How Bananarama Summed up the Seasonal Blues With “Cruel Summer”

Folks all over America and even around the globe have been dealing with some oppressive heat this summer. It’s the kind you might not mind if you were in the right location and headspace to enjoy it. But if you’re not, the hottest season can also be the most frustrating. Bananarama captured that vibe on their 1983 song “Cruel Summer”, which has become a seasonal anthem for all those disenchanted with those three months.

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British Dominance

The 80s witnessed a resurgence of girl groups. In America, The Go-Go’s and The Bangles ruled the roost. Bananarama held fort in the United Kingdom. Comprised of Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward, the group formed in 1980 and were scoring hit singles not long after.

In the years 1982 and 1983, they consistently dented the pop charts in their native Great Britain. They hit the Top 10 with five singles in that period. For the most part, those songs were either covers or were written by Steve Jolley and Tony Swain, the duo that also produced their songs.

Bananarama made music that not only worked beaming in on the radio, but also caused quite a stir on the dance floor. The last of those five hits in that two-year stretch was also the first one that the band had a hand in writing. And it was “Cruel Summer”, released in June 1983.

“Summer” Loving

In the case of “Cruel Summer”, Jolley and Swain came up with the backing track. In a way, it evoked both a tropical setting (with the steel drums) and a gritty cityscape (with the scratchy guitars). Maybe that helped Dallin, Fahey, and Woodward as they came up with lyrics for the song.

But they didn’t have to look very far for inspiration. When they wrote those lyrics, London was smack dab in the middle of a rare heat wave. Frustrated that they were stuck in the city working instead of hanging out on some resort beach like many of their friends, the trio channeled their angst into the song.

Up until “Cruel Summer”, Bananarama hadn’t secured much radio play in the United States. That all changed when the producers of The Karate Kid placed the song in that film. With that as a promotional tool, the song shot up to No. 9 on the US pop charts in 1984.

Behind the Lyrics of “Cruel Summer”

Bananarama sets the miserable tone in the first few lines: “Hot summer streets and the pavements are burning, I sit around,” they begin. “Trying to smile, but the air is so heavy and dry.” “This heat has got right out of hand,” they complain.

In the second verse, the lyrics mention friends who have already left for more comfortable climates. That sets up the chorus, where we find out that it’s not just the temperature that’s aggravating the narrator. “Leaving me here on my own,” they sing. “It’s a cruel, cruel summer/Now you’re gone.”

Bananarama enjoyed a nice run of pop success in the 80s. Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward have kept the group alive as both a touring and recording concern. And you can bet that “Cruel Summer” is getting a lot of airplay these days, both for those who’ve had enough of the heat and for others abandoned by someone special during the season.

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