After a string of decreasingly compelling death songs, it’s nice to have a bit of pleasant elevator music to cleanse the palate. I’ve never seen the movie A Summer Place, but the light orchestration leads me to believe that it’s not about an American Indian couple who get hit bit a train conducted by a gang of vengeful Texans. Actually, the instrumental doesn’t really say anything at all, and not just because it’s missing lyrics. I’ve seen at least two movies in the past couple of weeks that featured “Theme from A Summer Place,” where the song’s agreeable blandness contrasts comedically with a raucous toga party (National Lampoon’s Animal House) and a creep making grotesque advances on a young woman (Batman). There’s nothing really to dislike about “Theme from A Summer Place,” but there’s nothing to really like about it either. Even the musicians in the video above look anesthetized. The single’s nine weeks at #1, still the longest run of an instrumental at the top of the charts, proves that you can never underestimate the mainstream’s appetite for the easily digestible. 5
Hit #1 on February 22, 1960; total of 9 weeks at #1
27 of 963 #1’s reviewed; 2.80% through the Hot 100
No Hard Chords 