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  • The master tape was wrapped 'round a spool. Her name was actually Jackie Ward. She was 21, when she recorded this. Her voice was made to sound like a 16-year-old.

  • After almost 50 years, this song still gives me goosebumps!!! I was only 10 when this song came out and I was a young and innocent young boy who loved the surf music. Now all these decades later, I like to hear songs like Robin's unforgettable classic and remember back to those days of carefree times of fun with my family and friends and just wish for one moment that I could go back and be that young boy again. Oh well, listening to this beautiful song is the next best thing. Thanks Robin!!

  • The beaches south of LA was the place to be...thanks for posting

  • almost 50 years

  • this song came out in late '63 I believe. I was 11 and that summer I had a crush

    on this girl Paula. We had a great innocent time.

  • Funny thing about a lot of these "One Hit Wonders" - no matter that it was just one hit; they are still remembered; and their songs are still played. Lucky for us.

  • Thanks mum for the nice memories.

  • I remember hearing this is in my friend's dad's car a couple months ago

  • Summer of '67, I was a Marine attending HAWK school at Redstone Arsenal, AL (Huntsville). A bunch of us went down to Anniston to attend a big dance there at the WAC base. I met a wonderful girl, a new 2nd Lt. just out of Kent State. We had a terrific time, but I had to return to school and left for RVN shortly thereafter. I lost touch, but I still think of her. She was a sweetheart!

  • This is the same voice who sang "Chris The Christmas Tree" on Peter Pan records.

  • Summer of '66, thank you Ang.for showing a young girl what love felt like. Beautiful song.

  • Thanks mum, i love you.

  • I WANT TO THANK-YOU FOR POSTING THIS WONDERFUL SONG!!

    YOU SURE BROUGHT ALOT OF MEMORIES TO MY MINE!!

  • Ahhhh yes !!  I remember this song so well. what memories it brings back.

  • fantastic video to go with the perfect song!

    THANKS

  • Three chuckleheads are apparently not having a wonderful summer......

  • This would be my 15th or 16th summer, I believe. I was dating an "older" guy of 19. That did not come easy as my mother set the limit at 2 years older. However, he came over to the house frequetly and my mom got to know him and knew he was a great guy, so she let me date him He was so wonderful to me; I felt like a treasure. Thank you, Rich. I still remember you and that summer! Thank you for a wonderful post.

  • @0917gva That's a wonderful memory, G. :-) I haven't heard this song in over 40 years!!! I'm glad you commented on it so that I could check it out! The song itself is a dream....kind of like a musical addendum to A Summer Place. Thank you, BluestarProductions!

  • My mum sang this all the time in the 60s. luv ya mum.

  • Slow dancing to this as a young teen...SIGH!

  • Summer with my first love and listening to this song....fast forward 40 years and seeing him again...thanks AP it truly was a wonderful summer, then and now

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  • I love summer and I love this song

  • Brings back memories of a young girl I met in Ensenada, Mexico and the walks on the beach and I should have married her my loss.

  • Harley from Deadbolt does an amazing cover version of this.

  • My first love...kissing to this song ah, the memories.........

  • July 4 1963 I went to a beach party and the girl I was interested in wasn't interested in me. I was bummed, so I got a buddy to give me a ride home. Just before I closed the car door, another girl--Marla--ran up and told me to slide over. I did and she got in and we talked all the way to my place. She opened the door, got out and waited until I got out before she threw her arms around my neck and kissed me. We dated the rest of the summer until she had to go back home. A Wonderful Summer it was!

  • @mrtubesteak2 Good story about your wonderful summer, We all had that someone who made it wonderful. That what music was back then sharing or breaking up either way it was good.

  • @mrtubesteak2 Happy endings are cool.

  • @mrtubesteak2 Interesting about the date you mentioned. My folks had their first date on July 4, 1963 in Wildwood, NJ. It was a wonderful summer for them!

  • @jimmyhd1969 It seems that summer of 1963 was special for more than just the two of us. The music says it all for me, and I'm sure it said it all for your folks. Thank you for commenting on my post.

