coda, finishing the song on the major mode. Recording The Lovin' Spoonful recorded "Summer in the City" in March 1966 at Columbia Studios in New York City. Erik Jacobsen produced the song with assistance from engineer Roy Halee. The band completed the song across two sessions; during the first, they recorded the instrumental track in four steps, beginning with drums, an organ, electric piano and rhythm guitar. John struggled to play the Wurlitzer electric piano part, leading arranger Artie Schroeck to step in as a session musician. Boone overdubbed his bass while John played autoharp, with a guitar added on another layer. The last instrumental overdub included added extra percussion; Halee placed a microphone inside a garbage can, which Yanovsky then struck the side of with a drumstick. Halee described the resultant sound as "a gigantic explosion". Too tired to continue recording during the initial session, John instead sang his lead vocal the next night. Yanovsky and Joe Butler contributed backing vocals. After hearing the initial playback, Yanovsky complained that the song's percussion was not loud enough, expressing to Halee: "I want the drums to sound like garbage cans being thrown down a steel staircase." To increase the amount of reverb on the track, Halee placed a microphone on the eighth floor of a metal staircase and a large speaker on the ground floor. Halee later duplicated the effect with the same staircase when recording Simon & Garfunkel's 1969 single "The Boxer". The song originally closed with a loud crash caused by a kicked Fender Reverb. Displeased with this ending, Jacobsen removed it and instead inserted a copy of the last verse and chorus for an instrumental fade out. During the sessions, the band suggested to Jacobsen that they add "city" noises to the track, such as the sound of traffic or a construction crew. During a separate session, a radio soundman brought in an assembly of taped sound effects. The group listened to the effects on a portable reel-to-reel recorder before deciding on the sound of car horns and a pneumatic drill. The effects were among the first on a pop song to employ an overlapping crossfade, an effect that had typically only been used on comedy albums. Mixing for "Summer in the City" concluded after the Lovin' Spoonful returned from Europe in May 1966. Release and commercial performance Kama Sutra Records released "Summer in the City" as a