Released: 2022
Zach Bryan’s ‘Summertime Blues’ is a poignant reflection on loneliness, longing, and the bittersweet passage of time. The song uses the backdrop of summer to express a sense of melancholy and nostalgia, coupled with a yearning for connection and a sense of belonging.
In the opening lines, Bryan paints a picture of a solitary sunset, wondering if a lost love is sharing the same view. The ‘summertime blues’ he refers to is a common phrase for the feelings of sadness or depression that can ironically occur during the warm, carefree days of summer. It’s a clever play on words, suggesting both the color of the summer sky and the melancholic state of his heart.
The ‘green-eyed, dark-haired beauty on some beach by Monterey’ and the ‘boys out in Okie’ represent the people and places he feels disconnected from. Monterey, a city on California’s rugged central coast, and Okie, a colloquial term for Oklahoma, symbolize his longing for both romantic and platonic connections.
The chorus, ‘I’ve got nothin’ left to prove, I’m out of touch and out of tune, Singin’ alone’ underscores his feelings of isolation and despair. The ‘birds up high and the souls below’ could represent the dichotomy between his aspirations and his current reality, while ‘the beautiful girls I’ll never hold’ is a direct expression of his romantic longing.
The ‘Hilton head and the Hamptons’ are affluent vacation spots, suggesting a critique of the superficiality and emptiness of high society. The ‘young kids all get high just to pass time’ line is a commentary on the aimlessness and disillusionment of youth.
The line ‘I bought a bottle of the best bourbon, A beat-down boy could buy’ uses the classic country trope of turning to alcohol to drown sorrows. It’s a poignant image of his attempt to escape his ‘summertime blues’.
In the closing lines, Bryan returns to the sunset, emphasizing his lingering loneliness and longing. The ‘someone to lose’ suggests that he misses not just the joy of love, but also the pain of loss, underlining the depth of his solitude.