  • i was in vietnam with a guy who said he went out with robin ward***his name is john heavener****

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  • I remember hearing this on the radio when it was new and thinking how beautiful it sounded. It fit into the surf music of the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean.

  • Oh so nice this song and video.

  • Thanks for posting this song. It's one of my all time favorites. Yes, those were wonderful years indeed! Music was fun back then.

  • Those were the best times, and they will never be back. No wonder that people are depressed. Common sense, values and core believes have been eatin away by ignorance. I'm glad I have memories of that era.

  • @moxievp I think you're correct. What a shame.

  • Most overlooked Summer theme of all time. OF ALL TIME!!! Damn you, Percy Faith!

  • i remember this song well. in 1963, I was a 10 year old boy living, learning and growing. \This is a good song.

  • To my older sister who has recently passed to eternity. i remember those hot summer days at our pool with lemonade and you and your boyfriend teaching me to dive. I felt sad today so i came to our song and remembering you listening to this record over and over again i will always love u and this song. I thank God for yourtube. california girl always

  • Perfect voice, so mild and feminine! Wish her lovely face would have been added!

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  • I remember as late as 1973 Philadelphia radio stations WFIL and WIBG would play this song over and over on the last night before the first day of the Philadelphia public school's start.

  • Love this song. Reminds me of my first love and that wonderful summer. :)

  • This song is right up there with The Kinks' Waterloo Sunset as one of the most beautiful melodies written in the 60's. Robin's vocals are so sad -- yet beautiful in it's sincerity. No one today has this approach. They may have the ability -- and the voice -- but they simply don't do it. Susan Boyle comes close with that one track on her first album "Who I Was Born To Be." But, Robin will always be special for this one song. Her career continued under her real name: Jackie Ward.

  • @lastrada52 Please check out "It;s Now Winter's Day" by Tommy Roe. Another beautiful song and melody, but winter instead of summer!

  • for sure innocent times back in 1963.

  • @phbppd You mentioned the "innocent times back in 1963." Yes, I understand what you are asserting, & there is some truth to it, but since I was an alert, smart kid of about 10 at the time, I remember the assassination of JFK. Beyond that, the US was ramping-up its involvement in Vietnam. And, the political foundations were laid to reduce our border security, ship out 50% of our industrial base, turn family values upside down, & reduce church attendance. So, it was not all innocence.

  • @bboucharde I think we're talking about CULTURALLY here..as opposed to the trials & tribulations of the political/world events arena.

  • @libbystu1967 Yes, I agree. Thanks for your thoughts. 

  • @phbppd Page 2: By the way, I LOVED THIS SONG in 1963, and still do. I was intensely attracted to sweet women then*, and still am. This song is precious---It evokes such vivid memories!

    *For corporeal reasons, but also for the grace, beauty, nurturing, and solace that a woman can bring to a man's life.

  • @bboucharde i was only a child of 7 in 1963.i remember hearing this song back then and loved it then. So when i hear it today it brings back sweet innoncent times for me. As for the US raming up its involvement in Nam and the politicial foundations were laid to reduce our border security and the rest that u mention so it was not all innoncent. But then again i was a 7 year old child listening to this song on a summer hot afternoon

  • @phbppd Thank you for your thoughts. We both agree that this is beautiful music that evokes powerful memories. Robin Ward was just perfect for this.

  • Aloha !!! this is cool. jhp

  • Yeah, you young guys & girls missed it! Wasn`t NOTHING like it, walking on the beach with that special someone you met that summer on Labor Day weekend, radio in tow and this song was playing! God bless youtube for the music alone! If we had to depend on so-called OLDIES RADIO today to hear this stuff....FORGET IT!

  • I was a high school sophomore at the time, so into what was appropriate for the time...

    This song brings back such incredibly fond memories of my young love, of innocense, of our naive, bright-eyed youth and of a love in my life...

