Girls in Their Summer Clothes

"Girls in Their Summer Clothes"
Single by Bruce Springsteen
from the album Magic
ReleasedJanuary 15, 2008
RecordedMarch–April 2007
GenreAlternative rock, pop rock
Length4:20
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Bruce Springsteen
Producer(s)Brendan O'Brien
Bruce Springsteen singles chronology
"Radio Nowhere"
(2007)
"Girls in Their Summer Clothes"
(2008)
"Working on a Dream"
(2008)
Music video
"Girls in Their Summer Clothes" on YouTube

"Girls in Their Summer Clothes" is a song by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, from his album Magic.

Matched with a pop-oriented melody, Springsteen's full-throated singing, and a pop-orchestral arrangement,[1] the lyric portrays a series of warm small-town vignettes:

Frankie's Diner, an old friend on the edge of town,
The neon sign spinning round,
Like a cross over the lost and found.
Fluorescent lights flicker over Pop's Grill,
Shaniqua brings the coffee and asks "Fill?"
and says, "Penny for your thoughts now my boy, Bill"

"Girls in Their Summer Clothes" has been cited as a singularly "breezy" song on the album,[2] though A. O. Scott of The New York Times notes: "Not that 'Girls in Their Summer Clothes' is untouched by melancholy. Its narrator, after all, stands and watches as the girls of the title 'pass me by.'"[3] Jay Lustig of The Star-Ledger writes that the song "unfolds gradually and at its own eccentric pace, with the music, and Springsteen's vocals, getting progressively more intense."[1] At the 51st Grammy Awards, the song was nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, winning the former.[4]

  1. ^ a b Jay Lustig (2007-09-25). "'Magic' in the air". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  2. ^ Levine, Stuart. Springsteen’s ‘Magic’ is a rockin’ good time, MSNBC.com, Sept. 25, 2007. Accessed November 5, 2007.
  3. ^ Scott, A. O. In Love With Pop, Uneasy With the World, The New York Times, September 30, 2007. Accessed November 5, 2007.
  4. ^ Wallace, Lindsay (2009-02-10). "Bruce Springsteen Exclusive: 'I Didn't Even Know I Was Up For A Grammy!'". MTV News. Archived from the original on February 14, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-07.