Ray LaMontagne – For The Summer

"For The Summer" as written by and Raycharles Jack Lamontagne....
Rollin' through these hills I've known I'd be comin'
Ain't a man alive that likes to be alone?
Been a while since I seen my lady smilin'
Have I been, have I been away so long?

I am tired
I am tired

Can I come home for the summer?
I could slow down for a little while
Get back to loving each other
Leave all those long and lonesome miles behind

Through the years I have learned
Some things worth the tellin'
And you'd be right in guessin'
That each and every lesson they were hard won

I am tired
I am tired

Can I come home for the summer?
I could slow down for a little while
Get back to loving each other
Leave all those long and lonesome miles behind

You'll follow her wherever she goes
You love her and you just wanted to know
That you'll follow her, you'll find a way
Cause you love her and you just wanted to know


Lyrics submitted by wheresthelove024

"For the Summer" as written by Raycharles Jack Lamontagne

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For The Summer song meanings
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  • +3
    General CommentWhen I first heard this song, I fell in love with it. I sat down with my Taylor guitar and figured out the chords immediately. It spoke to me about my life so much. It took me back to the summer of 1974 that I spent falling in Love with my "first love". We parted ways a couple of years later in my Senior year of high school. I did not see her or speak to her for 35 years after that. Two years ago our lives came together again and we were married last summer. This song makes me think about that special summer, the void of 35 years and the awesome thing called fate. The beauty of Poetry / lyrics is often they relate to each of us in different ways and become special to us in our own unique way. Such a beautifully written song...
    jrodg7789on May 10, 2012   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    My InterpretationSomewhere along the lines of a man wanting to come back to a women he loves after being away from her for a long time. With the "for the summer" line, I can't tell if its just a playful question he asks or if he's begging to come back to her, but I guess that's the beauty of being poetic whereas you can make your own interpretation. With the the last few lines of the song, I feel its his relationship advice and justifications for being away from someone he loves: his travelling/break up and eventual reunion made him realize how he'll "follow her" because he "loves her" and without this time apart he wouldn't have found out He just "wanted to know" if she was the one.
    dodo24116on February 11, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Commentokay I pretty much agree with what you have to say but I think a little bit differently about it. I feel like this song is a beautiful way of saying how close he really once came to actually settling down. He wants to come back and revisit those memories but still knows right now he cannot be fully committed that's why it's just for the summer. He will somehow always find her (follow her) and they will be in each others lives. Almost every time Ray writes a song it blows me out the summer. He is even more amazing live, this song and hold you in my arms brought me to tears at millennium park.
    kbsheehan4on July 04, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Commentout of the water*
    kbsheehan4on July 04, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General CommentPerhaps he wrote it while on the road touring and wishing he could get off the treadmill with his sweetheart.

    I spent five years working long distances from home and sometimes could only get home once every couple of weeks if I was lucky. This song reminds me of how I felt in those days, wishing I could make it all stop, just for a little while, and be home with my sweetheart. I wouldn't be able to stay because I'd have to get back out there, but oh, it would be nice to have that summertime feeling of endless days, just for a little while.

    When Ray sings the line "get back to loving each other," it sounds like "get back to love and each other," which provides multiple levels of meaning. He may have written it the first way, but I prefer the second. :-)

    And all this goes to show what happens when a song, or poem, or story, or whatever gets out into the hands of listeners and readers: it takes on many new lives. I often wonder what the writers of these songs would think if they every drop in on these threads.

    Thanks, Ray!

    JBL55on August 16, 2011   Link

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