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  • @weightfeather1 Sir, please don't forget The Anita Kerr sSingers, & The Ron Hicklin Singers; incredible studio talents, all. Just ask Gary Lewis about The Hicklin Brothers!! Wolfsky9

  • @weightfeather1 Sir, May I ask, where is this interview? I would love to hear it.  Regardless of what Perry Botkin did to her voiced, this is a Masterpiece--period. Wolfsky9

  • GREAT SONG FROM MY TEEN YEARS.

  • @weightfeather1 wonderful memories, aren't they?

  • Ahhh, 1963...Just graduated from Mainland HS in Daytona Beach when this record was popular...Great memories of driving on the beach at nite and meeting girls from all over the world. I want to thank them for being part of my memories of that Wonderful Summer....

  • a beautiful song ...

  • grew up in the 90s and i love music like this

  • TIMES WERE MUCH MORE SIMPLE AND WE HAD GREAT MUSIC LIKE THIS.

  • What a great 1963 memory :)

  • @ILMBeaches I would have had a great 1963 memory, if it wasnt for the fact that I didnt make my debut until July of 1964-

  • What a great memory of 1963 :)

  • LOVE THIS SONG. brings me back to the good times in my life when things were simple.

  • I loved--LOVED-- this Masterpiece, from a drop-dead cutie, who had such a voice! Thank-you Robin for this gorgeous song, so reminiscent of the early 60's. This, & Winter's Here, are truly, Classics Forever. Wolfsky9

  • Great job. Brought memories of my 1st love. Still thinking of her 3 wives and 3 kids later

  • Thank you so much for posting this! My best summer has passed, but still in my memory!

  • I have always loved this song. Thanks so much for putting this up.

  • Thank you for giving me this song.

    I was 13 but I remember.

  • I want to purchase this on iTunes but I cannot find it. Can someone please help me? Thank you.

  • @zzzayne .....go mp3 rocket.com Membership involved. More original songs than iTunes. I have both.....and it has Robin Ward..."Wonderful Summer"

  • According to the lyrics, she's looking back on summer, so it wouldn't have made sense to release it in summer. I too miss that summer (Surfin' USA), but it's my youth I miss. Anybody know where I misplaced it? I had it around here somewhere...

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  • My All-Time favorite summer song ... Is still makes me feel so special about summer.

    Kristina Erin Kaye

  • What a beautifull song by robin ward such a sweet voice and done very well It brings back alot of good memories thank you for posting this great song

  • Ahhh, I'm drifting back to the wonderful summer of 1963...thx!!

  • @vinmanc1 .......your comment about the Summer of '63. I met a girl at the swimming pool. She was 18.... I was 16. She told me this was her song to me......she went away to college then to Airline Stewardess.....I went into the Marine Corps. We wrote a couple of times but could not get together. I was in Iowa, she was in California......I know she thinks of me as I still think of her....great, warm memories. At times a smile still comes on my face as I think about her.

  • She was in great demand as a session singer in the 60s.

  • This song is so emblimatic of an era gone with the wind. Everything is so coarse and vulgar now. Younger people just don't have any idea how nice innocence and good culture are.

  • @PVcat1 Agreed!! And not just that, they don't have the talent, at least not anywhere near as much as the artists from the 50s & 60s. And it crossed all genres. Even lesser known artists like Robin were great to say nothing of the mega stars like Elvis, The Beach Boys, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, etc.....Giants truly walked the earth then. Definitely the golden age of music, everything since (imo) has been downhill : (

  • @PVcat1 Yes, this has a great sound and feel. Regarding the coarsening of our culture, it happens in odd ways. I met a 16 year old girl years ago, who said she likes inviting young girls from the neighborhood into her house and showing them X rated movies to see the look on their faces. She knows it's bad but can't help it. She says it's fun, especially when they're real young and have never seen a naked guy yet. She shows them everything. Guys get blamed for too much bad stuff...

  • @DexterHaven49 A 16 year old is still under the care of the parents. Train up a child in the correct way and he shall not depart from it when he is old(paraphrase) from the scriptures. Down hill slide started in America with the 1962 Supreme Court decision effectively kicking God out of the national discourse.  If there is no absolute truth(John 14:6), then Hitler or Stalin's way are no better or worse than mine or anyone else.

