Songfacts®:

• "Summertime" was one of the first songs Robbie Williams wrote after leaving the British boy band Take That in 1995. Set in 1989, it tells the story of an idealistic summer, with references to The Stone Roses, A Guy Called Gerald's "Voodoo Ray," and more. Discussing the song on his website, Williams revealed "Summertime" came from a place of darkness: "When it was originally written it was one of the first, if not the first song I wrote when I came out of Take That and the feel of the song is a complete juxtapose of how I was at the time. When I wrote 'Summertime,' which is a very euphoric, 'up' song I don't think I could have been any more depressed, deluded, lost."
• This song references "The Road to Mandalay," as featured on 2000's Sing When You're Winning. Williams raps in the coda: "I dream of Santa Ana on the road to Mandalay."
• An earlier version appears in the end credits of 2001's Mike Bassett: England Manager. Directed by Steve Barron, the movie follows fictional amateur soccer coach Mike Bassett after he's appointed England manager. It stars British actor Ricky Tomlinson and features cameos from various soccer icons, including Pelé and Ronaldo.
• Williams wrote this song with Antony Genn. Genn played bass for Pulp and keyboards for Elastica before falling into drug addiction in the '90s. He sobered up at the turn of the millennium and went on to form The Hours with Martin Slattery. Speaking about his relationship with Genn, Williams said: "I met up with Ant Genn and we wrote the song together, Ant was my indie enfant terrible; I adored him cos he was cool as f--k and Northern and funny, I wanted to be him, but drugs took their toll on both of us."
• This song was produced by William Orbit, a Grammy Award-winning musician perhaps best known for working on Madonna's Ray of Light.
• "Summertime" is the closing song on Williams' seventh studio album, Rudebox. It peaked at #1 in the UK, but it sold poorly, with fans turned off by the rap and hip-hop direction of the album. Williams still regards Rudebox as one of his best albums, and stated on his website in 2013 he planned on making a sequel: "I love Rudebox, by the way, and plans are afoot to make another one. It'll be ages yet, but I think it's time to do the second installment. In many ways, Rudebox is my favorite album of mine."