Both on the page and in the studio, summerlong was supposed to be the simplest of the four songs in the sequence. But simple things have a habit of become complicated very fast, and this song was no exception.

When I finished the lyrics, I realized I was drawing on two very deep themes — one consciously, and one less so. The song began as an idea to capture that feeling we all have when life seems to be at its peak — in this case, the simple pleasure of sitting by the side of a lake on a perfect summer day, when time seems to stand still and the moment seems to last forever. When you live in central New York, with its seemingly endless winter, you want to take that moment and save it for a time when you need it to for spiritual restoration.

This became the gist of the chorus and first and last verse, inspired, of course, by William Blake’s great insight that I have referenced in this space before: “To see a World in a Grain of Sand/And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,/Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand/And Eternity in an hour.”

The second theme didn’t reveal itself to me right away, though it was there in the lyric from the beginning. The key word here is “reverie.” For summerlong is nothing more than a midsummer dream (think Shakespeare), where romantic and erotic love mingle with magic and merge into one single moment, mischievously stolen from the physical world to be held for all eternity.

Cotton clouds hang in cobalt skies
dragonfly suspended in midair
for this moment, nothing stirs but
flashing diamonds on the lake

You appear soft as summer haze
out of this reverie
sultry as this summer day
melts into an evening breeze

Feelings form into beads of sweat
slowly sliding down our skin
rising love like refining fire
releasing all that lies within

This is the silence held between heartbeats
this is the space that eternity makes
within this stolen sacred moment
our souls unfold into endless day

Let the world take its time
subtract the seconds, divide by hours
but let this moment be one and all
as infinite as wildflowers

In the silence held between heartbeats
there is a space that eternity makes
within a stolen sacred moment
our souls unfold into endless day

DOWNLOAD:

Bandcamp: https://brucepegg.bandcamp.com/track/summerlong
iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/summerlong-single/1751172018
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/music/player/albums/B0D6LY9DWG

STREAM:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2oCIGEb17k1KEYqOvtxkR0
Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/artist/bruce-pegg/summerlong/ALnXwk7PXhpbVmg
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bruce-pegg/summerlong
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/summerlong-single/1751172018
YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mGhROmd3wXM7dDChtUfBz7WwrauRy_7EI&si=1o6OE-Fsg10jOr-9
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/us/album/599279742
iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/artist/bruce-pegg-42576563/albums/summerlong-273644980/

Written in Cazenovia, NY, between June and July, 2023; recorded between November 2023 and June 2024. Released June 20, 2024.

Bruce Pegg (vocals, guitar)
Hannah Pegg (vocals)
Pete Pecora, Jr. (flute)
Mark Chatwin (keyboards)
Tom Westcott (bass)
Mike Santiago (percussion)

Produced by Mark Chatwin with Bruce Pegg
Art by Ann Stevens