Summer is finally here and the sunshine is coming down in full swing! Although I am the kind of person to enjoy all types of weather, something’s different about warm, sunny weather that makes you want to take off your shoes and feel the grass under your feet.
Aside from theatre and musicals we all enjoy during the summer, dancing to the sound of ‘Summertime’ by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong is always part of my plans for summer.
Think of it as my way to celebrate the arrival of summer! This song, like many of Ella Fitzgerald’s songs, is special to me. One of the reasons is that it is a well-recorded jazz standard, so it would be criminal to not love such a classic. The other reason is the soulful lyrics, which I’ll elaborate on in this post.
Composition and Lyrics
The song was composed by George Gershwin for Porgy and Bess, an opera that screened in 1935, and the lyrics were written by DuBose Heyward, the author of the book that the opera was based on. Mr. Heyward wrote a great novel and his ability to write incredible lyrics deserves equal, if not even more, acclaim.
The recording by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong is one of the more popular versions, mainly because jazz was a popular genre at the time and both artists were icons. Even now, however, the song is remastered into different versions, with more artists and musicians taking cues from Fitzgerald and Armstrong’s performance.
This version allowed jazz fans to hear Ella’s captivating voice in conjunction with Louis Armstrong’s award-winning musical talent.
Meaningful Lyricism
When it comes to the song itself, it has all the things you would predict in a song about summer, but much more, as well. Ella sings about the simpler things you can always expect to see when the sun starts shining a little brighter and the afternoons start getting warmer, like when cotton is ready for harvest and the fish swim and jump in the warm water.
At the surface, these are all little things, but when I hear it as a song, it delivers a different experience altogether. On a deeper level, she sings about a time when we all grow up and feel ready to explore the world around us because we are no longer scared. We’re curious as to what lies ahead!
In addition, although exploring can bring an element of danger and the unexpected, she reminds us with her soft, mellow voice, that the unknown is still far away when she sings: “But till that morning, there ain't nothin' can harm you”.
Like all the best jazz songs, “Summertime” is like a key that unlocks all of my most complex emotions. It can be difficult to decipher them, but the melody makes it a soothing process at the same time. It is this thoughtfulness that I enjoy when listening to jazz music.
Now that summer is finally here, I have all the more reason to listen to it. For me, signing and listening to a song about the season helps me relish every aspect of it, whether it is the sunshine, the breeze, or the sight of blooming flowers at a park.
Listen to my album, "Yesterday Once More," while you're lounging in the summer sun: http://bit.ly/maggysimonsings
With Love, Maggy