"Looking for the Summer" is a song by British singer-songwriter

Chris Rea Christopher Anton Rea ( ; born 4 March 1951) is an English rock and blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, fie ...

, released in 1991 as the third single from his eleventh studio album '' Auberge''. It was written by Rea and produced by

Jon Kelly Jon Kelly is a British audio engineer and record producer, who began his career as an engineer at Air London Studios. He has produced albums and singles for Chris Rea, the Damned, Kate Bush (where he co-produced with Bush on her third album '' ...

. "Looking for the Summer" reached No. 49 in the UK and remained in the charts for three weeks. A music video was filmed to promote the single. It also featured in a diner scene in the 1992 Hollywood blockbuster '' Basic Instinct''.

Background

In a 1991 interview with

Dennis Elsas Dennis Elsas is an American disc jockey in New York City, whose radio and voiceover career has spanned 50 years, most notably his more than 25 years at WNEW-FM in New York City, where he debuted on July 11, 1971. He also served as music director ...

, Rea described the song's lyrical message: "The idea is fundamentally a guy is looking at his daughter, who is now just about in her teenage years and he sees her turn away. She's looking to her summer, she's spring looking for the summer, and he, then in autumn, looks back and remembers what it was like when he also looked for his summer. The third verse reminds his wife how they hurt each other's growing pains, while they both looked for their summers, and in many ways he still looks for his summer."

Critical reception

In a review of ''Auberge'', Deborah Hornblow of ''

The Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...

'' considered the song as one of the album's "better tracks", and noted the song is "infused with a wide-openness and yearning by the strains of Rea's fine guitar work".

Adam Sweeting Adam Sweeting is a British rock critic and writer. Sweeting started writing in 1979 for publications such as ''Beat Instrumental'', ''Trouser Press'', Australian magazine ''RAM''Adam Sweeting. "Have Faith and Go to the Pictures". '' RAM Magazine ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' commented: "Song titles like "Looking for the Summer" are accurate guides to their contents." Johnny Loftus of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

recommended the song by labelling it an AMG Pick Track. In a 2017 concert review, Andrew Steel of '' Yorkshire Evening Post'' described the song as a "classic" and added: "The soft-rock gems of "Julia" and "Looking for the Summer" are smart, lithe numbers possessed of a foot-tapping joy underneath his husky vocals, rugged and languorous."

Track listing

7" single # "Looking for the Summer" (Remix) – 3:51 # "Six Up" – 4:06 12" single # "Looking for the Summer" (Remix) – 3:51 # "Six Up" – 4:06 # "Urban Samurai" – 4:27 Cassette single # "Looking for the Summer" (Remix) – 3:51 # "Six Up" – 4:06 CD single # "Looking for the Summer" (Remix) – 3:54 # "Six Up" – 4:08 # "Theme From the Pantile Journals" – 4:13 # "Teach Me to Dance" – 4:05 CD single (US promo) # "Looking for the Summer" (Edit) – 3:50 # "Looking for the Summer" (LP Version) – 5:04

Personnel

- guitar, slide guitar, Hammond organ *

Anthony Drennan Anthony "Anto" Drennan (born on 1 November 1958) is an English-born Irish guitarist noted for his involvement with the Corrs, Genesis and Mike + the Mechanics among others. Drennan is from a musical Irish family and was born in Luton, England ...

- nylon guitar, acoustic guitar * Max Middleton - Rhodes * Robert Ahwai - bass *

Martin Ditcham Martin Ditcham is an English drummer, percussionist and songwriter. Ditcham is a prolific session musician, working with artists such as Henry Cow, Status Quo, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Roger Daltrey, Sade, Mary Black, Nik Kershaw, Chris ...

- drums, percussion Production *

- producer * Chris Rea, Dave Richards - producers of "Urban Samurai" * Justin Shirley-Smith - engineer * Russell Shaw - assistant engineer Other * Lewis Edwards - sleeve painting

Charts

References

{{authority control 1991 songs 1991 singles East West Records singles Atco Records singles Songs written by Chris Rea Chris Rea songs