SONGS FOR A LONELY SUMMER NIGHT

High summer night in a small city somewhere on the east coast of America. Streetlights illuminate the front doors of houses on quiet streets, lamps inside windows beam out snapshots of strangers' lives, windchimes tinkle over sillohuetted gardens, plastic gnomes, pink flamingos waiting for the sun. In the distance, the sound of traffic like a movie score, red lights blink against the neon glow of store windows with locked doors and deserted parking lots. And somewhere, in the locked down little city that fell asleep before the eleven o'clock news, there is someone like you, walking alone, or sitting by a window, a glass in hand, a cigarette smoldering between their fingers, waiting for "it" to happen, without knowing exactly what "it" is, but hoping, with every sip of whatever poison fills their glass, and every slow draw of smoke, that "it" will be enough to make up for what hasn't happened so far...on all the other summer nights just like this one...in this nowhere city...at the shallow end of the bigger, better, brighter rest of the world.

These are my top five picks for the best songs for that kind of night.

Send Me An Angel was a hit in 1984 for the Australian synth-pop band Real Life, and, for me, captures the sense of longing and quiet despair that we've all felt at some point as we wonder whether we'll ever find that one person who will make us feel less lonely in the night.

Moonlight Sonata is the name by which most of us know this beautiful piano sonata completed by Ludwig von Beethoven in 1801. But its real name, Piano Sonata 14 in C Sharp Minor (Quasi Una Fantasia), does nothing to diminish its beauty and the aching poignancy which underscores very note. One of Beethoven's most popular compositions, it was likened by the German music critic Ludwig Rellstab to the musical equivalent of moonlight streaming across a lake. The comparison stuck, thus giving the song its more well known name. And I can't imagine that anyone who has ever listened to it would take issue with that perfect, universally evocative image.

"Images of Heaven", recorded by Peter Godwin, former lead singer for the British "new wave" band Metro, was one of the first major synth pop hits of the early 80s. Its haunting, extended intro made it a cult favorite when it hit the radio airwaves in 1882, but the accompanying video, which featured a lionskin rug that turned into a naked woman, was banned from MTV. A replacement video, showing Godwin pining over a beautiful woman whose image adorns a cereal box, doesn't quite capture the melancholic feel of the song, which is, essentially, the universal longing we all sometimes feel when we see the beautiful images of people and place far out of our reach. Even now, with "new wave" a distant memory, the song still holds up as a stirring soundtrack for a lonely summer night.

Brit band Talk Talk had already a string of hits such as "It's My Life" and "Talk Talk" when "Such A Shame" was released in 1984, but this is the song that caught critics' attention with its surreal, out of synch video which featured singer Mark Hollis assuming an incongrously cheeky demeanor as he sang the bitterly sarcastic lyrics. Despite the subdued anger that underscores the song, it still captures the ache and longing of a scorned lover on his own in the city in the night...in 1984 or 2012.

A lot of years were very good ones for Frank Sinatra, but this song puts it all in pensive perspective. "It Was A Very Good Year", written by Ervin Drake and first recorded by the Kingston Trio, is the sort of song that just begs to be played softly in the background as you lie in bed and listen to the distant sounds of the city night. And as sung by Frank Sintra, who won a Grammy for Best Male Vocalist for his 1966 rendition, it's about as perfect as a nightscape soundtrack can get. Even if you're not a middle-aged man reflecting on the phases of your life, this song will still whisper your name in the dark.

There you have it. Our five top picks for songs for a lonely summer night. But don't feel too lonely, listening to them. Morning is just around the corner. And there's a soundtrack for that, too. Skol! xoxxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxo