down/There’s room enough for two/Up on the roof.»
Couldn’t resist posting one of my favorite “Up on the Roof” covers, which was recorded by the late great (my High School of Music and Art classmate) Laura Nyro.
When dealing with the heat waves criss-crossing the nation this summer, on my playlist is, of course, Martha and The Vandellas’ “Heat Wave,” which, though referencing a different kind of “heat,” has become an anthem for long hot summers.
The Michigan Legend Rock & Roll Hall of Fame reports:
“Heat Wave” was the second single and the first Top Ten hit written for Martha & The Vandellas by Motown’s new writing and production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland. Produced with a gospel-like fervor, the song opens with a 27-second instrumental passage featuring handclaps, Joe Hunter’s piano, Thomas “Beans” Bowles sax, and the drumming of “Pistol” Allen. “Heat Wave” is often credited as being one of the first songs to exemplify the style of music that would later be called the “Motown Sound”.
«Heat Wave» is probably Martha Reeves greatest vocal performance, and it helped Martha & The Vandellas become the first Motown group to receive a Grammy Award Nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. Martha Reeves remembered watching the network news during the summer of 1963. “I was in my mom’s living room when the anchorman said, ‘There’s a heat wave in Los Angeles,’ it was a hundred and something and then they played “Heat Wave”. I jumped all over the floor. My mom told me to sit down and shut up! I screamed, ‘We’re on network TV! They’re playing our song!”
This summer, we lost Sly Stone, who joined the ancestors on June 9, 2025.
I really appreciated reading Terry Nelson’s memories about his introduction to Sly in “Remember Who You Are: Celebrating Sly Stone’s Life & Legacy” at Albumism:
I grew up in a household where Motown and Stax got the top billing, while Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday made frequent guest appearances. One day, Sly and the Family Stone’s Stand! (1969) album made its way into our apartment. I was mesmerized by the album cover because it was collage of unknown faces and I couldn’t wait to hear what this “Family Stone” sounded like.
The three second drumroll on the title track gave you little time to prepare yourself for what was about to happen. It was like the opening credits to a movie. You bob your head along to the music, then at 2:17, it shifts into what appears to be a new song. To this day, it’s one of the best abrupt changes in any song I’ve heard. I can’t think of another one on the spot. Its presence in the track is a way of saying, “Brace yourselves, we’re about to blow your mind.”
The next track, “Don’t Call Me N****r, Whitey” went over the head of four-year old Terry. The N-word was just a term of endearment tossed around by family members from time to time. Two years later, when a white classmate directed it at me, that shit hit differently. I listened to the song again and had a conversation with my mother about the incident. That told me everything I needed to know.
After listening to the album, I had to find out more about Sly & The Family Stone. I recall being completely dumbfounded and amazed the first time I saw them on TV; their act was unlike anything I’d ever witnessed before. A band with a diverse gender and racial makeup, playing multiple instruments, was unheard of. To my knowledge, Booker T. & the MGs were the only racially integrated band at the time, and the only reason I knew that was their album cover.
He and the Family will always signal summer for me.
Sly and The Family Stone weren’t the only big R&B group to have a hit with a funky summer sound.
From their bio at Musician Guide, James M. Manheim:
Kool & the Gang were one of the most successful R&B and pop groups of the 1980s, placing more singles in the pop top ten during the first half of that decade than any other group. They experienced moderate success during the funk years of the early and middle 1970s as well, appearing regularly on R&B charts and impressing live audiences with their showmanship and instrumental skills developed during the group’s early years as a jazz ensemble. Kool & the Gang remain known above all for a single song: «Celebration» (1980) is as close to a universal wedding reception standard as exists in American music, and it is often played at parties and dances for audiences not even born when the song was recorded.
Kool & the Gang came together in 1964 as the Jazziacs in Jersey City, New Jersey. At the center of the group were two brothers, Robert and Ronald Bell, born in 1950 and 1951, respectively, in Youngstown, Ohio. Their father, a champion featherweight boxer, had also dabbled in jazz and was a friend of pianist Thelonious Monk. When the family fell into dire poverty due to steel mill closures in Youngstown, their mother, Mabel, sent President John F. Kennedy a letter containing a picture Ronald Bell had drawn of their falling-down home, and Kennedy read the letter on national television. Robert Bell was a bassist, and Ronald played tenor saxophone. The other members of the Jazziacs were trumpeter Robert «Spike» Mickens (born in Jersey City in 1951), saxophonist and flutist Dennis «Dee Dee» Thomas (born in Orlando, Florida in 1951), lead guitarist Claydes Smith (born in Jersey City on September 6, 1948), keyboardist Ricky Westfield, and percussionist George «Funky» Brown (born in Jersey City on January 5, 1949).
