30 Day Song Challenge - Day 3: A Song that Reminds You of Summer

Depeche Mode - Fly on the Windscreen

This might be an odd choice, as the lyrics aren't really summery, but I think it will make a little more sense with some backstory. As a kid, we had family who lived in Durham, North Carolina. They also had a trailer that they kept at a campground on Myrtle Beach. So every summer, we would make the trip to Durham, eat at Bullock's BBQ, visit with family for a day or so, then head down to Myrtle Beach to spend a week in their trailer. It was about a 12 hour drive to Durham, and then another 3 and a half to Myrtle Beach, which meant a lot of time in the minivan. My parents would drive it straight through, switching off driving duties every couple of hours, while my brother and I slept, played games, and listened to music.

I had a walkman, but couldn't bring very many cassettes on any given trip due to space constraints. Through the years, I rotated tapes in and out, but for some reason one particular tape was a constant on these trips. It was one my cousin recorded for me that contained two albums: Japanese Whispers by The Cure on one side, and Black Celebration by Depeche Mode on the other.

The second song on Black Celebration is "Fly on the Windscreen". I vividly remember being in that trailer on Myrtle Beach, listening to this song as i fell asleep, and noticing a fly walking across the outside of the window screen by my bed. I thought it was pretty neat that the song and the image happened to match up, so it made an impression. To this day, when I hear "Fly on the Windscreen", I think of summer car trips, Myrtle Beach, and that weird little moment when the audio and visual tracks of my 12 year old brain synced up so perfectly.