Here we are again, my friends, that sultry season when we in the Northern Hemisphere venture out of doors in pursuit of our gardens and barbeques and picnic baskets. The baseball diamonds (and yes, cricket pitches) are much scuffled by seasonal leagues while area beaches and pools emerge as the stuff of song.

Although it means returning yet again to Mr. Wainwright III (who as a young man sold his guitar for yoga lessons) one would be hard pressed to put forth a better summertime melody than this, featured on his fourth album in 1973, “Attempted Mustache”.

Recorded in Nashville, that’s his then-wife, Kate McGarrigle on banjo.  She and her sister, Anna would cover “The Swimming Song” on their debut album, just a few years later.

“AAAAAA-eeeeee!!!!”

LISTEN TO TODAY’S SELECTION – Saturday 7 July

The Swimming Song

This summer I went swimming,

This summer I might have drowned.

But I held my breath and I kicked my feet

And I moved my arms around,

I moved my arms around.

 This summer I swam in the ocean,

And I swam in a swimming pool.

Salt my wounds, chlorine my eyes,

I’m a self-destructive fool,

A self-destructive fool.

This summer I did the backstroke

And you know that’s not all

I did the breaststroke and the butterfly

And the old Australian crawl,

The old Australian crawl.

 This summer I swam in a public place

And a reservoir, to boot,

At the latter I was informal,

At the former I wore my suit,

I wore my swimming suit.

This summer I did swan dives

And jackknifes for you all

And once when you weren’t looking

I did a cannonball,

I did a cannonball.

 This summer I went swimming,

This summer I might have drowned

But I held my breath and I kicked my feet

And I moved my arms around,

I moved my arms around.