  • @PVcat1 She had no father at home. Her mother worked until late in the day. She said that when she came home from school, she'd go on the Internet and find hardcore porn and show it to her friends and wave the young girls in from the street to show them too. She liked breaking them in. She lived in Missouri, btw. I met her in FL on vacation.She said she lost her virginity around age 14. By age 15, her and her girlfriends were already watching X films a ton, she said. That's modern life...

  • @DexterHaven49 There are many, many sad and tragic stories. Jesus was, is and always will be the answer.

  • @PVcat1 How true, and god bless ya.

  • @peacetrain60 Perhaps we will know one another in heaven!

  • @PVcat1 Right! This song is what i call REAL music. Good for me this song was my favorite following other classic songs and other classic stuff since i was 11 or younger (good thing i started early!) And ever since i was that young i always said that our generation sucks and i WISHED i would've lived in the 30's or 60's!. Now you don't see many kids that age saying that stuff now do you?

  • @antlantis7 Thanks for commenting. How old are you? Me, 61. I grew in the best little town in the world, Concordia, Kansas.

  • @PVcat1 61? LUCKY!!!! Me? Well i don't like telling my age on here yet, lets just say i'm not that old from being 11. You pick in the age range of 11-14. I'm defiantly a minor :D Thats why when i'm older i want my world to be classy, a turntable, 60's style car, classic TV, i may have a few electronics here and there but i'm going to try my best to live a 60's style life!

  • @antlantis7 You are definately a rare breed, in a good way. I would not normally ask somebody's age, particularly a female, but this is anonymous. You didn't ask, but trust in Jesus with your life, and you will not go wrong and will have a life of joy(not same as happy) and more important, eternity with God. Few will find this way. Man's pride and sin condition are very strong deterrants to love God. I do not write this, believing I am perfect or a saint, but one that is grateful for Jesus.

  • @PVcat1 Gee, thanks! And yes, you don't find kids like me loving the classics! 85% Of kids in my school love gaga, lil wayne, and all. All stupid 21st century auto-tune.

  • @PVcat1 Gee thanks! And yeah i LOVE the classics! Its sad that 94% of the kids in my school love gaga, lil wayne, etc. All auto-tune 21st century bull crap.

  • @antlantis7 Very refreshing to meet up with you even though in this medium. Seek you first the kingdom of God and then all these things will be added unto you.(Matthews 6:33).

  • @PVcat1 Oh how powerfull the Bible...

  • @PVcat1 woops...i think i responded to the wrong person...lol...sorry

  • @PVcat1 I am 58 and doesn't bother me too much because like you....I grew up in the best years of the USA. We got to live in the "Hey Day" of this country. I definately would not like to be growing up now. All the youth of today will experience is the collapse of this country. I'll take my old man memories over the all this new crap any day

  • She had a long career under her real name, Jackie Moore. She did many commercials (remember Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco treat).  She also was a regular singer for the Partridge Family.

  • When I first heard this song at 16 I thought her voice was just wonderful.I was always wondering what this wonderful Robin Ward looked like.Only recently did I find out and she is much older looking than I thought at the time.I think the lack of visual only made her seem more wonderful almost bigger than life.I think they wanted us young guys to think she was a teenager so they didn't allow us to see her.

  • THIS is just DREAMY!!!

    I agree with tinkerbellpixie25... I was born in '77, and would have loved (culture-wise) to be here on earth about 20 years earlier... but I guess I'm here now for a reason.. BRING ON THE OLDIES where songs were SINCERE and not VULGAR!

  • @budjacobs I agree with you 100%; I was born in the late '50s and love this music big time! It was, after all, the age of innocence for most people and even though I was quite young when this and other old-school songs I have been listening to throughout the years on certain oldies stations had first come out, I do listen to them quite often; I have to admit that I DO live in the past when it comes to songs from the '50s through most of the '80s; some '90s also, save for rap and today's music.

  • What a great beautiful song.

