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âBack in 2013, I asked my dear girlfriend of many years, the late Olivia Newton-John, to be my guest on a song for an album I was releasing that yearâ Boyd says
08 AUGUST 2024 (TORONTO, ON) â Nostalgia has a poignant way of folding in upon itself. Thatâs whatâs happened with âSummer Dreams,â the 2013 duet between Canadian guitar icon Liona Boyd and Australian pop superstar Olivia Newton-John. When it was first released 11 years ago, the song was a simple, heartfelt ode to weekend vacations past. Now that itâs been rereleased in a remixed and updated production, the record has taken on the extra dimension of a moving tribute to a friendship not even death could dim.
âBack in 2013, I asked my dear girlfriend of many years, the late Olivia Newton-John, to be my guest on a song for an album I was releasing that year,â Boyd says. âShe happily agreed, and I flew down with my producer, Peter Bond, to record her near her home in Jupiter, Florida.
â[It] was a great experience,â Boyd recalls. âIn 2013, she was absolutely at the top of her game vocally, and the entire session lasted little more than an hour. At the end, Olivia did some improvising that was so beautiful it gave us both goosebumps.â
You can get those goosebumps yourself just by listening to the track, which teams Newton-Johnâs exquisite vocalizing with Boydâs own vocals and elegantly plucked guitar lines for a lullaby-like throwback to gentler times. With heartbreaking delicacy and sincerity, âSummer Dreamsâ recalls the serene pleasures of therapeutic getaways to a cherished lakeside refuge:
Canadian summer dreams
Cottages and lakes and streams
Lemonade and soft ice creams
Canadian summer dreams
As we had all learned from Grease, Newton-John knew a thing or two about summers going in. But hearing her famous voice lilting down through the ages is profoundly affecting, especially when it wraps itself around an outwardly innocent observation that canât help but feel bittersweet in hindsight:
How could anyone have asked for more?
Those were simple, happy days for sure
âAlthough I liked what we did originally with the song, Peter told me recently that he always wished we could reimagine the production now, years later, in a different styleâwith a larger soundstage and one that would feature her vocals even more,â Boyd says. âI agreed, and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to re-release the song internationally, along with a lyric video, as a single for this summer of 2024. I could not be happier with this new version that pays tribute to one of the most beautiful souls and voices I have ever encountered.â
Newton-John was one of a kind, all right. But to Boydâs own credit, sheâs never had much trouble making friends anywhere she goes. Known as âThe First Lady of the Guitar,â this classical/folk/world music triple threat has performed for Englandâs Royal Family (several times) and the President of the United Statesânot to mention millions of paying concertgoers. Sheâs worked with the esteemed likes of Sir Andrew Davis and the English Chamber Orchestra, Yo-Yo Ma and Georges Zamfir. And if it seems unlikely that a player who was championed by as notorious a purist as the great Andrés Segovia would mesh both personally and professionally with a pop icon like Olivia Newton-John ⦠well, Boyd has a long history of fruitful collaborations (both on stage and in the studio) with chart-toppers like Gordon Lightfoot, Tracy Chapman, Chet Atkins, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Alex Lifeson and Rik Emmett.
Her versatility is a big reason Boyd has hit gold and platinum repeatedly with her more than 30 albums, including her latest, Once Upon A Time, and racked up over 50 million streams. The tastemakers havenât exactly been silent in their admiration, either: Sheâs won the JUNO five times, which is the exact same number of times the readers of Guitar Player magazine have voted her Best Classical Guitarist – sheâs now a member of the publicationâs âGallery of Greatsâ and has been honoured with three Lifetime Achievement awards. An unquestioned national treasure, Boyd has received five honorary doctorates, the Order of Ontario and the Diamond Jubilee Medal, and was recently upgraded from Member to Officer of the Order of Canada.
When she wasnât playing solo and orchestral concerts across the globe, she was working on the latest of the hundreds of pieces sheâs composed and arranged for her beloved guitar. As a writer of a different stripe, sheâs hit the best-seller list with her autobiography, In My Own Key … My Life in Love and Music (which inspired the follow-up No Remedy for Love). Sheâs even authored a childrenâs book, The Cat Who Played Guitar.
Childlike wonder suffuses every note of âSummer Dreams,â though the context in which itâs been dusted off and held up to the light canât help but reveal an added layer of adult loss. Thatâs when we should take the words at face value and focus on the good times. That weekend lake house it still ours as long as we can picture it vividly in our mind, and summer never has to end if we donât want it to. Pass the lemonade, and letâs all toast to absent friends.
Source
Universal Music Canada