Music is an important part of camp and, in many ways, defines the camp experience. That’s why we’ve selected this week’s guest blog, which was originally posted to the Camp Starlight blog on May 27, 2014.

Every summer at Camp Starlight, there is that one song that it seems no one can get out of their head. We sing it. We use it for MTV Night acts. We choreograph dances to it. It pops up in Week in Review slideshows. It’s just “THE” song of the summer. As camp draws near, it’s fun to play “Guess What the Song Will Be” while listening to the radio. Will it be a new song? Will it be a song from a movie soundtrack or perhaps a Broadway show?

It seems like such a small detail, but music is such a big part of camp that the “THE” song not only becomes a camp trend in the current summer—in this case the Summer 2014—but is permanently associated with it through the memories we make with it as a soundtrack or inspiration. “THE” song is also a common memory that is unique to the Camp Starlight experience. Even after the summer ends—sometimes years later—whenever “THE” song plays on the radio, it instantly conjures memories of that summer at Camp Starlight.

“THE” song has even been the theme of summers past and continues to live on in significance through its role in that theme, like “We Take Care of Our Own.”

Have you heard “THE” song of the summer yet? What do you think it will be?