Peak
9
Weeks
38
Score
5,391
Chart Year
1984
Scores & Rankings
Chart Performance
Peak Position9
Peak DateSep 29, 1984
Weeks at Peak1
Weeks Charted38
Weeks in Top 4025
Weeks in Top 104
Weeks at #20
Weeks at #10
Scoring
Summary Calc1,952
Weekly Calc3,439
Total Score5,391
Rankings
Year Ranking#2
Decade Ranking#26
Billboard Year#3
Top 5000#920
Details
- Label
- London Recordings
- Genre
- Post-disco
- Composer(s)
- Sara Dallin;Siobhan Fahey;Steve Jolley;Tony Swain;Keren Woodward
- Entered Chart
- Jul 21, 1984
- Peak Date
- Sep 29, 1984
- Released
- Unknown
- Recorded
- Unknown
- Catalog #
- London 810127
- B-Side
- N/A
Music Video
The music video was directed by Brian Simmons, and shot primarily in the Dumbo section of New York City's Brooklyn borough in mid-1983.[7] It opens with a shot of Manhattan in the background including the World Trade Center. "[It] was just an excuse to get us to the fabled city of New York for the first time," Siobhan Fahey has said. She recalled the shoot, conducted during a heatwave, as a difficult experience. "It was August, over one hundred degrees. Our HQ was a tavern under the Brooklyn Bridge, which had a ladies' room with a chipped mirror where we had to do our makeup."[8] After an exhausting morning shooting in the city in brutal August heat, the band returned to the tavern for lunch. They made the acquaintance of some local dockworkers, who, upon learning of their situation, shared vials of cocaine with them. "That was our lunch," said Fahey, who had never tried the drug before. "When you watch that video, we look really tired and miserable in the scenes we shot before lunch, and then the after-lunch shots are all euphoric and manic."[8] The music video for the 1989 remix was a compilation of different shots from Bananarama's earlier videoclips. Notably missing are clips from the original 1983 video. Fahey is only featured in a pair of frames. Bananarama were unable to record a proper video for the song, because they were in the middle of a world tour at the time of its release.
Notes
"Cruel Summer" is a song by English girl group Bananarama. It was written by Bananarama and Steve Jolley, Tony Swain, and produced by Jolley and Swain. Released in 1983, it was initially a stand-alone single but was subsequently included on their self-titled second album a year later. The song reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart in 1983, and after its inclusion in the 1984 film The Karate Kid, it reached number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100. Bananarama singer Sara Dallin said the song "played on the darker side (of summer songs): it looked at the oppressive heat, the misery of wanting to be with someone as the summer ticked by. We've all been there!"[1] It was ranked number 44 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s.[2] Billboard named the song #13 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.
Hot summer streets And the pavements are burning I sit around Trying to smile but The air is so heavy and dry Strange voices are saying Things I can't understand It's too close for comfort This heat has got Right out of hand (Chorus) It's a cruel, cruel summer Leaving me here on my own It's a cruel, cruel summer Now you're gone The city is crowded My friends are away And I'm on my own It's too hot to handle So I got to get up and go (Chorus
Chart History (38 weeks)
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jul 21, 1984 | 76 | 50 |
| 2 | Jul 28, 1984 | 55 | 71 |
| 3 | Aug 4, 1984 | 43 | 83 |
| 4 | Aug 11, 1984 | 37 | 89 |
| 5 | Aug 18, 1984 | 32 | 94 |
| 6 | Aug 25, 1984 | 26 | 100 |
| 7 | Sep 1, 1984 | 21 | 105 |
| 8 | Sep 8, 1984 | 18 | 108 |
| 9 | Sep 15, 1984 | 13 | 113 |
| 10 | Sep 22, 1984 | 10 | 116 |
| 11 | Sep 29, 1984 | 9 | 117 |
| 12 | Oct 6, 1984 | 12 | 114 |
| 13 | Oct 13, 1984 | 14 | 112 |
| 14 | Oct 20, 1984 | 27 | 99 |
| 15 | Oct 27, 1984 | 41 | 85 |
| 16 | Nov 3, 1984 | 77 | 49 |
| 17 | Nov 10, 1984 | 91 | 35 |
| 18 | Nov 17, 1984 | 100 | 26 |
| 1 | Jul 18, 1998 | 37 | 89 |
| 2 | Jul 25, 1998 | 26 | 100 |
Weeks 1–20 of 38
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