"Wonderful Summer" Sung by Robin Ward, 1963

In 1963, songwriter-producer Perry Botkin needed a session singer to make a demo recording of "Wonderful Summer", a song that he wrote with his co-writer and co-producer, Gil Garfield. A now-married Ward agreed to record it in Gold Star Studios. After an experiment in which Botkin sped up the recording by wrapping splicing tape around the capstan of the recorder, he and Ward agreed that the finished recording (with bird and surf sound effects added) would not be just a demo but a recording to be released as a 45 revolutions-per-minute single.

The "altered" recording resulted in the then 21-year-old woman sound like a high school girl; so Ward suggested changing her first name on the record label to that of her daughter, Robin. That fall, "Wonderful Summer" was released on Dot Records. Sales were over one million copies in the United States, propelling the recording to the #14 position on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 singles chart in November 1963.




I want to thank you for giving me
The most wonderful summer of my life
It was so heavenly
You meant the world to me
And anyone could see that I was so in love

I want to thank you for giving me
The most wonderful summer of my life
I never will forget
That summer day we met
You were so shy and yet you stole my heart away

We strolled along the sand
Walking hand in hand
Then you kissed me and I knew
That I would love you my whole life through

I want to thank you for giving me
The most wonderful summer of my life
And though it broke my heart
That day we had to part
I'll always thank you for giving me
The most wonderful summer of my life