Suddenly Last Summer (song)
"Suddenly Last Summer" is a song by new wave band the Motels. It was the lead-off single from their RIAA Gold-certified fourth album "Little Robbers". The single entered the Hot 100 at #60 on September 3, 1983, and peaked at #9 on November 19, 1983. The B-side of the 7" single was "Some Things Never Change," and the song was included on the 1990 compilation album, "No Vacancy: Best of the Motels". Inspiration. Martha Davis has said in various interviews that the song touches upon themes such as the loss of virginity and  innocence. She has also mentioned how the inspiration came from knowing that "...summer is ending when you hear the ice cream truck go by for the last time and you know he won't be back for a while". In an interview with Davis, Linda Tuccio-Koonz (2019) further expanded on the song's themes of cyclical loss and new beginnings:"'Suddenly Last Summer' percolated for years. The song, written after her parents had died — her mom by suicide and her dad from illness — is a reflection on those moments in life when things are changing, like when it’s a  beautiful sunny day and a cold wind blows and you know the end of summer is coming." Despite sharing the same name, there are no ties to Tennessee Williams' same-named 1958 off-Broadway one-act play. The writer had died in February 1983—the same month that The Motels returned to the studio to record "Little Robbers". According to Davis, the writer's death and the song's release were purely coincidental. She hadn't read Williams' work or seen the 1959 film version of "Suddenly, Last Summer" until long after the song was released. Also, "Suddenly Last Summer  was chosen because Davis liked the alliterative sound of the title. Music video. A music video was directed by the single's producer Val Garay with cinematography by John Alonzo. The video depicts Davis dreaming about having a romantic encounter on the beach while an ice cream truck passes throughout the neighborhood. The video's sleep motif may have been inspired by Davis' songwriting process, as she awoke at 3 AM with the inspiration to write Suddenly Last Summer". The video also features one of Davis' children playing the teenaged character and actor Robert Carradine as Davis' love interest. The  band members also appear and loosely reenact the stances of the "robbers" on the "Little Robbers" album cover at the video's conclusion. In popular culture. Two bootleg dance versions have been made of the song, one with a techno-like dance beat and another with a semi-tropical beat. The song has appeared on the soundtrack of the TV show "Breaking Bad". and also on "".