Summer with Monika
Summer with Monika is a suite of 60's songs and poetry about young love compiled, arranged recorded by Roger McGough (1937-)[1] and Andy Roberts (1946-)[2].
Not to be confused with the 1953 film of the same name and similar theme by Ingmar Bergman[3]
Contents
The original text
In 1967, Roger McGough published Summer with Monika, a tale of love that took its title (ans surely inspiration) from Ingmar Bergman's classic 1953 film. A suite of interlinked poems, the work paints a portrait of a romantic love affair from the intimacy of the honeymoon, through stages of quarrel, jealousy, recrimination and boredom, to the point where love is as nice as a cup of tea in bed.
In 1978 McGough and his long-time accompianist / guitarist Andy Roberts arranged the poems into a suite of songs. It was recorded with various artists, with arrangements by Robert Kirby and under the production of John Leckie, and released on the Island label.
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
1989: Produced by PACT, featuring James Borthwick and various musicians.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_McGough
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Roberts_(musician)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046345/
CV of James Borthwick, submitted to ESAT by Borthwick on 24 September, 2025.
Go to ESAT Bibliography
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