Summer Nights

Album: 5150 (1986)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This was the first song Sammy Hagar recorded with Van Halen when he joined the band in 1985. Hagar recounts in his memoir Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock: "We started playing, and the engineer Donn Landee recorded everything we did. I made up the first line on the spot: 'Summer nights and my radio.' It just popped into my head the first time I heard that riff. The rest of the song I scatted my way through. I really had my scat together. Eddie couldn't believe it. Dave apparently didn't have good rhythm and wasn't a great singer, didn't have any range. I was singing Eddie's guitar licks with him."

Comments: 2

  • Mickey from BavariaI loved that song back when it came out (yeah yeah, I know, it's girly music xD) and played/sang it for my gf (now wife) over and over - recently heard it again by chance, so I picked up my guitar after years of "abstinence" to suprise her. Big success - takes us back to a simpler and friendlier time when people could just enjoy their lifes.
    Wish I had a Steinberger!
  • Englishjello from CanadaJust a fun party song about chasing girls (This was the sexist 80's). The most interesting thing about this song is that Eddie is using a Steinberger Trans Term guitar that was invented in 1984 (No headstock). It has a vibrato system which Eddie was a massive user of. So it opened a world of creativity for him. He also used it on "Get Up", "Pleasure Dome", "Me Wise Magic" and "Fire In The Hole"
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Cheerleaders In Music Videos

Cheerleaders In Music VideosSong Writing

It started with a bouncy MTV classic. Nirvana and MCR made them scary, then Gwen, Avril and Madonna put on the pom poms.

Shaun Morgan of Seether

Shaun Morgan of SeetherSongwriter Interviews

Shaun breaks down the Seether songs, including the one about his brother, the one about Ozzy, and the one that may or may not be about his ex-girlfriend Amy Lee.

Real or Spinal Tap

Real or Spinal TapMusic Quiz

They sang about pink torpedoes and rocking you tonight tonight, but some real lyrics are just as ridiculous. See if you can tell which lyrics are real and which are Spinal Tap in this lyrics quiz.

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull

Ian Anderson of Jethro TullSongwriter Interviews

The flautist frontman talks about touring with Led Zeppelin, his contribution to "Hotel California", and how he may have done the first MTV Unplugged.

Stan Ridgway

Stan RidgwaySongwriter Interviews

Go beyond the Wall of Voodoo with this cinematic songwriter.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.