Summer Nights (Grease song)

"Summer Nights" is a popular song from the musical Grease. Written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey,[1] its best-known version was recorded by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John for the big-screen adaptation of the musical, and released as a single that same year.

"Summer Loving" redirects here. For other uses, see Summer Loving (disambiguation).

"Summer Nights"
Side-A label of 1978 Australian vinyl single
Single by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
from the album Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture
B-side	"Rock and Roll Party Queen" (performed by Louis St. Louis)
Released	August 25, 1978
Genre	Pop, musical theatre
Length	3:35
Label	RSO
Songwriter(s)	Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey
Olivia Newton-John single singles chronology
"You're the One That I Want" (1978) "Summer Nights" (1978) "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (1978)
John Travolta singles chronology
"You're the One That I Want" (1978) "Summer Nights" (1978) "Sandy" (1978)

"Summer Nights" became a massive hit in both the United States and United Kingdom during the summer of 1978. Included on the movie's soundtrack album, the song was one of several hit singles from the movie. Parts of the song were introduced to a new audience when it was re-released in the 1990s as part of a megamix of several songs from the movie version.

Background

In the movie version of Grease, Travolta and Newton-John played the lead roles of Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson.[2]

The song's genesis stems from a summertime love affair between Danny and Sandy, which had ended upon Sandy's revelation that she was moving back to Australia with her family. However, Sandy soon learns that her family is staying in the United States and subsequently enrolls at Rydell High School, where Danny is also a student. (In the original stage version, Sandy Dumbrowski, who like many other characters in the play is a Catholic of Polish descent, originally attends parochial school. On the other hand, Danny lied to her and claimed to attend Lake Forest Academy, a prestigious real-life private school in Chicago. Sandy's parents' decision to pull her out of Catholic school and put her in public Rydell High exposes Danny's ruse.) However, it quickly becomes clear that there are unresolved feelings of love between Danny and Sandy.[3]

Separately and unknown to each other, both Danny and Sandy meet with their respective group of friends and share their perspectives of their summertime fling. Danny, the leader of a greaser gang known as "The T-Birds" (the "Burger Palace Boys" in the stage show), brags about the physical aspects of the relationship; Sandy remarks to the schoolgirl clique "The Pink Ladies" about her emotional attachment to Danny. The resulting conversations are played out through the song.

Of the cast members, only Travolta and Newton-John provided vocals for the previous single from the soundtrack, "You're The One That I Want", but other members of the cast contributed backing and cameo lead vocals to "Summer Nights". The only vocal contributions on the soundtrack from Kelly Ward (Putzie) and Michael Tucci (Sonny) are their single questions in this song (Sonny also had no solo lines in the musical; the two songs from the musical by Putzie's stage counterpart were cut from the film). Stockard Channing (Rizzo)'s solo line "'Cause he sounds like a drag" was spoken rather than sung. The background lyrics quote three songs; "Da Doo Ron Ron" by The Crystals, "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" by Neil Sedaka ("down, doo-be-doo") and "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" by The Rivingtons (later made famous as Part 2 of "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen); that were released in 1962 and 1963; this is an anachronism, as the song is set in fall 1958.

"Summer Nights" was originally written for the stage show's transition to Broadway. The original Chicago version of the musical (staged only once since the 1970s) had a different song, "Foster Beach," at that point.[4]

Chart success

"Summer Nights" reached No. 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100,[5] and spent two weeks at No. 3 on Cash Box Top 100.[6] The song was an even bigger hit in the UK, spending seven weeks at No. 1.[7] Combined with an earlier nine-week run with "You're the One That I Want," the Travolta-Newton-John duet team spent 16 weeks at No. 1 during 1978 in the UK.

In 2004, the song finished at #70 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

In 2010, Billboard ranked it No. 9 on their "Best Summer Songs of All Time" list.[8]

Weekly singles charts Chart (1978) Peak position Australia 6 Canada Top Singles (RPM) 3 Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM) 3 Germany 4 Ireland (IRMA)[9] 1 New Zealand 3 South Africa (Springbok Radio)[10] 9 UK [7] 1 U.S. (Billboard Hot 100)[11] 5 U.S. (Cash Box Top 100)[12] 3 U.S. Adult Contemporary 21

Year-end charts Chart (1978) Rank Australia[13] 62 Canada[14] 42 New Zealand[15] 47 UK[16] 3 U.S. Billboard Hot 100[17] 69 U.S. Cash Box[18] 41 Decade-end charts Chart (1970–79) Rank UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[19] 7

Sales and certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[20]	Gold	75,000^^
France (SNEP)[21]	Gold	539,000[22]
United Kingdom (BPI)[23]	Platinum	1,640,000[24]
United States (RIAA)[25]	Gold	1,000,000
Total sales:		3,214,000
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

"The Grease Megamix"

In 1991, "Summer Nights" and two other songs from the Grease soundtrack — "You're The One That I Want" and "Greased Lightnin'" — were remixed into a new song called "The Grease Megamix". This song was created to observe the movie's release on home video.

