Spring into summer, and the winter’s gone / I try to hold on to it, but the current’s too strong
Lizzy McAlpine’s “Spring Into Summer” has, to put it simply, a chokehold on our generation. Why? What does it signify for different people?
For me, its meaning is in the title. It serves as a representative for the world’s transition into the summer. A slow strum of the guitar, McAlpine’s angelic voice, slowly building off of each other through the song – it’s a lovely song.
HOWEVER! Once you pay a little more attention to the lyrics, you begin to realize how heart wrenching the song truly is.
Taking a picture of all the people close to us / Head below the surface, almost never certain of the truth
Ok yeah, that’s sweet. There’s an undertone there, though.
I’m always, forever, running back to you
HELLO? Suddenly, the innocence of the song disappears, and it turns into a longing for what once was. Longing for winter, leaving spring, but also love. Memories. A person you were once, or still are, close to.
You’re always gonna be someone that I want / We have too many years between us
Alright, Lizzy, my heart is on the floor and you’ve stomped on it.
When I listen to “Spring Into Summer,” I don’t think too much about the lyrics because the song really scratches an itch in my brain, and I don’t want to feel depressed after I listen to it 20 times every day.
My friend Riley finds the song to be a comforting “farewell to gloomy winter days,” and a signal that “everything is going to be alright” with the upcoming summer season. He also added an “and shi” at the end of that.
Gianna, a soon-to-be-graduated senior, loves the song because of how wonderfully it captures “the tenderness and wistfulness and uncomfortable growing pains that come with being in your twenties.”
Gianna emphasizes the juxtaposition of the song, as “it’s about time moving faster than you want it to,” yet the song is slow and calming. Despite the painful meaning behind the song, she jokes that the song also serves well “to listen to on repeat when you come home from a party drunk and alone after seeing too many couples in love.” Based on a true story.
“Spring Into Summer” drives home how difficult it is for time to pass. Billy Joel’s “Vienna” follows a similar memo, tugging at the heartstrings of the youth who feel they can not take a break due to the constant passage of time, and it has a similar chokehold of our generation.
See said chokehold here and here.
Slow down, you crazy child / You’re so ambitious for a juvenile / But then if you’re so smart / Tell me why are you still so afraid?
I discovered “Vienna” about halfway through my freshman year at UW. My roommates got sick of me singing along to it in the shower. “Vienna” comforted me when I was far from home, in a strange place, surrounded by strange people, inventing myself as a young adult every waking moment. Billy Joel’s voice and slow piano melody spoke to my soul, telling me it was going to be OK.
Slow down, you’re doin’ fine / You can’t be everything you wanna be before your time
As I’ve grown over the past year, the meaning of “Vienna” has aged like fine wine. Lets not forget the song was released in 1977, and here I am listening to it in 2025. This song has hit home for four generations now.
I’ve realized I’ve begun to lose myself in the busyness of my college life – picking up more extracurriculars, climbing the ladder at my minimum wage job, adding on more credits – I barely have time to sit and think. But whenever I feel overwhelmed, I have Billy Joel’s beloved melody to comfort me, and Lizzy McAlpine’s song of the seasons to remind me that I need to stop and acknowledge the bittersweetness of how quickly things change.
And on top of all that – these songs connect people. Something about the way they tug on our heartstrings brings us together, makes us nostalgic, and forces us to reconcile with the times that have passed and what is to come.
Summer is falling, it’s a distant dream / If I turn around, you’re runnin’ back to me
Dream on, but don’t imagine they’ll all come true / When will you realize Vienna waits for you?