The end of summer is already here. For almost everyone, one of the year’s most bittersweet moments: rested, yet knowing that soon you’ll have to buckle up your raincoat. Fortunately, a multitude of artists have captured this same feeling in their songs. Today, we present a list of five classics to help you face the close of the summer season.
The tradition of linking the seasons to stages of human life has lived on in the history of art since ancient Greece, around the 6th century BCE, with Pythagoras dividing life into four seasons. In these, summer represents youth and winter old age.
Therefore, almost none of the selected songs speak literally about the end of summer, using it rather as a metaphor for the conclusion of something more significant, whether a relationship or even life itself.
Stevie Wonder – ‘Summer Soft’
The American genius demonstrated in ‘Songs In The Key Of Life’, which marks 50 years since its release this very year, that his compositions can make one of the most extravagant titles in history feel modest. One of the LP’s underrated tracks is ‘Summer Soft’, a beautiful metaphor about the evolution of feelings within a relationship. Like summer and the other seasons, these pass by as if nothing, and suddenly you realize that “it’s October” and “she’s gone.”
Dusty Springfield – ‘Summer Is Over’
The end of summer as a synonym for sadness has been fashionable in the music industry for more than six decades. Tom Springfield, Dusty’s brother, and Clive Westlake didn’t overthink the lyrics of ‘Summer Is Over’, probably making it the most literally titled song on this list: the grass stops being green, swallows leave the nest, and leaves fall to the ground. Yet the imposing arrangements by Ivor Raymonde ensure the song couldn’t be more epic, perfect for when the world comes crashing down on you.
The Cure – ‘The Last Day Of Summer’
When you consider that Robert Smith was approaching forty as he wrote ‘Bloodflowers’, the title of this song explains itself. Beyond beaches, holidays and heat, summer is a symbol of youth, and ‘The Last Day Of Summer’ is precisely about the end of that vital phase through pure melancholy: “The last day of summer has never felt so cold.” As a curiosity, this song is the only one on ‘Bloodflowers’ in which another member of the band could creatively contribute, with Simon Gallup responsible for the composition.
Rod Stewart – ‘Maggie May’
The only number-one song on the list, in both the United Kingdom and the United States, is also the most playful. ‘Maggie May’ doesn’t focus so much on summer as such (“We’re near the end of September and I should’ve been back in class”), but it perfectly captures why this season is sometimes more a feeling than a time of year: the possibilities are endless. Stewart illustrates it by recounting, “more or less true,” the story of how he lost his virginity with an older woman in the summer of 1961. If we get poetic, ‘Maggie May’ also speaks of the loss of innocence.
The Beach Boys – ‘Summer’s Gone’
In 1964, Brian Wilson wrote ‘All Summer Long’ after a summer that was about to end and that marked the beginning of the Beach Boys’ career. Forty-eight years later, he himself took charge of composing, alongside Joe Thomas and Bon Jovi, the song that would close the band’s final album. ‘Summer’s Gone’ is so devastating because it not only represents the end of the quintessential summer group, but also reminds us of the harshest truth: everything ends.
‘Summer’s Gone’ is a beautiful throwback to the production style of ‘Pet Sounds’, with the strings taking the spotlight in the track as if the ocean’s tide. After Brian Wilson’s death in 2025, the song’s closing words become utterly heartbreaking: “I’ll sit and watch the waves / We laugh, we cry / We live, then we die / And dream of yesterday.”
