Peak
5
Weeks
16
Score
3,024
Chart Year
1978
"Summer Nights" is a big song in the musical Grease, which was popularized by the 1978 movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as the main characters, Sandy and Danny. The song finds the pair singing about their summer romance, with each having a completely different perspective on what really happened. Danny sings his part to his greaser friends the T-Birds, and implies that it was a sexual relationship. Sandy sings to her friends the Pink Ladies about a much more innocent adventure where they held hands and drank lemonade. Unfortunately for Danny, he tries to keep up the act when he sees Sandy, acting cool to impress his friends. It takes him the whole movie to win her back. This was written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, who composed the musical Grease. In the UK, the songs from Grease were enormous hits - this and "You're The One That I Want" both went to #1, and in 1990 the "Grease Megamix," which includes "Summer Nights," hit #3. Apparently, the very American antics of the kids at Rydell high draw an international audience. On the 2013 Parks and Recreation episode "The Cones of Dunshire," the characters Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and Jeremy Jamm (Jon Glaser), sing a karaoke version of this song, but Leslie singing the guy part and Jeremy as the girl. John Travolta teamed up with Donald Faison and Zach Braff (stars of the TV series Scrubs) to sing "Summer Nights" in a T-Mobile commercial that aired during the Super Bowl in 2023.
summer lovin' had me a blast summer lovin' happened so fast met a girl crazy for me met a boy cute as as can be summer days, driftin' away to-o uh-oh those su-u-ummer nights wella, wella, wella, huh tell me more, tell me more did you get very far? tell me more, tell me more like does he have a car? (du du uh-huh, du du uh-huh, du du uh-huh, du du du du du uh-uh du du uh-huh du du uh-huh...) she swam by me, she got a cramp he went by me, got my suit damp i saved her life, he nearly drowned he showed off, splashin' around summer sun, somethin's begun but uh-oh those su-u-ummer nights wella, wella, wella, huh tell me more, tell me more was it love at first sight? tell me more, tell me more did she put up a fight? took her bowlin' in the arcade we went strolling, drank lemonade we made out under the docks we stayed out 'till 10 o'clock summer fling, don't mean a thing bu oh-oh those su-u-ummer nights wella wella wella huh tell me more, tell me more but you don't gotta brag tell me more, tell me more cause it sounds like a drag (shooda bop bop shooda bop bop shooda bop bop shooda bop bop, shooda bop bop shooda bop bop shooda bop bop, yeah!) he got friendly, holdin' my hand she got friendly, down in the sand he was sweet, just turned 18 she was good, you know what i mean summer heat, boy and girl meet, but oh-oh those su-u-ummer nights wella wella wella huh tell me more tell me more how much dough did he spend? tell me more tell me more could she get me a friend? it turned colder, that's where it ends so I told her we'd still be friends then we made a true love vow wonder what she's doing now summer dreams ripped at the seams but oh, those summer nights
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aug 5, 1978 | 66 | 60 |
| 2 | Aug 12, 1978 | 46 | 80 |
| 3 | Aug 19, 1978 | 29 | 97 |
| 4 | Aug 26, 1978 | 20 | 106 |
| 5 | Sep 2, 1978 | 15 | 111 |
| 6 | Sep 9, 1978 | 8 | 118 |
| 7 | Sep 16, 1978 | 7 | 119 |
| 8 | Sep 23, 1978 | 6 | 120 |
| 9 | Sep 30, 1978 | 5 | 121 |
| 10 | Oct 7, 1978 | 5 | 121 |
| 11 | Oct 14, 1978 | 9 | 117 |
| 12 | Oct 21, 1978 | 10 | 116 |
| 13 | Oct 28, 1978 | 12 | 114 |
| 14 | Nov 4, 1978 | 37 | 89 |
| 15 | Nov 11, 1978 | 66 | 60 |
| 16 | Nov 18, 1978 | 97 | 29 |