  • Seems to me that this touching song was on the charts in November, 1963, right before President Kennedy was assassinated. We just don't have this kind of beautiful music anymore... Robin Ward sounds a bit like Skeeter Davis...

  • @50Emerald That is correct. This song charted at #14 the week before the JFK assassination.

  • Great one~

  • Perfect video to go with this song

  • This was a favorite of 106.1 Owassa Tulsa's Giant. and probably still is.

    I am not sure if the d.j. from 1994 is still there. I called him one time and he wanted to borrow my 45 RMP copy

    of HIT THE ROAD JACK by The Stampeders

    This is so close to Summer Symphony it's not funny. And by the Way that awesome song is up! Thank God

  • Robin Ward was also the high voiced (la la la) singer on Pat Boone's "Speedy Gonzalez"!!!

    TONY D

  • my friend hates this song everytime i play it and i don't understand...

    the melody captivates me for some reason and i love it. i was born in '84, yet feel a part of me had heard this long ago...(like if i had lived the '60s)...another example of how i feel i am a an old soul from years before i was born

  • I know what you mean, I was also born in1984, and I love the music from the 50's and 60's, I like most all kinds of music and from all decades, but the 50's and 60's are my fave, I too I've an old soul, and I so get what you are saying.

  • To TinkerbellPixie25, Well, I was born, in '46, & grew up in the 50's & 60's, & I loved--& still do--this song. Timeless, beautiful, & such a reflection of those simpler times, it was a huge hit in Denver, on Boss Radio, KIMN, 950 . What a time it was. Wolfsky9, 63 y/o now.

  • YES, INDEED!!! WONDERFUL!!! :o)

  • it was a great summer but november 22 changed things

  • This is sooo mad men.

  • peaked at #14...easily should have peaked at #1

  • I love this song, think it came out around 1962/63, her best remembered song. Also I have found other lesser known tracks by Robin Ward here on You Tube and they are lovely too such as "Winter's Here",I read in her bio that in later years she was a session singer on the Partridge Family records.

  • Oh yes, I can remember walking on the beach during the summer of 63' with my true love Julie Burtiss.

    Julie if you are still out there, I will always cherish those walks eventhough we were only 10.

    An old Fool still in love with the past!

    Pete.

  • Don't beat your self over it Pete,not a damn thing wrong with it.I do it everyday and it puts the biggest smile on my face you have ever seed.Its good for the soul to remember when we have to live in the fcked up world of today.

  • LOVE this!

    Boy, this takes me back.

    Really enjoyed the video, too. love the ocean!

  • love this video!!!!!!!!!! it's very beautiful and relaxing! thank you for sharing , dear Richard!)

  • !In my top 10 of all time! Forces one to remember the good and all the love that went along with that magical season..Summer..with all it's possibilities. A singer w/ Ray Coniff..Anita Kerr. Singer on Batman..Flipper..Love American Style TV show themes as well as countless commercials such as Rice A Roni "The San Francisco Treat"..no she is a many hit wonder. We just didn't know! Gorgeous song. Thanks for posting!

  • What a great song , Bittersweet.

    Takes me back to a simpler time.

    Luv , it!!!

  • Ahh, to be back when this was a hit. I miss it alot!

  • I remember hearing this on my honeymoon....it was a few years after this song's debut, but I still remember slouching on the beach with my hubby with his arms around me. We didn't have to say anything, we sat there just loving each other.

    This is a bittersweet song, but it's innocent and fun. When it debuted, music was quickly rolling away from the oh-so-sweet sentiment. Kind of like the cliche: "the last gasp of summer" in late Aug. as students leave sun-n-fun and return to school.

  • Robin Ward wasn't black.

  • What?

    Robin was born in 1941. She would have been around 22 when this song was released. She was white as well.

  • I remember this song going to my first year in high school at Lakeview high school in Chicago. What a wonderful time.

  • OMG! I used to love this song, and always found it lovely, with a touch of sadness. Thanks for the upload!!

  • To Beth and Ray, I want to thank you for giving me the most wonderful summer... of my life!

