he’s a human being" and calls the song "one of the most genuinely fun...on an album that has more than its fair share". Korber also notes that the "lyrics have a cyclical nature, ending where they began as Dylan seems to imply that life will keep going beyond him (or this Court Jester version of him), and the band’s looping patterns echo that sentiment". In his book Bob Dylan, Performing Artist: 1986-1990 and Beyond, Paul Williams wrote that he is "thoroughly delighted by all of "'Summer Days' even though I have a low tolerance for Dylan uptempo kitchen-sink jump-shuffle numbers like most live versions of 'Everything Is Broken' and 'Highway 61'. But 'Summer Days' seems to me to break the mold, musically and lyrically and attitudinally fresh in ways that never stop tickling me". NJ Arts critic Jay Lustig identified it as his favorite track on Love and Theft and referred to it as a "raucous neo-rockabilly song...bursting with musical energy and memorable lyrics". Cultural references The lines "She says, ‘You can’t repeat the past’, I say, ‘You can’t?’ / ‘What do you mean, You can’t, of course, you can!” are a close paraphrase of a passage from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. The phrase "sucking the blood out of the genius of generosity" comes from a speech that Abraham Lincoln gave to the Washington Temperance Society. Two lines in the song ("What good are you anyway if you can't stand up to some old businessman?" and "Gonna break in the roof, set fire to the place as a parting gift") are based on passages from Junichi Saga's Confessions of a Yakuza. Live versions According to his official website, Dylan played the song 885 times on the Never Ending Tour Between 2001 and 2018. This makes it the most frequently played live song from Love and Theft and Dylan's 13th most frequently played live song ever. The live debut occurred at the Spokane Arena in Spokane, Washington on October 5, 2001 and the last performance (to date) took place at Horncastle Arena in Christchurch, New Zealand on August 28, 2018. References External links Lyrics at Bob Dylan's official site Bob Dylan songs 2001 songs Songs written by Bob Dylan Song recordings produced by Bob Dylan