It seems so odd to me that today’s installment of Songs of Summer, 2016, has not one but two songs about Peter Pan. How is that possible? Must be something in the water.

The first is Lost Boy by Ruth B. It’s the only time I can remember a simple vocal accompanied only by a piano hitting the top 40 in the US. It’s like a breath of fresh air every time it turns up between incessant Bieber* songs and pop music that seems to consist mainly of autotuning and oontz. (*I’m not complaining about the Biebs. His latest album is great. Overplayed, but great.) I am enjoying quite a few of this year’s crop of top 40, but this song is something special.

The lyrics are a little over simple, but that seems to add to their charm.

“I am a lost boy from Neverland
Usually hanging out with Peter Pan
And when we’re bored we play in the woods
Always on the run from Captain Hook
“Run, run, lost boy, ” they say to me,
“Away from all of reality.”
Neverland is home to lost boys like me
And lost boys like me are free.”  –Lost Boy by Ruth B.

Initially posted as a series of Vines (the app which allows you to post 6-second videos), Ruth B. wrote the song one line at a time. It became an instant hit on Vine, so she put it all together and posted it on YouTube. The rest, as they say, is history.

Now, on to Kelsea Ballerini’s Peter Pan, which climbed the country charts in March and April 2016 at roughly the same pace as Lost Boy is currently conquering the top 40 charts.

“You’re just a lost boy, yeah, I know who you are
You don’t know what you lost, boy,
You’re too busy chasing stars

“And you’re always gonna fly away, just because you know you can
You’re never gonna learn there’s no such place as Neverland
You don’t understand
You’ll never grow up
You’re never gonna be a man”  –Peter Pan by Kelsea Ballerini, Forest Glen Whitehead, and Jesse Lee

I hope these songs mean that summer 2016 is going to be full of fairy dust. I LOVE fairy dust!