Copious Notes

Black Eyed Peas are Will.i.am, Taboo, Apl.de.ap and Fergie.

Years from now, I can guarantee there are two songs that will zap me back to the summer of 2009 whenever I hear them.

First is a ubiquitous hit: the Black Eyed Peas’ comeback single Boom Boom Pow.

It has everything a summer song needs. It’s not terribly serious, basically a cooler-than-thou anthem with a memorable line to make the point: “I’m so 3008, you so two-thousand-and-late.”

It has that time-honored beat, and you can dance to it, plus it’s a little bit naughty. There are also some great passages, such as Fergie with one of the greatest band-­member exhortations since Bruce used to call out Clarence: “Will.i.am drop the beat now!”

Silly, dancy, sweaty, it could exude summer sun in an ice storm.

Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche is a graduate of the prestigious percussion program at the University of Kentucky.

The other has similar qualities but probably plays to a different crowd: Wilco’s You Never Know.

Granted, this George Harrison-esque track could pop you back to the 1970s if you’re not careful. But the Wilco track is so 2009, with the wistful chorus “I don’t care anymore” and a general message to let life happen without worry and pretension.

What could be more ­summer?

Also, in the fingertips of keyboardist Mikael ­Jorgensen, the song has a propulsive rhythm that could drive your car down the highway all by itself - preferably a rural highway where you don’t have to take an exit to grab a pop at a country store.

Being a good driving song always adds to a summer song’s cachet.

Not every summer ­produces a great summer song. And in many ways, it is a personal thing.

For instance, Def ­Leppard’s Pour Some Sugar on Me will always snap me back to ­summer 1988. It has a lot of those basic ­ingredients: catchy, fun, naughty.

Def Leppard: They're hot, sticky sweet, from their heads to their feet.

It also was a great ­summer early in my ­college years, spent mostly at the beach with some of the best friends of my life. One friend, Dave, absolutely loved Sugar and would crank it up and sing along any time it came on the radio.

I popped out quick ­Twitter and Facebook ­questions asking people what they thought was the song of this summer, and there ­definitely were some ­personal picks. One friend who has a trio of pre- and early ­elementary ­schoolchildren said the ­VeggieTales’ version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight has been in heavy rotation in her home. Another mentioned Brother, Can You Spare a Dime - not current, but a comment on our current situations.

Then, there’s personal taste: shouts to Idlewild’s To Be Forgotten and the Kings of Leon’s Use Somebody.

But I did feel like I had a proverbial finger on the pulse of the culture with numerous Boom Boom Pow responses along with the Peas’ ­current No. 1 single, I’ve Gotta ­Feeling. I also had a bunch of Wilco responses, though more about other fine tracks on the June release Wilco (the ­Album). That makes sense, as BEP is more of a singles band and Wilco is more album-oriented.

Consensus is another thing that helps cement a tune as a summer song.

A few years after the summer of ‘88, I was back on the beach with a different assortment of friends reading a Washington Post Magazine article about Def Leppard as a guilty pleasure, and we got to talking about what a great summer song Pour Some Sugar on Me was.

Unanimity.

And years from now, I suspect Boom Boom Pow and Wilco will be as summer of ‘09 as Michael ­Jackson’s ­passing and “cash for ­clunkers.”