Joe Masciantonio, from Outstanding Bass Productions, created the song for Philadelphia radio station WIOQ-FM. The song subsequently became a big hit worldwide.

Cover versions

• Angélica María and Raúl Vale recorded a Spanish-language cover titled "Noches de verano", which reached #1 in Mexico in 1979.
• Brighton indie band 14 Iced Bears covered the song in 1990, for "Alvin Lives (In Leeds)", a compilation of covers of '70s hits released to raise funds for the Anti Poll Tax Campaign.
• Ska-punk band Less Than Jake covered the song on their 1996 EP "Greased".
• In 2012, the cast of the musical TV series Glee, with Chord Overstreet and Amber Riley (portraying Sam Evans and Mercedes Jones respectively) on lead, performed the song in the tenth episode of season three, "Yes/No".[26]
• TV Series Korea Dream High 2 "Jr & Ailee – Summer Nights"
• In May 2004, on Jimmy Fallon's last regular cast appearance on Saturday Night Live, Jimmy and Tina Fey covered "Summer Nights" with the rest of the SNL cast.[27]
• The 2004 video game Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude includes a minigame set in a gay bar that parodies the song called "Lesbian Nights"[28]
• The song was rewritten for a 2012 Nissan television commercial campaign for the "Summer 'Savin Days" sales event. The ads feature the Nissan Altima, Nissan Frontier and Nissan Rogue among other Nissan models.
• In 2011, the guitar riff in the song "What Makes You Beautiful" by boy band One Direction has been criticized being similar to the original classic song.[29]
• Eden Sher sang the song as her character, Sue Heck, on the 100th episode of the ABC comedy series, The Middle. The episode premiered on October 23, 2013.
• In 2013, a cover version by Karmin was featured in a Twizzlers commercial.
• In the episode "The Cones of Dunshire" of the NBC series Parks and Recreation, a karaoke version was performed by Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and Jeremy Jamm (Jon Glaser).
• In the episode "Crazy for You" of The CW series The Flash, a karaoke version was performed by Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) and Barry Allen (Grant Gustin).

References

1. "Grease (1978) - Soundtracks". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
2. "Grease (1978)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
3. "Grease (1978) - Plot Summary". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
4. "Bring back our own, original R-rated 'Grease'". 8 January 2009. Archived from the original on 17 November 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
5. "Billboard Top 40 Hits (1978) at cyList". Cylist.com. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
6. "Cash Box Top 100 10/07/78". cashboxmagazine.com. 1978-10-07. Retrieved 2014-05-01.]
7. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 357–9. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
8. "Top 30 Summer Songs". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
9. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Summer Nights". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
10. "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 5 September 2018.
11. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 – ISBN 0-89820-089-X
12. "Top 100 1978-06-17". Cashbox Magazine. Retrieved 2015-06-25.
13. "Australian Chart Book". Austchartbook.com.au. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
14. "Image : RPM Weekly – Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
15. "Top Selling Singles of 1978 | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1978-12-31. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
16. "1970s Singles Chart Archive". everyHit.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
17. "Top 100 Hits of 1978/Top 100 Songs of 1978". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
18. "Top 100 Year End Charts: 1978". Cashbox Magazine. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
19. "Top 100 Singles of the Decade" (PDF). Record Mirror. London: Spotlight Publications. January 5, 1980. p. 2. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
20. "Canadian certifications – Olivia Newton-John – Summer Nights". Music Canada. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
21. "Les Singles en Or :" (in French). Infodisc.fr. Archived from the original on 13 February 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
22. "InfoDisc : Les 45 T. / Singles les plus vendus en France" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
23. "British certifications – Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta – Summer Nights". British Phonographic Industry. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Summer Nights in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
24. Copsey, Rob (21 June 2017). "Huge selling 'summer' songs on the Official Chart". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
25. "American certifications – Newton-John, Olivia and John Travolta – Summer Nights". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
26. Music#c=SQMXY91BXLSZRQTD&t=Glee "Glee: 'Summer Nights'". Video.vulture.com. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
27. "Saturday Night Live (1975– ) : Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen/J-Kwon". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
28. "Leisure Suit Larry Gay Song". YouTube. 2006-09-27. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
29. "One Direction: 'What Makes You Beautiful' – Single review". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2014-03-28.