Your sunscreen and lemonade mix

There’s nothing more relaxing than enjoying the summer by sitting in Dunn Meadow with your friend’s overweight dachshund and a good mix CD (or playlist, if the iPod is how you roll).

Although I haven’t actually had the chance to hang out in Dunn Meadow yet, I have compiled a mix of top summer songs. Here are the top five songs you need to hear before the fall semester kicks off.

5. “Fireflies”
by Owl City
I downloaded this song – the featured song of the week – for free from iTunes. You might need to take a double-listen because front man (only man, really) Adam Young sounds exactly like Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie/The Postal Service. With Super Mario-like electronic sounds, “Fireflies” is cute, uplifting and relaxing – a perfect song to listen to while sipping lemonade.

4. “Waking Up In Vegas” by Katy Perry
I won’t lie. By the time summer started, I was pretty sick of “I Kissed A Girl” and “Hot N Cold.” Although I had heard this song during winter break, it made its way back into my life. As Katy Perry said, “(It’s) basically a song about getting into trouble with your best friend or your boyfriend or your girlfriend – or whomever you’re with – and not having any ‘I’m sorry for what I did.’” So go out, have fun with your friends and stop caring about life.

3. “Real World ’09”
by Rob Thomas
This song is dedicated to all those recent grads who have absolutely no freaking idea what to do with their lives. It’s a feel-good song about how life is hard, never what we expect, but we have to keep going. Because, hey, what else are we going to do?
 
2. “Weightless”
by All Time Low
Ever need a pick-me-up? I bet you do. Ever need a song to help you? This song will do it. “If I could just find the time / Then I would never let another day go by / I’m over getting old / Maybe it’s not my weekend, but it’s gonna be my year.” This song will make you jump, smile and leave you optimistic that there’s much more out there than ghost college towns during the summer.

1. “Good Girls Go Bad” by Cobra Starship featuring Leighton Meester
What’s better than listening to an upbeat, poppy dance song about bad girls featuring the baddest girl of them all? Nothing. Although repetitive, listeners cannot deny that this pop tune is catchy. Adding flavor is Leighton Meester or Blair Waldorf from the monster TV show “Gossip Girl.”
If this isn’t the song of the summer, then I don’t know what is.