“Summer Nights” by John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John

A super-sweet summer-themed classic.

It's the end of the week, and I want to send everyone off into the weekend with the best vibes possible. That’s why the Daily Music Picks newsletter features a weekly segment called Fun Song Fridays! Regardless of era, genre, or style, the criterion is simple: it must deliver the joy and excitement we all need in our lives.

You can access the entire Fun Song Fridays archive here. While you’re at it, add the companion playlist to your favorite streaming platform.

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Hello! 😊👋

Welcome to a new edition of the Best Music of All Time newsletter!

Today’s music pick is an iconic track from one of cinema’s most enduring musicals.

Genre: Rock, Doo Wop, Pop

Label: RSO

Release Date: August 25, 1978

Vibe: 💑

For a film that’s been in our lives for nearly a half-century (and, let’s be honest here, not every single frame has aged gracefully), there’s something about Grease’s musical highlights that separate itself from other popular genre entries. From the exhilarating Elvis tribute that is “Greased Lightnin’” to the leather-clad closer “You’re the One That I Want,” the soundtrack has stuck around in the cultural zeitgeist long past what you might assume would be its sell-by date. No track from the movie personifies why this is more than the eternal “Summer Nights.”

Written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, the song serves multiple purposes in a dazzling opening sequence in the film. It covers a ton of expository ground, enabling the characters to build out Danny and Sandy’s backstory and frame their unresolved feelings for one another without boring us to tears with explainer-type dialogue scenes. It also introduces stylistic choices that Jacobs and Casey revisit during the two hours that follow—blending 50s rock and doo-wop tropes with streamlined 70s pop construction that ultimately makes it timeless. Outside of its connection with the musical, this song could’ve been a hit in either decade.

At its core, “Summer Nights” is about the come-down from a warm-weather fling emotionally. “It turned cold/That’s when it ends/So I told her/We’ll still be friends” is as relatable an exchange as you’ll find in a song dripping with as much romantic yearning as this one. That closing shot, framing them together in separate physical locations on the school’s campus, and the climactic harmony gives me chills every time I hear it.

The term “iconic” gets thrown around too much now in relation to music that fuels nostalgia. Our favorites are always iconic in our own minds, no matter how well they’ve stood up over time or not. But that term deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as “Summer Nights.” My anecdotal evidence: Whenever I’d play the megamix from the film at a DJ gig, everyone, regardless of age, would belt out that closing line along with Travolta and Newton-John as loud as they could.

That kind of reception is how you know you’re in the presence of an all-time classic.

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