Last July I spent two weeks on summer singles — those songs that dominate the airwaves during these carefree months. Songs that mostly check their brains at the door and ask nothing of the listener but to hum or dance along.
I’ve traditionally been way behind in discovering summer singles, often not hearing them until months later. I’m the guy who didn’t hear ‘Umbrella’ or ‘I’ve Got a Feeling’ until they’d been in rotation for more than a year. Last summer I proactively remedied that situation, and this summer I’ve aiming to do so again.
Over the next two weeks, I’ll feature ten songs crowding the musical landscape this summer. These tracks were culled from Billboard, radio airplay lists and music blogs. Some I’ve heard before but most are brand new to me.
Kicking things off is a contender for “Song of the Summer,” Bruno Mars’ slacker anthem ‘The Lazy Song.’ Mare has a great look and a great voice and he’s an awfully good songwriter, too (he co-wrote Cee-Lo’s ‘Fuck You’).
This song probably took him five minutes to write, but that’s proved to be a lucrative five minutes. I can’t turn on VH1 without seeing this video, in which (for some unexplained reason) Mars is accompanied by a quintet of men wearing large ape masks.
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don’t feel like picking up my phone
So leave a message at the tone
Cause today I swear I’m not doing anything
I’m gonna kick my feet up and stare at the fan
Turn the TV on
Throw my hand in my pants
Nobody’s gon’ tell me I can’t, nah
I’ll be lounging on the couch just chillin’ in my snuggie
Click to MTV so they can teach me how to dougie
Cause in my castle I’m the freakin’ man
Oh yes I said it
I said it
I said it cause I can
Today I don’t feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don’t feel like picking up my phone
So leave a message at the tone
Cause today I swear I’m not doing anything
Nothing at all
Tomorrow I wake up, do some P90X
Meet a really nice girl, have some really nice sex
And she’s gonna scream out, “this is great”
(Oh my god this is great)
I might mess around and get my college degree
I bet my old man will be so proud of me
But sorry pops you just have to wait
[CHORUS]
No I ain’t gonna comb my hair
Cause I ain’t going anywhere
No no no no no no no no nooo
I’ll just strut in my birthday suit
And let everything hang loose
Ohh Today I don’t feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don’t feel like picking up my phone
So leave a message at the tone
Cause today I swear I’m not doing anything
Nothing at all
Meet Me In Montauk 
There’s nothing like driving 2000 miles on a summer trip to become very familiar with the summer hits, particularly if you tune into the Sirius Hits channel, which we do from time to time (we alternate that with The Pulse, The Coffee House, and Radio Disney, mixed in with the IPod and sometimes Pandora). So, yes, I am familiar with this song and most of Mars’ hits.:)
I must admit that there is something about Mars that annoys me a bit. Maybe it’s his voice–I tend to like a gruffer, more soulful voice. Maybe it’s a certain cockiness I sense coming through his music. I don’t know. Still, I admit the guy knows how to write a catchy pop tune and I didn’t know he co-wrote “F You” For that alone, he deserves major props as that song is just flat out great.
I like this song well enough–certainly better than his other big hit “Grenade,” which really does annoy me. Somehow I think I would like today’s song better though if it were being done by Jason Mraz.
I have the opposite reaction to Bruno Mars. I don’t know exactly why, but I find that I like him more than I can explain. When he shows up for one of those requisite appearances on America Idol, I find myself noting how young he seems to be for such talent. I’m sure the fact that the first song I knew by him was “Just the Way You Are” doesn’t hurt my admiration. I find the video for that song to be a bit absurd, as the woman featured in it is about as perfect as can be. Still, the man can write a catchy pop song. I love this one, love “Grenade,” and love “Just the Way You Are.” And if it weren’t for radio (and Glee), I would never have heard any of them.