This cut is from disc 4 of Like Omigod! The 80s Pop Culture Box (Totally).  Learn more about it in my earlier post here.  The song chosen today is “Suddenly Last Summer,” by the band, The Motels.  I’m not sure I’ve heard this before now but I like the sound of it and the atmosphere of the story.  It lets the listener inject themselves into the song to make it meaningful to them.  I remember the other hit this band had, “Only the Lonely,” which has a similar sound to it.

The Motels are an American new wave band from Berkeley, California that is best known for the singles “Only the Lonely” and “Suddenly Last Summer”—each of which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, in 1982 and 1983, respectively. In 1980, The Motels song “Total Control” reached No. 7 on the Australian chart (for two weeks), and their song “Danger” reached No. 15 on the French chart.

Martha Davis, the lead singer, reformed a version of the band called “The Motels featuring Martha Davis” in 1998 and toured under that name with various line-ups of musicians.

In 2013, the band was rebranded with a permanent name, Martha Davis and The Motels. That band is touring the world with a line-up of musicians that have been playing with Davis for over 10 years, longer than the original Motels.

Per wikipedia:
Suddenly Last Summer” was the lead-off 45 from their RIAA Gold-certified fourth album Little Robbers. The single entered the Hot 100 at #60 on September 3, 1983 and peaked at #9 on November 19, 1983.

Davis has said in various … interviews that the song touches upon themes such as the loss of virginity and innocence. She has also mentioned how the inspiration came from knowing that “…summer is ending when you hear the ice cream truck go by for the last time and you know he won’t be back for a while”.

In an interview with Davis, Linda Tuccio-Koonz (2019) further expanded on the song’s themes of cyclical loss and new beginnings: “‘Suddenly Last Summer’ percolated for years. The song, written after her parents had died — her mom by suicide and her dad from illness — is a reflection on those moments in life when things are changing, like when it’s a beautiful sunny day and a cold wind blows and you know the end of summer is coming.”

A music video was directed by the single’s producer Val Garay with cinematography by John Alonzo. The video depicts Davis dreaming about having a romantic encounter on the beach while an ice cream truck passes throughout the neighborhood. The video’s sleep motif may have been inspired by Davis’ songwriting process, as she awoke at 3 AM with the inspiration to write “Suddenly Last Summer”.

The video also features one of Davis’ children playing the teenaged character (presumably eldest daughter Maria, who would have been 17 at the time) and actor Robert Carradine as Davis’ love interest. The band members also appear and loosely reenact the stances of the “robbers” on the Little Robbers album cover at the video’s conclusion.

https://youtu.be/r9bUBGcU3Qg

It happened one summer, it happened one time
It happened forever, for a short time
A place for a moment, an end to dream
Forever I loved you, forever it seemed

One summer never ends, one summer never began
It keeps me standing still, it takes all my will
And then suddenly last summer

Sometimes I never leave, but sometimes I would
Sometimes I stay too long, sometimes I would
Sometimes it frightens me, sometimes it would
Sometimes I’m all alone and wish that I could

One summer never ends, one summer never begins
It keeps me standing still,  it takes all my will

And then suddenly last summer
And then suddenly last summer

One summer never ends, one summer never begins
It keeps me standing still,  it takes all my will

Until suddenly last summer
And then suddenly last summer
Until suddenly last summer

Songwriters: Martha Emily Davis