“Girls in Their Summer Clothes” by Bruce Springsteen
“Girls in their Summer Clothes” finds Bruce Springsteen giving a pictorial description of the evening scenery at a place he has been to.
He makes mention of how the place is lit up in the evening, how lovers hold hands and take walks, and how he wears his jacket and takes a stroll outdoors. He thinks to himself that he is going to meet someone and have a lot of fun, however for some reason the girls seem not to look his way.
The title and phrase as used in the chorus talks about attractive girls, since most women take more time to dress during summer. In the second verse he seems to still have hope that these ladies will interact with him but they still pass him by.
In the 3rd verse however, a lady named Shaniqua serves him coffee and calls him ‘poor’; giving him a full understanding of the reason he is unable to find love that night. ‘Poor’ here could mean his demeanor or literally the state of his finances. Either way, he accepts the painful truth that he has to move on because finding love may not be in his luck that night.
Facts about “Girls in Their Summer Clothes”
Springsteen worked with a producer named Brendan O’Brien in creating the song. He handled the writing section of the song whereas O’Brien handled its production aspect.
“Girls in Their Summer Clothes” came out (courtesy Columbia Records) in 2007 as one of the tracks on Bruce’s “Magic” album.
At the Grammys of 2009, this Bruce song received multiple Grammy nominations, including one for “Best Rock Song” (which it won). According to Bruce, he didn’t even know he had won a Grammy for the song until the following day when he saw it in the papers.
In winning the aforementioned award, “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” beat the following competing songs:
- “Violet Hill” by the pop-rock band Coldplay
- “House of Cards” by the rock band Radiohead
- “I will Possess Your Heart” by alternative rock band Death Cab for Cutie
- “Sex on Fire” by the Grammy winning rock band Kings of Leon
It should be noted that a year earlier, Springsteen won this same Grammy with his hit single “Radio Nowhere“.
