We’ve had great weather this weekend, mostly in the upper 60s. I snapped the photo above from my dining room window, but the picture doesn’t do justice to the color that was blazing there.
This reminded me of a song by The Dream Academy, called (coincidentally enough) “Indian Summer.” This was from their 1987 album Remembrance Days, an album I was playing a lot at that time because the stock market had just crashed and the group I was working in had to be at the Chicago Board of Trade Building around the clock, and the team’s cassette player was the only way of keeping our sanity. (This was the other album I was listening to a lot, along with this.)
The Dream Academy was a post-punk folk-almost-progressive-rock band that was discovered by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. They had a top-10 hit in the US with their song “Life in a Northern Town,” which has appreared on many 80s compilation CDs. Their music was also a favorite of John Hughes, and Dream Academy songs are all over Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Planes Trains and Automobiles.
When I was searching for the lyrics on the next page, I found this Dream Academy fan site which, in addition to having lots of information about band, lists me in their “thank yous.” I probably gave some info on the band to a Usenet group back in the day, since I owned a bunch of Dream Academy rarities. That was a nice little discovery for a Sunday afternoon.
Enjoy the weather. Soon we’ll be closing the windows.

Indian Summer
The Dream Academy
It was the time of year just after the summer’s gone
When August and September just become memories of songs
To be put away with the summer clothes
And packed up in the attic for another year
We had decided to stay on for a few weeks more
Although the season was over now the days were still warm
And seemed reluctant to give up and hand over to winter for another year
Indian, Indian summer
Her parents had rented a house on the shore
‘Though I stared at her all summer we never really talked in the end,
at the summer’s end
I wish we could turn around and start it again
She shared a house with her sister and mother
It belonged to a painter who rented out for the summer
Her father had already gone home
The days were quiet and we were both alone
intensified by the lack of competition
We walked along the ocean and put off decisions
To keep us from saying goodbye
Indian, Indian summer
In the distance the city lights flickered in the bay
But any previous existence seemed a world away
In the end, at the summer’s end
I wish we could turn around and start it again
Indian, Indian summer
Away from the magic could it ever be the same
I think I knew those days would never come again.