“Cruel Summer” by Bananarama

Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" first turned up in 1983 as a single standing on its own, then got folded into the English trio's self-titled second album a year later. Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward wrote it with their producers, Steve Jolley and Tony Swain, and the three sing lead together: cool, flat, deadpan voices gliding over a sticky, heat-hazed groove.

That's the trick. It's a summer song with the sunshine bled out of it. Dallin has said it dwells on the heavy, stifling heat and the ache of wanting someone while the weeks drag past, and it grew out of the group losing their own holiday to the promotion grind that came with success. It went top ten at home, then found a second wind when The Karate Kid put it on screen in 1984, and it has stayed one of their signature songs.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.