I was just going to post the images and call it done… and then the mind went for a stroll…
They last too long… They are way too hot… In recent years they are way too dry… And, when the winds blow… let’s just say that way too often things fall down.
This wasn’t a planned post, I was just looking at the weather tab that stays open in my browser. Once I wrote the title I remembered quite a few months back I played with a song using the same title… a remembrance if you will… a fond recollection of growing up on the Texas Gulf Coast way back in the middle of the last century… Who would have thought I would every be saying that?
Here’s the song:
Gulf Coast Summers
Gulf[Verse 1]
We were young back then
Summers seemed to go on forever
Days ran from can until can not.
All we wore were shorts
Flip flops on our feet
We were indestructible.
And summers would never end,
They wouldn’t dare
[Chorus]
Gulf Coast summers
Sweat rings on shirts
Thunder rumbles across the sky
We were soaked in every color
Of whatever came along
From ball games in the street
To the storms that shook the house
Gulf Coast summers
Gone too soon
[Verse 2]
Air so thick
Shirt stuck to my back.
June stuck to July, July stuck to August.
Like a shell in wet sand
China berries flyin'
Leaving purple dots on our shins
Bare feet on hot concrete
Daring the daylight to end
[Verse 3]
Fireflies dancing
Under a sky ablaze
Whispers by the creek
Floating on the summer haze
Cornfields waving
In the evening breeze
Dreams stitched together
With the songs of rustling leaves
[Chorus]
Gulf Coast summers
Sweat rings on shirts
Thunder rumbles across the sky
We were soaked in every color
Of whatever came along
From ball games in the street
To the storms that shook the house
Gulf Coast summers
Gone too soon
[Bridge]
Hand-cranked Sundays
Salt burning our cuts
Turn and turn and turn
’til it finally gave in
Licking cold metal paddles
Icy sweet running down our wrists
Milk and sugar on our tongues
Like we’d done something grand
[Chorus]
Gulf Coast summers
Sweat rings on shirts
Thunder rumbles across the sky
We were soaked in every color
Of whatever came along
From ball games in the street
To the storms that shook the house
Gulf Coast summers
Gone too soon
[Verse 4]
Salt-kissed skin turning red
Waves crashing on the shore
Captured moments
We'd always crave more
Sunrise secrets
Shared beneath the pines
Echoes of laughter
Written in the sands of time
[Verse 5]
Bonfire nights , flames dancing.
Stars painted overhead
Stories spun from heart
Embers glowing red
Backroads winding
Through memories untold
Cherished in our minds
These summers turned to gold
[Chorus]
Gulf Coast summers
Sweat rings on shirts
Thunder rumbles across the sky
We were soaked in every color
Of whatever came along
From ball games in the street
To the storms that shook the house
Gulf Coast summers
Gone too soon
[Outro]
From ball games in the grass
To the storms that shook the house
It's been over fifty years now
We were young back then
Summers seemed to go on forever
Days ran from can until can not
We were indestructible
And summers would never end
They wouldn’t dare
Gulf Coast summers Gone too soon,
But remembered still.
