Hot Fun In The Summertime by Sly & the Family Stone

Album: Greatest Hits (1969)

Charted: 2

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Songfacts®:

It may be hot in the summertime, but everything's cool in this Sly & the Family Stone classic. Written and produced by Sly Stone, the song celebrates the balmy days when school is out and the sun is shining. The song is a showcase for the entire band; all seven members sing on the chorus and along with vocalists Sly and Rose Stone, guitarist Freddie Stone and bass player Larry Graham each get lines. Their horn players, sax man Jerry Martini and trumpet player Cynthia Robinson (a rare female horn player in a hit-making band) also get their due.
Sly Stone was never known for punctuality, and he didn't deliver "Hot Fun In The Summertime" until August 1969. Epic Records rush released it, but by then the summer was almost over. It reached its US chart peak of #2 (behind "I Can't Get Next To You" by The Temptations) on October 18.
This song was released shortly after the Woodstock festival, where the band did a memorable set. This helped pique interest in Sly & the Family Stone, and gave the song a nice boost on the charts.
The song was released as a standalone single but has shown up on many compilations. It came at a time when Sly & the Family Stone were at their peak, shortly before Sly Stone slid into a drug-induced abyss, taking the band down with him. Sly became very unreliable and their music suffered. In 1972, key members Larry Graham and Gregg Errico left, and in 1975 the band broke up. Over the next 30 years, Stone made sporadic appearances but never staged a full-fledged comeback.
The Beach Boys recorded this on their 1992 album Summer in Paradise.

Comments: 9

Ed Tracey from Keene, New HampshireWhen I originally heard "Hot Fun in the Summertime" - I mistook it for a Beach Boys song. It was only upon a re-listen (with the horns) that I sensed my error.

However, over twenty years later, the Beach Boys did cover it on their 1992 "Summer in Paradise" album. So maybe there is a connection, however faint, between that band and Sly Stone.

Requiescat in pace, Brian.
Dan from Seattle1969 - Woodstock summer

Followup to:

1968 - the summer that changed America

1967 - summer of love

1966 - the endless summer

1965 - miniskirt summer

1964 - the year that rock 'n' roll came back

Anybody who wasn't a teenager in the 60's, you really missed something.
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn August 3rd 1969, "Hot Fun In the Summertime" by Sly and the Family Stone entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #79; and on October 12th, 1969 it peaked at #2 {for 2 weeks} and spent 16 weeks on the Top 100 {and for 7 of those 16 weeks it was on the Top 10}...It reached #3 on Billboard's R&B Chart.
Camille from Toronto, OhI love the poetic sound of the lyrics: hi, hi, hi, hi there....bye, bye, bye, bye there. Definitely a bit of melancholy and a yearning for the simpler days. That's what I think of when I hear the song. It has the 'take things a little slower, it's summertime' kind of feel. "County fair in the country sun".....my, my, my, my there.
Muzica from Atlanta, GaAnger? Geez, Louise . . . sounds some negative projection here. Great song . . . if there's any melancholy, perhaps it might be that he (Sly) wished for those innocent days when all people could live freely without the social conditions that breed ignorance and hatred. Maybe his soul knew and desired that place of freedom, innocence, creativity, vulnerability and justice for all. Maybe the daily realities that he understood all to well was what he tried to self-medicate from with drugs. But the song? Not an ounce of anger, not in the lyric, nor the music. More summer, more springs . . . may we have this to look forward to in our world.
Matt from Galway, IrelandI find this song not so much melancholic but angry about the summer. I mean, being Sly and the Family Stone, I read anger and social concern in this song as much as in Stand! Maybe it's just me, but that's kind of how react to most songs by Sly Stone
Amara from Victorille, CaI meant "because", sorry about the typo.
Amara from Victorille, CaOnly one comment on this one?? Shame, because this is such a classic.
John from Nashville, TnThis song, "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" and "Everybody Is A Star" were supposed to be part of a new studio album by Sly and the Family Stone. However, due to Sly's drug problems and CBS Records demands for a new Sly album, the three tracks were released on the band's first bestselling Greatest Hits album.

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