Summer songs with great lyrics. Tracks that make your summer memories even more wonderful.
Great lyrics enhance the tone and add even more color to a song, don’t they? Works that take a literary approach as well as a musical one often become classics.
This time, I focused my research on summer songs with outstanding lyrics! Of course, “good lyrics” can mean many things: lines that move you to tears, words that tug at your heart with bittersweet emotion, or lyrics that sparkle with a touch of humor.
From masterpieces that artfully paint summer scenes with words to one-summer love songs, we’ve got them all.
Be sure to find your favorite lyrics!
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Summer songs with great lyrics. Summer tunes that make your memories even more wonderful (121–130)
Drowning in summerBocchi
Let me introduce Drowning in Summer, a track that’s been spreading by word of mouth, especially on social media.
It’s a summer song by the rock band Bocchi.
Set on a summer day, it depicts someone reflecting on a past summer romance.
If you watch the music video along with it, it’s easier to grasp: the song alternates between a past summer and the present one.
This structure really heightens the bittersweet feeling and the fleeting nature of memories.
Also, the overall high-pitched sound palette suits summer perfectly.
Brilliant RainKing Gnu
King Gnu is a four-piece rock band.
I’d like to introduce their song “Ame Sansan” as a perfect fit for summer.
It was written specifically for the TV drama Old Rookie.
The lyrics depict the beauty and fragility of youth set against a summer backdrop.
With many images centered on summer rain, the song carries a cool, refreshing atmosphere.
At the same time, it includes a message that gives a push to those who are trying their best, making it a great pick both for relaxing and for when you need a boost.
cotton candyback number
Back number, who have released numerous classic ballads, wrote Watagashi with the theme of a summer festival.
It’s a highly dramatic song: in the first half, it captures the excitement of a man visiting a summer festival with someone he has feelings for; in the second half, it sings of the frustration of being unable to confess.
Try listening while imagining how the story between the two will end.
Combined with vocalist Iyori Shimizu’s passionate singing, it’s truly heart-wrenching.
Another highlight is the strong sense of seasonality, with many summery words like fireworks woven throughout.
fireworkskyanai
This song was created by Kyanai, a singer-songwriter whose work is rooted in street performance.
Fireworks burst open and fade, then another one shoots up and blooms—beautiful, yet somehow fleeting, a classic symbol of summer.
The lyrics are distinctive in how they overlay that image of fireworks with the people, things, and emotions we cherish.
I hope you’ll listen while reflecting on the meetings and partings you’ve experienced amid ever-changing circumstances.
You’ll likely feel a gentle swell of many emotions rising in your heart.
Summer songs with great lyrics. Summer tunes that make your summer memories even more wonderful (131–140)
Foam Maidenmisekai
This is a song that resonates with the fleeting nature of summer and the bittersweetness of youth.
Released by the music unit Misekai in August 2024, it’s a nostalgic ballad inspired by illustrations from Nono Kumagai.
With gentle melodies and poignant lyrics, it beautifully captures the atmosphere of summer’s end.
Best listened to alone at dusk in the summertime—precious memories within you are sure to resurface.
Sound of SummerGReeeeN
GReeeeN’s “Natsu no Oto” portrays a faint yet bittersweet story set against the backdrop of a summer festival.
Written as a campaign song for Kirin’s “Nama-cha,” it was released as a digital-only lead single ahead of its inclusion on the 2015 album “C, D desu to!?” From the intro, the song already feels heartrending, as if it tightens your chest the more you listen.
“Natsu no Oto,” or “the sound of summer,” likely refers to fireworks, with the fleeting fireworks mirrored against the transience of the singer’s own love.
Tokyo Summer Session feat. CHiCOHONEY WORKS
For those looking for a heart-fluttering song to color a summer romance, “Tokyo Summer Session feat.
CHiCO” is highly recommended.
Created in 2015 by the creator unit HoneyWorks—known for songs depicting youthful love—it features a rhythmic sound that perfectly matches the thrill of a budding crush.
The song portrays a relationship that’s more than friends but not quite lovers, sure to make your heart feel warm.
Many listeners will relate to the dialogue-style lyrics.
Pay attention to the increasingly flirty lines that bring the two hearts closer, bit by bit.
How about listening to this emotional track that captures a fleeting summer romance?
