Summertime - Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
Summertime 

with lyric

" Summertime " is an aria composed in 1934 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.

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 blacks in the southeast United States from the early twentieth century". 

Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim has characterized Heyward's lyrics for "Summertime" and "My Man's Gone Now" as "the best lyrics in the musical theater". The song is recognized as one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded music, with more than 33,000 covers by groups and solo performers.

Ella Fitzgerald

(High Quality - Remastered)

"Summertime" 1935	Composer: George Gershwin
Summertime	And you'll fly to the sky
And the livin' is easy	But till that morning
Fish are jumpin'	There's a'nothing can harm you
And the cotton is high	With daddy and mamma standing by
Your daddy's rich	One of these mornings
And your mamma's good lookin'	You're going to rise up singing
So hush little baby	Then you'll spread your wings
Don't you cry	And you'll fly to the sky
One of these mornings	But till that morning
You're going to rise up singing	There's a'nothing can harm you
Then you'll spread your wings	With daddy and mamma standing by

 
Summertime
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

Lyrics

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. The lyrics have been highly praised by Stephen Sondheim. 
Writing of the opening line, he says: That "and" is worth a great deal of attention. I would write "Summertime when" but that "and" sets up a tone, a whole poetic tone, not to mention a whole kind of diction that is going to be used in the play; an informal, uneducated diction and a stream of consciousness, as in many of the songs like "My Man's Gone Now".  It's the exact right word, and that word is worth its weight in gold. "Summertime when the livin' is easy" is a boring line compared to "Summertime and". 
The choices of "ands" [and] "buts" become almost traumatic as you are writing a lyric – or should, anyway – because each one weighs so much.

Ella Fitzgerald · The Paul Smith Quartet
Summertime
Ella In Berlin - Live