Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran / Blue Cheer / Who, The (cover-live by Bill Sharkey)

Summertime Blues (Eddie Cochran, 1958; Blue Cheer, 1968; Who, The, 1970). Live cover performance by Bill Sharkey, Home Studio, Hawaii Kai, HI. 2025-01-20. "Keeping the Oldies & Classics Alive"

"Summertime Blues," written by Eddie Cochran and Jerry Capehart, was Cochran's only top 10 hit rising to no. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1958; Blue Cheer had a hard rock version of the song that rose to no. 14 ten years later followed by The Who in 1970, whose version stalled at no. 27 in 1970 (Whitburn, 2013). This was the only release by The Who that hit the Billboard Hot 100 that wasn't written by Pete Townsend (Whitburn, 2013). Alan Jackson had a no. 1 hit with his version on the Billboard Country Singles' chart in 1994 (Whitubrn, 1999). Cochran stated that "'there had been a lot of songs about summer, but none about the hardships of summer.' With that idea and a guitar lick from Cochran, [Cochran and Capehart] wrote the song in 45 minutes" (songfacts, 2025).

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Lyrics:

Well, I'm gonna raise a fuss
I'm gonna raise a holler
About a working all summer
Just to try to earn a dollar

Well, time I called my baby
Try to get a date
My boss says, "No dice, son
You gotta work late"

Sometimes I wonder
What I'm a gonna do
But there ain't no cure
For the summertime blues

Oh, well my Mom and Poppa told me
"Son, you gotta make some money
If you want to use the car
To go ridin' next Sunday"

Well, I didn't go to work
Told the boss I was sick
"Well, you can't use the car
'Cause you didn't work a lick"

Sometimes I wonder
What I'm a gonna do
But there ain't no cure
For the summertime blues

I'm gonna take two weeks
Gonna have a fine vacation
I'm gonna take my problem
To the United Nations

Well, I called my congressman
And he said, "Whoa
I'd like to help you son
But you're too young to vote"

Sometimes I wonder
What I'm a gonna do?
But there ain't no cure
For the summertime blues