It appeared on their album Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful, and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1966, for three consecutive weeks. The song features a series of car horns during the instrumental bridge, starting with a Volkswagen Beetle horn, and ends up with a jackhammer sound, in order to give the impression of the sounds of the summer in the city. The song became a gold record. It is ranked number 401 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The signature keyboard part is played on a Hohner Pianet, and the organ is a Vox Continental.

John Paul Young covered the song on his 1981 album, The Singer.

Joe Cocker covered "Summer in the City" on his 1994 album Have a Little Faith. It was released as the lead single and reached the charts in several European countries.

Joe Jackson recorded a stripped down version of the song for his 2000 live album Summer in the City: Live in New York with only piano, bass and drums.