Tag Archives: Ella Fitzgerald

♫ Summertime ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

It seems that I play this one once every summer!  It’s a sultry song that perfectly fits in with those dog days of summer.  Last year when I played it, our friend Clive said he preferred a version by an artist I never heard of before, Lana Del Rey.  Curious, I went for a listen and … it’s not bad, really.  However, my favourite will always remain the one by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong … they’ve just got it, in my book.  Anyway, since Clive likes the Del Rey version, I figured some of you might too, so this year I’m including both!  Thanks for the suggestion, Clive!

This song was recorded by more artists than I can count on all my fingers and toes, including Mahalia Jackson, Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, Miles Davis, Ricky Nelson, John Coltrane, Julie London, Angelique Kidjo, and Frank Sinatra, to name just a few.

With at least 25,000 versions, Porgy and Bess’s opening aria, Summertime, is the most covered song in the world.

Written in 1934, Summertime was one of the first compositions George Gershwin worked on for his brand-new opera Porgy and Bess. The jazz-inspired song is a lullaby for Clara to sing to her child, and it is reprised several more times throughout the opera. The versatile hit went on to be covered by thousands of artists, in every genre from disco to reggae. Unfortunately, Gershwin wouldn’t live to see his song become the world-famous one it is today.

Up until the release of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s Jazz album, Porgy and Bess, Summertime was still relatively unknown.

Fitzgerald’s cover quickly propelled the song into the limelight, not only cementing it as a jazz staple, but also as globally recognisable hit. The opera was even turned into a film two years later (featuring Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge in the title roles), further propelling the song for greatness.

Summertime
Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong

Summertime and the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high
Your daddy’s rich and your ma is good lookin’
So hush, little baby, baby, don’t you cry

One of these mornin’s, you’re gonna rise up singin’
Then you’ll spread your wings and you’ll take to the sky
But ’til that mornin’, there is nothin’ can harm you
With Daddy and Mummy, Mummy standing by
Don’t you cry…

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high
Oh, your daddy’s rich and your ma is good-lookin’
So hush little baby, don’t you cry

Oh don’t you cry
Oh don’t you cry
Don’t you cry
Oh don’t you cry

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Ira Gershwin / George Gershwin / Dubose Heyward

♫ Summertime ♫

Posted on by under music

Well, here in the Northern Hemisphere, it has been summer for about ten days now, though frankly Mother Nature scoffs at human’s absurd insistence on schedules, calendars, clocks, etc., and follows her own agenda, often to the chagrin of humans who are tied to that artificial concept of time.  Our friends in Canada and the Pacific Northwest have been suffering truly unbearable ‘summertime’ this week and my heart goes out to them.  Our time, my friends, is coming … you can count on it.  Anyway, I thought a song to bring in the season would be apt, and there were several to choose from, but … nobody does it quite like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

This song was recorded by more artists than I can count on all my fingers and toes, including Mahalia Jackson, Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, Miles Davis, Ricky Nelson, John Coltrane, Julie London, Angelique Kidjo, and Frank Sinatra, to name just a few.

With at least 25,000 versions, Porgy and Bess’s opening aria, Summertime, is the most covered song in the world.

Written in 1934, Summertime was one of the first compositions George Gershwin worked on for his brand-new opera Porgy and Bess. The jazz-inspired song is a lullaby for Clara to sing to her child, and it is reprised several more times throughout the opera. The versatile hit went on to be covered by thousands of artists, in every genre from disco to reggae. Unfortunately, Gershwin wouldn’t live to see his song become the world-famous one it is today.

Up until the release of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s Jazz album, Porgy and Bess, Summertime was still relatively unknown.

Fitzgerald’s cover quickly propelled the song into the limelight, not only cementing it as a jazz staple, but also as globally recognisable hit. The opera was even turned into a film two years later (featuring Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge in the title roles), further propelling the song for greatness.

Summertime
Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong

Summertime and the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high
Your daddy’s rich and your ma is good lookin’
So hush, little baby, baby, don’t you cry

One of these mornin’s, you’re gonna rise up singin’
Then you’ll spread your wings and you’ll take to the sky
But ’til that mornin’, there is nothin’ can harm you
With Daddy and Mummy, Mummy standing by
Don’t you cry…

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Ira Gershwin / George Gershwin / Dubose Heyward

♫ Mack The Knife ♫

Posted on by under music

I’ve only played this once before, mid-2019, and it’s a song that deserves another run, plus I learned some things from readers last time ’round that I have added this time, such as two versions, one by Ella Fitzgerald and one by Ol’ Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra!

Now, turns out this song has an origin that I was completely unaware of until I first researched it.  It was originally written in 1928 by German composers Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht for a play The Threepenny Opera.  I found out from Janet G (aka Tidalscribe) that Weill was later exiled from Germany and his music was labeled ‘degenerate’ by none other than Adolf Hitler!

My favourite version is Louis Armstrong’s that was released in 1956, perhaps only because I became a fan of Louis’ around the time I learned to walk, or perhaps because I am old and set in my ways … once somebody does a song, does it well, then why does every other Tom, Dick and Harry need to try to do it better?  However, for many, the Bobby Darin version is the only one worth hearing, so … I offer that one, too.  And then last time when I played it, Jack Collier said he preferred the Sinatra version, and Emily (aka Zombie Flamingos) mentioned that her fave was the Ella Fitzgerald one!  You can’t go wrong with any of those artists, so I’ll put all four here and you can listen to all, or pick a favourite!

