There's a full moon in the sky
It's got a hold on me, I'm hypnotized
Like your love, it's getting stronger
Please keep my heart a little longer
Indian Summer is on its way
Cool at night and hot all day
Ain't no black clouds filled with rain
Santa Ana wind blew them all to Maine
Baby takes my hand
She says she understands
About the way I feel
She knows this love is real
I'm a wide open space cowboy
I got lazy ways, I got some hidden joy
Motorcycle and tons of RPM
Ain't gonna wait around till it's here again
~ Paul Cotton (Poco)
Despite today's high of 87 degrees, it is not technically Indian Summer. Nonetheless, this song by Poco appears on the album of the same name released in 1977. Can't go wrong with a little Poco in your day.
Or can you? There are three things wrong with this song as today's choice. Can you find them?
Time's up.
First of all, there is no full moon today. The last one was on September 6, and the next one will be on October 5. Today, we're just five days past the new moon. Oh, well. Full moons always make a song sound better.
Most importantly, there's the Indian Summer thing. According to the Farmers' Almanac, there are some specific requirements that must be in place for us to call a burst of warm autumn weather "Indian Summer." For one thing, it has to occur at some point between November 11 and November 20. We're not there yet. There has to be a large swing in daytime/nighttime temperatures. I think the low last night was around 60 degrees; is that a large swing? The atmosphere must be smoky or hazy. Well, that's not true here in the Northeast. And the warm weather must follow a spell of cold weather or a good hard frost. No frost here yet.
Despite all of this, we will keep referring to these summer-like temps as "Indian Summer." Which begs the question: why is it called Indian Summer? Well, apparently, the early settlers in New England would welcome the cold weather in late October, leaving their stockades unarmed, thinking that attacks by Native Americans were less likely. When it became warm again, however, the Native Americans would have another go at it, thus causing the settlers to refer to the late warm weather as Indian Summer.
If you were counting, you noticed that I have not yet related the third thing wrong with this song choice. Well, despite my love for Poco, the lyrics here just do not live up to my requirements for good lyrics. They're pretty simple, random, wandering, and somewhat awkward, aren't they? Ain't gonna wait around till it's here again might be one of the dumbest lines ever written. Like you can only ride your motorcycle during Indian Summer? What?
But hey, it's 86 degrees on this sunny day and Poco sounds good. Let's call it Indian Summer! Even if it's not.
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