Memories: Partridge Family: 'Summer Days'

Oh, to be 10 again... Okay, actually it sounds pretty horrid, because that means junior high and high school are still ahead. Let's not. Back in the day, I watched "The Partridge Family" religiously with my childhood friend Angie Fontana, who lived two houses up the street in Lynchburg, Va.

One of our favorite songs from the show was "Summer Days" from 1971's season two, where Keith walked up to each of the family members and serenaded then one by one: Chris, Laurie, Danny, Shirley and Tracy—where he sang the line, "baby baby baby, hold my hand and we'll be free," and took young snaggle-toothed Tracy's hand in his.

Angie and I "performed" this song ad nauseum in my basement playroom, with me playing Keith and poor Angie acting out every other family member, as I pranced around with a mic and approached the family, even bending to hold Tracy, uh Angie's hand, during the pivotal lyric.

There must have been something to the song. It was included on the Partridge's third album "Sound Magazine," which reached No. 9 on the album chart. And even though it was never released as a single—among the act's seven top 40 hits—David Cassidy released his own remake on third solo album "Dreams Are Nuthin' More Than Wishes" in 1973. Unfortunately, it's fairly dreadful. They definitely got it right the first time. Oh, sigh.
(Thanks for the vid, Marky Mark!)