The Mountain Goats Cover War's "Summer," Baio Shares New Track for Amazon Music Summer Playlist: Listen

Amazon Music has enlisted several artists to record new songs for its Songs of Summer playlist. Among them are the Mountain Goats and Baio (Vampire Weekend's Chris Baio), whose contributions you can hear above. The Mountain Goats covered War's "Summer" while Baio did a new track called "Don't Fight Fate." Also featured on the playlist are Laura Gibson, Surfer Blood, Passenger, Blitzen Trapper, and more.

In a press release, John Darnielle said:

I grew up in southern California in the mid-to-late 1970s. War's music was an AM radio standby -- Low Rider, Summer, Why Can't We Be Friends, Cisco Kid -- these were songs you heard coming out of car windows, playing from radios inside the snack bar near the Little League dugout, and from portable radios at parks. To me so much of War's music is the sound of summer and this song goes directly to the point and stays there, deep in the vein of the groove that War mined and made their own.

Baio said:

I've always found late summer to be the most romantic time of year. There's a deep yearning that comes with saying goodbye to warmth & preparing for cold. 

"Don't Fight Fate" is my attempt at a late-summer love song. The chorus melody, which I wrote a few years ago, always evoked that time of year for me. 

I believe that you can long for a place while you're still there, and you can long for a person while you're still with them. I wanted to channel that feeling of longing.

I recorded "Don't Fight Fate" now because it felt more in line with my album, The Names, then what I want to do with my next record. I guess it's my way of saying goodbye to my first record!

Watch Baio with Vampire Weekend on Pitchfork.tv's "Over/Under":

via Jazz Monroe