Summer (song)
Encyclopedia
"Summer" is a song by Mogwai
Mogwai
The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...

 released as a double A-side with "Ithica 27ø9"
on 4 November 1996 and eventually included on Ten Rapid (Collected Recordings 1996-1997). A version of "Summer" called "Summer (Priority Version)" is included on Mogwai's debut album, Young Team.

Overview

"Summer" could be described as Mogwai's equivalent of a pop song. The original version of "Summer" is still played live regularly, whereas the Priority Version, while not usually played live anymore, used to be played live quite commonly in the late 1990s. The song was originally titled "Martin", most likely after Mogwai drummer Martin Bulloch
Martin Bulloch
Martin Bulloch is a Scottish musician, best known for being a member of Mogwai.-Early life:Bulloch was born in Bellshill, South Lanarkshire. He was once a cook at a Chinese Restaurant in Glasgow.-Mogwai:...

. "Summer" could possibly be the first Mogwai song ever written because the 1995 Deadcat Motorbike demos (Stuart Braithwaite
Stuart Braithwaite
Stuart Leslie Braithwaite is a Scottish guitarist, bassist, drummer, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist of post rock band Mogwai, with whom he has recorded seven studio albums.-Early life :...

's previous band) contain a track labelled "Summer".

Priority Version

The version of "Summer" which appeared on the band's 1997 debut album, Mogwai Young Team, entitled "Summer (Priority Version)" was first played live for a Peel session in late 1996. Stuart Braithwaite
Stuart Braithwaite
Stuart Leslie Braithwaite is a Scottish guitarist, bassist, drummer, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist of post rock band Mogwai, with whom he has recorded seven studio albums.-Early life :...

 has commented on this version of the song, saying:

Musical composition

The song begins with a quiet recording of the chorus of "Summer", with lots of reverb. At (0:40), it fades out and the bass riff of "Summer" kicks in, accompanied by an Organ. At (0:54), it is joined by the drums, and a glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...

 playing the melody. At (1:24), the distorted guitars are brought in, playing a heavily distorted E5 chord along with heavy drumming. At (1:30), the quiet glockenspiel melody returns briefly, before being drowned out at (1:36) by the guitars playing the E5 chord. This is followed at (1:42), by a guitar solo, played by Stuart Braithwaite
Stuart Braithwaite
Stuart Leslie Braithwaite is a Scottish guitarist, bassist, drummer, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist of post rock band Mogwai, with whom he has recorded seven studio albums.-Early life :...

, with the glockenspiel playing along. At (2:13), there is another heavily distorted guitar section, followed by a brief return to the glockenspiel melody, and then back to the guitar section. At (2:43), a similar guitar solo is played, until (3:00), when all the instruments begin playing frantically and heavily, until (3:28), when another guitar section is played. At (3:45), the glockenspiel melody is played one last time, accompanied by organ and drums, until (4:09), when everything finishes playing, except the organ, which slowly fades out.

Media appearances

  • "Summer (Priority Version)" was used as the ending theme of the 2002 documentary
    Documentary film
    Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

     television program
    Television program
    A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

    , RE:Brand
    RE:Brand
    RE:Brand was a British documentary and comedy television program that aimed to take a challenging look at cultural taboos.It was conceived, written and hosted by Russell Brand, with the help of his comic partner for many projects, Matt Morgan. The series was shown on the now defunct digital...

    , presented by English
    England
    England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

     comedian
    Comedian
    A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

     and actor
    Actor
    An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

    , Russell Brand
    Russell Brand
    Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...

    .

Personnel

  • Stuart Braithwaite – guitar, glockenspiel
  • Dominic Aitchison – bass guitar
  • John Cummings – guitar
  • Martin Bulloch – drums
  • Paul Savage – producer, mixer

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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