I believe there is a version of this song with lyrics (courtesy of The Four Aces), but it’s not the version I own.
That’s because the version I own is the one that accompanies the opening scene of Grease — captured in all its glory below.
Enjoy the romance-filled summer of Sandy and Danny, including a moment when Danny gets a little too grabby, set to this wonderfully over-the-top orchestral arrangement.
I never thought I could milk a week’s worth of blog posts out of the Schooner Bar on the Liberty of the Seas, but here we are.
One night, Paul O’Shea played the first few notes of ‘Summer Nights’ from the Grease soundtrack and then looked to the audience for a Sandy to sing alongside him.
No, I’m not going to tell you that Alex (or I) volunteered. This isn’t that good a story.
I originally planned to post today’s clip as part of my week on musicals, but it felt like too much of a cheat so I swapped it out for ‘Summer Nights.’
But I’d hate to see it go to waste so I’m resurrecting it today.
I love this animated title sequence. It gives you a great feel for the setting and characters of the film as well as the overall tone. It’s corny, fun and mischievous. And I must admit I’ve always been more than a little stirred by the cartoon body of Olivia Newton-John’s Sandy.
As for the song, it’s a true classic. Penned by Barry Gibb and performed by Frankie Valli (whose music I saw spotlighted this summer on a terrific cruise show modeled after The Jersey Boys), it’s a perfect bridge between the 70s and the 50s.
I’m jumping back to the movies for my fourth show tune of the week (technically, Grease started as a stage musical, but the film is the version I know and love). I was going to cheat even further and post the title song today, but that felt like too much of a stretch.
Grease is one of the great movies of my youth, a film I know by heart after countless viewings on TV, VHS and DVD. It’s also one of the most amusing examples of actors who are practically middle-aged playing high-schoolers. I mean, seriously… Cha-Cha DiGregorio could have been in her 50s. Of course, when I saw this movie as a young boy, I just figured that’s what high school kids looked like.
Meet Me In Montauk 