Song of the Day: "A Summer Wasting"

A column about music, and about how the music informs our lives. Today's author is Joe. See the previous songs HERE.

"A Summer Wasting"

Belle & Sebastian

from The Boy with the Arab Strap

1998

I've been in a significant slump this summer. I gotta imagine that shows in my writing. It's a mixture of boredom, malaise, physical illness, and plus this nagging sense that I'm letting the summer slip by without having achieved much of anything. The best summers of my life are the summers when I complete some sort of project. I didn't do much of that in Summer 2025. I'm blogging every day, but I do that throughout every season of the year, and this summer especially, the writing is starting to feel like I'm going through the motions.

It's too late to start anything, but I'm going to try to salvage August by writing more. Isn't it funny that the writing is always my answer to everything, even if the problem is the writing itself already? Hey, whatever. Can't knock it if it continually works. I'm going to try to write myself out of this stupor! Just try and stop me!

Every day for this entire month, in addition to PoYB's regular programming, I'm going to drop a Song of the Day. Can't promise revelatory writing, for the most part, but the hope is that I'll be able to shake loose some cobwebs and clear the vaults of some bullshit I've been meaning to write, and then start the autumn season fresh and full of vigor.

One theory that I've been floating in my brain over the past couple weeks is that this summer has been a bit of a drag because it's the 20th anniversary of what I consider the first "real" summer of my life. During the summer of 2005, I got my first job, I had my first girlfriend, I went to my first coed sleepover summer camp, and I discovered indie rock music for the first time. Belle & Sebastian always brings me back to those days, and everything that happened during those pivotal three months.

And maybe I'm just being a little nostalgic for those old times. Ah, man, a tale as old as time. The caveats remain as strong as ever—I love my life now! I wouldn't touch a time machine even if I could! And so on. It's been 20 years and I don't feel any part of that life now, except the music. I hold onto the music as tight as I can but sometimes it's not enough. I just feel so old. I'm so tired all the fucking time. Summer ain't what it used to be. And I'm starting to question the myth, wondering whether it was really ever summer in that way to begin with.

I just need to think of a good summer project for 2026. That'll save me. In the meantime, here's this.