Summertime!

It has been quite the hottest summer I experienced. It reminded me of a song which I first learned in school by Mr. Smith our music teacher from Calcutta. It was just such a great song and I enjoyed it then even as I do now though when we first learned it, I didn't realize that it was a classic jazz, mainly because Mr. Smith's antics used to keep us amused so much that we didn't take the music class seriously at all. Well, Summertime is from the famous opera Porgy & Bess whose music is by George Gershwin and the lyrics by DuBose Heyward the writer of the opera Porgy & Bess.

Summertime, and the livin' is easy, fish are jumping' and the cotton is high

Your daddy's rich and your mamma's good lookin' so hush little baby don't you cry

One of these mornings you're going to rise up singing, then you'll spread our wings and you'll take to the sky

But till that morning there's a'nothing can harm you with daddy and mamma standing by

Summertime, and the livin' is easy, fish are jumping' and the cotton is high

Your daddy's rich and your mamma's good lookin' so hush little baby don't your cry

This lullaby has a haunting melody by George Gershwin, a brilliant composer of Jewish background who wrote the music in an Afro-American soul-jazz style and has been sung by many since it first came out in 1935. Recorded for the first time by Abbie Mitchell on July 19, 1935, almost eighty years ago, with Gershwin playing the piano, it made the top of the charts to #2 with Billie Holiday in 1936. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong recorded their version in 1957. The 1959 Samuel Goldwyn film with Sidney Poitier can be heard here. Janis Joplin sang it in 1968 if you like that kind of style. In the twenty first century it has been sung by Charlotte Church and by Norah Jones, among many others who have recorded this song. My favorite is by Norah Jones!