The benefits of text messaging

It’s a catchy pop tune—covered by Ace of Base and the U.K. outfit Aidan Moffat and Bill Wells—that explores the darker side of the sun-seared season?

The song’s protagonist, a forlorn young woman, has been cast out into the “hot summer streets,” where the “pavement is burning.” It’s too hot; her friends are away; and again and again she laments that they’ve left her here, alone, on her own.

A cruel summer, indeed—if only she’d had an iPhone.