Summertime (song)
"Summertime" is an aria composed by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward, the author of the novel Porgy on which the opera was based, although the song is also co-credited to Ira Gershwin by ASCAP.[1]
The song soon became a popular and much recorded jazz standard, described as "without doubt... one of the finest songs the composer ever wrote....Gershwin's highly evocative writing brilliantly mixes elements of jazz and the song styles of African-Americans in the southeast United States from the early twentieth century."[2] Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim has characterised Heyward's lyrics for "Summertime" and "My Man's Gone Now" as "the best lyrics in the musical theater".[3] The song has been claimed to be one the most covered songs in the history of recorded music.[4]
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[edit] Porgy and Bess
Gershwin began composing the song in December 1933, attempting to create his own spiritual in the style of the African American folk music of the period.[5][6] Gershwin had completed setting DuBose Heyward's poem to music by February 1934, and spent the next 20 months completing and orchestrating the score of the opera.[7]
The song is sung multiple times throughout Porgy and Bess, first by Clara in Act I as a lullaby and soon after as counterpoint to the craps game scene, in Act II in a reprise by Clara, and in Act III by Bess, singing to Clara's baby.
It was recorded for the first time by Abbie Mitchell on 19 July 1935, with George Gershwin playing the piano and conducting the orchestra (on: George Gershwin Conducts Excerpts from Porgy & Bess, Mark 56 667).
[edit] Musical analysis
Musicologist K. J. McElrath wrote of the song:[7]
"Gershwin was remarkably successful in his intent to have this sound like a folk song. This is reinforced by his extensive use of the pentatonic scale (C-D-E-G-A) in the context of the A minor tonality and a slow-moving harmonic progression that suggests a “blues.” Because of these factors, this tune has been a favorite of jazz performers for decades and can be done in a variety of tempos and styles."
Heyward’s inspiration for the lyrics was the southern folk spiritual-lullaby All My Trials, of which he had Clara sing a snippet in his play Porgy.[8][9] While in his own description, Gershwin did not use any previously composed spirituals in his opera, Summertime is often considered an adaptation of the Afro-American spiritual Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, which ended the play version of Porgy.[9][10][11] Alternatively, the song has been proposed as an amalgamation of that spiritual and the South-Russian Yiddish lullaby Pipi-pipipee.[12] The Ukrainian-Canadian composer and singer Alexis Kochan has suggested that some part of Gershwin's inspiration may have come from having heard the Ukrainian lullaby, Oi Khodyt Son Kolo Vikon (A Dream Passes By The Windows) at a New York City performance by Oleksander Koshetz's Ukrainian National Chorus in 1929 (or 1926).[13]
[edit] Other versions
There are over 1,500 known versions of "Summertime", according to Tom Lord's The Jazz Discography.[14] In September 1936, a recording by Billie Holiday was the first to hit the US pop charts, reaching # 12.[7] Other notable recordings include those by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald in 1957, Sam Cooke also in 1957, Gene Vincent and Miles Davis in 1958, The Marcels in 1961, Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company on the 1968 album Cheap Thrills as well as The Zombies or Jill Scott & George Benson. The most commercially successful version was by Billy Stewart, who reached # 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966.
The Doors recorded the song live on such albums as Live at the Matrix 1967, and Live in Boston. English singer-songwriter Nick Drake recorded the song in 1967 or '68, and it is included on the posthumous anthology album Tanworth In Arden. The Fun Boy Three released their fifth single, "Summertime"[15] in July 1982. The band Sublime based their 1996 song Doin' Time on Gershwin's song. In 1998, Morcheeba and Hubert Laws recorded the song for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody, a tribute to George Gershwin, which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease. The Yale University a cappella group Redhot & Blue, whose name was inspired by the Cole Porter musical Red, Hot and Blue, has recorded the song on many of their 12 studio albums,[16] notably including the 2009 release, riot.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Summertime" at ASCAP
- ^ Description of song by Robert Cummings at Allmusic.com
- ^ A Century of Creativity: DuBose and Dorothy Heyward
- ^ "The Summertime Connection -- Facts". http://www.summertime-connection.nl/facts.htm. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ^ Howard Pollack, George Gershwin: his life and work, University of California Press, 2006, p.589
- ^ William Hyland, George Gershwin: a new biography, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, p.171
- ^ a b c "Summertime" at JazzStandards.com
- ^ Edward Jablonski, Lawrence Delbert Stewart, The Gershwin years: George and Ira, Da Capo Press, 1996, ISBN 0306807394, p.202
- ^ a b Jeffrey Paul Melnick, A Right to Sing the Blues, Harvard University Press 1999, ISBN 0674769767, pp. 129-133
- ^ Samuel A. Floyd Jr., ed (1990). Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance: A Collection of Essays. New York: Westport. ISBN 0313265461., p. 22
- ^ Rosenberg, Deena (1991). Fascinating Rhythm: The Collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin. Penguin Books USA. ISBN 0525933565., p. 281
- ^ Jack Gottlieb, 'Funny, it doesn't sound Jewish, SUNY Press, 2004, ISBN 0844411302, pp. 42-43. The author displays the three songs aligned to each other.
- ^ Helen Smindak DATELINE NEW YORK: Kochan and Kytasty delve deeply into musical past, The Ukrainian Weekly, 24 May 1998
- ^ The Dozens Summertime
- ^ Summertime Connection list
- ^ Redhot & Blue's Full Discography, featuring various recordings of Summertime
[edit] External links
- "A Languid Look Back To Gershwin's 'Summertime'", NPR Music, October 23, 2008
- The site of The Summertime Connection with a list of all covers
- A second site of TSC with texts in different languages
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- 1966 singles
- Lullabies
- Billie Holiday songs
- Ella Fitzgerald songs
- Louis Armstrong songs
- Nina Simone songs
- Fantasia Barrino songs
- Songs from Porgy and Bess
- Songs with music by George Gershwin
- Quincy Jones songs
- Lena Horne songs
- Jimmy Velvit songs
- 1930s jazz standards
- 1935 songs
- Mildred Bailey songs
- Ten Years After songs
