'September' wrote Ray Bradbury, is 'a bad month: school begins. Consider August, a good month: school hasn't begun yet. July, well July's really fine: there's no chance in the world for school. June, no doubting it, June's best of all, for the school doors spring wide and September's a billion years away".* Which is in essence a prose re-write of 'Here Comes Summer' - "Here comes summer, school is out, oh happy day. Here comes summer, I'm gonna grab my girl and run away"; it's those teenage dreams so hard to beat again.'Here Come Summer' is a young man's song with Keller not so much concerned with the season as the freedom it brings ("Well school's not so bad but the summer's better") and on that note the light breeze of the tune recreates the simple joys of being young and in love. Basically a 'School's Out' for the kids from the more respectable families rather than the troublemakers at the back of the bus, what rains on Jerry's parade are some awkward, very grown up harmony backing vocals that sound like they are glad school's out too because they've got a raft of chores for Jerry to be cracking on with. They add a stiffness to the song that's really not welcome and a point of comparison with Cliff Richard's leaner take on it shows how far more enjoyable it is without them. The fact that Keller's and Richard's vocals sound uncannily identical only adds to the contrast.
* Ray Bradbury - Something Wicked This Way Comes. Though it's slightly ironic that 'Here Comes Summer' hit number one in October, just as summer was going. This fact (and the song) would have irritated the life out of me had I been a schoolboy in 1959 in the same was as Cadbury's did in the nineties when they ran their 'Thank Crunchie It's Friday' TV adverts on Sunday night.
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