Though we lost Kool and the Gang co-founder Ronald «Khalis» Bell in the fall of 2020, their music lives on. This extended-play mix of their 1974 song “Summer Madness,” which has been widely sampled, keeps on humming.
Video channel owner DJDiscoCat has a lot to say about beating the heat and crafting this mix:
«Summer Madness» is the song Rocky played when he fed his fish in the hit movie. It was already a jazx funk classic in 1977 with its dramatic and engaging mix of shimmering jazz that makes me think of the visual distortion you see on the roads during heatwaves, they almost look like puddles sometimes and the tension filled ARP synth performance that is couched in a totally funky and sublime drum track. They created magic.
It was the B side to «Higher Plane» and while it has become infinitely more popular even though it never charted. Sampling gave the song new life starting in 1988 with Rodney O And Joe Cooley’s single “Give Me the Mic”. Since then, hip hop culture has heavily sampled the R&B classic.
Even more popular now than in 1974, «Summer Madness» has been used in the 2000’s in movies, video games, soundtracks and even at UFC. The simple but intricately complex song touches just about everyone who listens to it. Man, is it hot! it is currently 27 Centigrade or 81 degrees and the low will be 21 at 11PM. The heat is driving me crazy so much so I had to put down this remix cos I didn’t have the energy after working all day…it is draining! Drink lots of water, it makes a difference. I have been taking cold water baths right from the tap, and refreshing soak in spearmint scented epsom salt. In the last three weeks we will have had two nights that dropped to 57.2 F.
Anyway, I finally finished this hour long Monster Mix, it’s not the one song repeated 40 some times back to back but a real remix that lasts a little over an hour. I looped a lot of the hypnotic pulsing to give the song more space to breathe and the next thing I knew I was at an hour and four minutes….and I feel like I am on a journey headphones on and eyes closed.
So I present to you, the Monster Mix of Kool & The Gang’s «Summer Madness» on this steamy Monday night in the middle of a heatwave that has been going on for nearly three weeks. Its a cool breeze for your ears and brain.
While writing this, I had some song lyrics floating around in my head about “summer in the city.”
Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn’t it a pity
Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city
All around, people looking half-dead,
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head
I realized that they were from “Summer in the City,” originally recorded in 1966 by Canadian- American rockers The Lovin’ Spoonful. However, the version I’m most familiar with is this mostly instrumental cover, recorded in 1973, by the late, great Quincy Jones, with vocals toward the end by Valerie Simpson. A masterpiece.
To close, if you are currently enduring a hot spell, here’s wishing you a summer breeze, with the Isley Brothers cover of the Seals & Crofts tune, from their 2005 “Live in Columbia” DVD.
GIGS Mercury Studio video notes:
The Isley Brothers have enjoyed a long and distinguished career from the early fifties to the present day. They have enjoyed considerable chart success and huge album sales on both sides of the Atlantic and remain a major live draw. Their music has evolved to encompass a variety of styles from gritty R & B through Motown soul and on to blistering funk, all of which they have delivered with fine musicianship and considerable style.
The concert on this DVD was filmed in America in spring 2005 and captures the band in excellent form led by Ron Isley’s smooth vocals and Ernie Isley’s hard edged guitar leads.
See the curtains hanging in the window
In the evening on a Friday night
A little light a-shining through the window
Lets me know everything’s alright
CHORUS:Summer breeze makes me feel fine
Blowing through the jasmine in my mind
Summer breeze makes me feel fine
Blowing through the jasmine in my mind
See the paper lying on the sidewalk
A little music from the house next door
So I walk on up to the door step
Through the screen and across the floor
Repeat chorus
Sweet days of summer, the jasmine’s in bloom
July is dressed up and playing her tune
When I come home from a hard days work
And you’re waiting there, not a care in the world
See the smile a-waiting in the kitchen
Food cooking and the plates for two
Feel the arms that reach out to hold me
In the evening when the day is through
I don’t know what the weather conditions are where you are, but here in the Hudson Valley of New York, where I am, we are currently under a heat advisory. I could sure use one of those cool breezes.
Join me in the comments section below for more, and please post some of your favorite hot summer tunes.