  • Man this makes me wish I lived in those golden times of innocence..and I'm only 17

  • God it's been years since my summers were like that...I miss those days

  • I feel for you

  • I sent this to my sister, because she let me come to her house for 2 weeks this summer. I miss her :'( That really was the highlight of my summer

  • Hey tallulah1961 this song came out in 1963. I hope you enjoyed it.

  • Does anyone know what year did this  come out?

  • my all time favorite summer song!

  • I also like the video-it encapsulates the song. An empty beach, after all the summer fun-the memories linger in the waves and the sand.

  • That name ..Robin Ward.. Funny. In the Batman TV series,Robin was played by Burt Ward.  Could it be the boy wonder ??

  • Kim Banner, are you there ?

  • Lawrence High School,Camp,The Town Diner,.ElPatio in Atlantic Beach..this song evokes every single one of those things and more..Lie somebody esle said,I wish we realized how great it was growing up in those times,whikle we were there.Magic..pure magic

  • I can relate. I grew up in nearby Hewlett and I remember when this song came out when I was 7 years old. We went to Silverpoint Beach and those were some magical times.

  • No matter where in the world I go ,I always ,run in to somebody from the Five Towns .This time on You Tube.Thats funny. I know two people who went to Hewlett who I think were in your year.Michael Raitt and Linda Arbeit..who happen to be married to one another these days. A little JG for ya..I hung out at Silverpoint now and again,and Seacliffe. Small world ..but I wouldn't want to paint it!..a funny guy once commented!

  • I don't know Linda, but I knew Michael. He was a year behind me (I was in the class of '73 and he graduated in '74) and a really good artist. I'm in the Bay Area now after 21 years in L.A. and I really don't miss Long Island, but I have some fun memories from there.

    P.S. - Way back when in my Hewlett days I had a big time crush on Kim Kaplan (also class of '73. She looked like a young Barbara Eden, but a LOT prettier!), so if anyone out there runs into her tell her I said hi.

  • Michael is an architecht and a very good one.I've never seen his art but I can imagine.

    I live abroad and have done for a long time .I don't miss Long Island,but like you ,my memories are great.I was in Cedarhurst about two years ago and man, the place has sure changed.

  • Yes, I was in Cedarhurst a few years ago and it wasn't the same place I remembered. Pants Patio and Platterpuss records aren't even there anymore! Times have changed.

  • If you ever lived near a lake and had a summer love in the 1960's .... this song is an anthem.

    44 years later when I hear this song I think of that girl at that time, forever in my memory

  • Robin Ward has probably the most ethereal voice of any female vocalist, hands down. No one could ever sing this song in such an effective way as she could. Wonderful memories, thank you!

  • I agree with everyone who had commented on this particular song. It is one of the most beautiful songs I had ever heard. This song I first heard back in 1963 when I was very young. I was listening to the radio with my teenage sister when this song came on the radio. When the song was about half way through, a special news bulletin came on the radio stating that President John Kennedy was shot in Dallas. This was truly a shock! Some of you were right, it never was the same after that day.

  • It's Summer again. Make it a memorable one.

  • love this song it brings back many memories

  • Oldieheaven, open this door for me to robin ward.. hahaha.. thanks.. i learn something today.

  • I absolutely love this song. Love it.

    My wife hates it, but ironically I found it on an album she got from her parents. Maybe they liked it. Ha!

    Anyway, it's beautifully sung, romantic, simple, with nice strings and backup vocals. What more could you want?

  • How can anyone hate this song????

    I wish so bad that I was alive back then so that I could in the innocent times and not this stupid generation with crappy music and just sheer stupidity.

  • I know how you feel SmrtyPntz. I live that era and I so long to go back. If they ever invent a time machine, I'm going back to 1960 and send it back EMPTY!!!

  • Got room for me....PLEEEEEASE?!!!!

  • @SmrtyPntz92 you are absolutly right about that!!

  • @SmrtyPntz92 ...and dope and crack and meth...and robbing and stealing and murdering to get it...and stupid clothes that don't fit.

  • God, I love this song. Reminds me of my past boyfriends. Ah, yes............those memories