A Sad Summer Without Song

The turmoil of the last few months have combined with rampant indecisiveness to produce a summer that has been as miserable as any in modern memory. We are a nation rudderless. We are bereft of imagination. We are without rhythm or poetry.

We are without a Song of the Summer.

I read an article in the Washington Post bemoaning the fact that we haven’t really, as a society, settled on the anthem that in the decades to come will perfectly encapsulate what life was like when we look back to 2016. Sure, the article argued, songs have hit number 1, including those by Justin Timberlake, Drake and marble-mouth moaner Sia. But none really seems to have tapped into the zeitgeist of What We Talk About When We Talk About 2016.

This is a tragic break from one of America’s most venerable and august traditions, which we have celebrated since way, way back in 2012. Back then, every American agreed that Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” deserved the lofty title of Song of the Summer. Those who initially resisted, like me, finally gave in when the dentist of pop culture forced my mouth open wide and crammed the song down my throat until I agreed that its charms were immeasurable. Immeasurable.

You know who I feel the worst for? The writers who have tried to kill endless summer afternoons, wearing sweaters to guard against the artificial chill, without having a song to fill those column inches and megabytes with. How long and bleak the days must seem for people at Upworthy or Buzzfeed without having any fodder to recap the Songs of the Summer of the past or produce a slideshow about the current contenders.

What does this lack of music say about 2016? Nothing good. Nothing I really want to explore, lest I go mad. Maybe some dark horse will ride into the rapidly collapsing August with an unbelievably breezy pop song that will mandate that America stands up and dances. One can hope.

As the leaves begin to fall and the coming winter mimics the chill of the grave, what am I supposed to use as the campfire of memory to warm myself with if there is no Song of the Summer?