Friday Mix Tape: Cool It Down

Don’t know about the rest of the country, but the last few weeks here in NYC have been riot-inducing hot with some of the most relentless heat and humidity in recent memory. With temperatures soaring, the heat index peaking in the upper 90s and my keyboard practically sweating as I type this, thought we’d see if we could cool things down at bit with six tunes that will hopefully make you feel as if you cranked your A/C all the way down to 60 degrees.  So, sit back crack open a cold one and take a listen.

We kick things off with Cool It Down from The Velvet Underground’s masterpiece Loaded.Ok, sure this one is about an encounter with a prostitute, but there’s nothing like taking a lesson from the King Of Cool, Lou Reed, to make you feel cool. From there we’ve got The Ramones who urge you to head out to where they cool off – Rockaway Beach, which can be found on their Rocket to Russia album. Next up, we’ve got The Stills-Young Band with Ocean Girl from the only album the pair made together Long May You Run.

Since you can’t think of the beach, the ocean or swimming without hearing one from the Beach Boys, let’s go with one of their all time classics – Surfin’ U.S.A. We follow that up with some Widespread Panic and Chilly Water. This version comes from their official archive release from a show twenty years ago at  The Armory in Valdosta, GA. Finally, we close things out with Tom Waits playing the part of everyone’s favorite summertime treat distributor – the Ice Cream Man.