Summer Here Kids

I was going to write about something else today, something totally different. But, ha, not a chance anymore.

Lily Allen - LDN [mp3]

I've spent much of the last week outside, basking as if I were anywhere but 53 degrees north. I bring a book, but that's just a formality. Instead I sit, absolutely contented, watching the goings-on of the footballs and the frisbees, unpacking a lunch. "Sun is in the sky/ Oh why, oh why would I wanna be anywhere else?" asks Lily Allen, an obvious kindred spirit. In "LDN," she has made the song of the summer. Or, Song Of The Summer, as that can only refer to a single track (and you were thinking "Crazy"!). What I mean to say is that everybody will like it, far beyond the hipkids and blogodrome buzz, to borrow from Rowland. Music this breezy seems to have trouble escaping mindlessness, and by extension, remaining engaging on even the slightest level. That, or its quirkiness proves too hard to overcome, lessening its universal appeal. "LDN," though, gets it just right. There are happy horns all round, a sun-drenched melody for the ages, a lilt dangerously close to a trip. Make no mistake: it aims to sound like summertime, and succeeds brilliantly. Take the lyrics, and the fact that they can either be considered or discarded, without detriment to the song. Curiously insidious, lines about bludgeoning an old lady and "pimps and crack-whores" illustrate Allen's assertion that "If you look with your eyes/ Everything seems nice/ But if you look twice/ You can see it's all lies." More than her delivery, perhaps it's verses like these which have drawn Allen comparisons to rap. But let's not forget that this is the Song Of The Summer. It will be playing in backyards at warm nighttime parties to crowds incapable of and unwilling to consider its lyrical motives. Crowds that respond, with good reason, to lines about sunshine which are easily recalled and similarly easy to sing along to. So get it now, enjoy it however, whenever you like - I most definitely already am.

Much thanks to Ear Farm for this song.

Visit Lily Allen online.