Glow of Summer
HOME PAGE • Call It Home - Introduction • 1 There is a Star • 2 Call It Home • 3 Your Day is Done • 4 Albert J Savoie • 5 Hand Troller •
6 Shingle Spit • 7 Glow of Summer • 8 Crackling Static • 9 Where I Belong • 10 Petrichor • 11 Standard 8 • 12 Ebb & Flow
The summers of my youth rolled by. Memories of this time are rich; I was free to go exploring the whole island by bike, to go sailing in our little sailboat, and to head off on long walks, often with my friend, Chris, or my cousin, Joe. The years from 10 to 19 years old were the 1970s. Music started playing a part in my life as I took up the acoustic guitar, and even writing a few songs (“Call It Home” is one of them).
Getting the coaster bike ready to ride 1979
George and John McLachlan – 1977
I was a huge fan of Gordon Lightfoot’s music, and it was during this time he was at his peak, releasing an album every year. I lived and breathed his songs. I used to ride my bike, and sing them to myself. His songs became, to use a cliché, the soundtrack of my youth.
The recorded version of “Glow of Summer” features the titles of about a dozen of Lightfoot’s songs, buried in the lyrics. My live version now features 22 song titles!
I try to capture the joy that I felt as a teenager during my summers at Hornby Island, and the sense of freedom, and sense of “future” that lay ahead, even if, as in my song “Your Day is Done,” I knew that it wouldn’t always be like this; rules and responsibilities would be coming.
Glow of Summer
Lazy mornin’, Saturday clothes, summertime dreams are mine
The list of what lies ahead is for some other time
Take off in the morning light, a minstrel of the dawn
Back in my bed at night, dreaming highway songs
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
It’s the glow of summer
The glow of feeling
The glow of my young heart
The glow of wonder
The glow of freewheeling
The glow of life at its start
High and dry, go my way, It’s worth believin’ me
That down by the bend in the water, is fine as fine can be
If there’s a reason or chance to stay in this dreamland
The answer is never too close, it’s a tree too weak to stand
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Chorus
Sometimes I don’t mind as sundown comes so soon
The watchmen’s gone but he’ll be along when this carefree highway’s through
And protocol with rules and all will slide on over me
And now and then will I think back when I was only seventeen
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Chorus
© John McLachlan (SOCAN)