Mack the Knife
Louis Armstrong … Bobby Darin

Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear
And it shows them pearly white
Just a jackknife has old MacHeath, babe
And he keeps it, ah, out of sight
Ya know when that shark bites with his teeth, babe
Scarlet billows start to spread
Fancy gloves, oh, wears old MacHeath, babe
So there’s never, never a trace of red

Now on the sidewalk, huh, huh, whoo sunny morning, un huh
Lies a body just oozin’ life, eek
And someone’s sneakin’ ’round the corner
Could that someone be Mack the Knife?

There’s a tugboat, huh, huh, down by the river don’tcha know
Where a cement bag’s just a’drooppin’ on down
Oh, that cement is for, just for the weight, dear
Five’ll get ya ten old Macky’s back in town
Now d’ja hear ’bout Louie Miller? He disappeared, babe
After drawin’ out all his hard-earned cash
And now MacHeath spends just like a sailor
Could it be our boy’s done somethin’ rash?

Now Jenny Diver, ho, ho, yeah, Sukey Tawdry
Ooh, Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown
Oh, that line forms on the right, babe
Now that Macky’s back in town

I said Jenny Diver, whoa, Sukey Tawdry
Look out to Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown
Yes, that line forms on the right, babe
Now that Macky’s back in town
Look out, old Macky’s back

Songwriters: Kurt Weill / Bertolt Brecht / Marc Blitzstein
Mack the Knife lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

♫ Get Ready ♫

Posted on by under music

They say that “music hath charms to soothe the savage beast”, and since there seems to be a savage beast affecting my mood tonight, I went in search of some music to soothe it … hopefully to knock it out for a few days!

This was written by Smokey Robinson, who was the main songwriter for The Temptations. In the Motown stable, The Temptations were considered the premier group, and there was a lot of competition among the songwriters to have their compositions recorded by the band. When this song underperformed on the charts, Motown chief Berry Gordy gave the next Temptations single, Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, to Norman Whitfield, and he became their primary writer.

Get Ready went to #1 on the R&B charts for a week, but made just #29 on the Hot 100.

Rare Earth recorded an unusual version of this song that stretched over 21 minutes and took up the entire second side of their first Motown album, which was issued in the fall of 1969. This version was based on Rare Earth’s live version of the song, where every member of the band would get a solo. In 1970, Motown released a 3-minute edit as a single, which went to #4. The song also did well on R&B stations, even though some DJs refused to play it when they found out the group wasn’t black – they were one of the first white groups signed to Motown.

Ella Fitzgerald did a cover of this song in 1969 — her last U.S. chart record.

Get Ready
The Temptations

I never met a girl who makes me feel the way that you do
(You’re alright)
Whenever I’m asked who makes my dreams real
I say that you do
(You’re outta sight)
So fee fi fo fum

Look out baby ’cause here I come
And I’m bringing you a love that’s true so get ready
So get ready
I’m gonna try to make you love me too, so get ready
So get ready here I come
Get ready, ’cause here I come
I’m on my way
Get ready, ’cause here I come

If you wanna play hide and seek with love let me remind you
(It’s alright)
The loving you’re gonna miss and the time it takes to find you
(It’s outta sight)
So fiddle-lee-dee fiddle-lee-dum

Look out baby ’cause here I come
And I’m bringing you a love that’s true so get ready
So get ready
I’m gonna try to make you love me too, so get ready
So get ready here I come
Get ready ’cause here I come
I’m on my way
Get ready ’cause here I come
Get ready

All my friends shouldn’t want you to I understand it
(Be alright)
I hope I’ll get to you before they do the way I planned it
(Be outta sight)
So twiddle-dee-dee twiddle dee dum

Look out baby ’cause here I come
And I’m bringing you a love that’s true so get ready
So get ready
I’m gonna try to make you love me too, so get ready
So get ready here I come
Get ready, ’cause here I come
I’m on my way
Get ready ’cause here I come, boy
Get ready ’cause here I come, boy

Writer/s: William Robinson Jr.
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Royalty Network
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

♫ Summertime ♫

Posted on by under music

Yesterday marked the first day of summer in the northern hemisphere.  I don’t know about where you live, but here it definitely felt like summer, with temperatures in the low 90s and high humidity.  After a brief (3 minute) foray out in the morning to water the flowers, I decided to spend the rest of the day inside in breathable comfort!  Anyway, I thought a song to bring in the season would be apt, and there were several to choose from, but … nobody does it quite like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

This song was recorded by more artists than I can count on all my fingers and toes, including Mahalia Jackson, Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, Mahalia Jackson, Miles Davis, Ricky Nelson, John Coltrane, Julie London, Angelique Kidjo, and Frank Sinatra, to name just a few.

With at least 25,000 versions, Porgy and Bess’s opening aria, Summertime, is the most covered song in the world.

Written in 1934, Summertime was one of the first compositions George Gershwin worked on for his brand-new opera Porgy and Bess. The jazz-inspired song is a lullaby for Clara to sing to her child, and it is reprised several more times throughout the opera. The versatile hit went on to be covered by thousands of artists, in every genre from disco to reggae. Unfortunately, Gershwin wouldn’t live to see his song become the world-famous one it is today.

Up until the release of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s Jazz album, Porgy and Bess, Summertime was still relatively unknown.

Fitzgerald’s cover quickly propelled the song into the limelight, not only cementing it as a jazz staple, but also as globally recognisable hit. The opera was even turned into a film two years later (featuring Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge in the title roles), further propelling the song for greatness.

Summertime
Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong

Summertime and the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high
Your daddy’s rich and your ma is good lookin’
So hush, little baby, baby, don’t you cry

One of these mornin’s, you’re gonna rise up singin’
Then you’ll spread your wings and you’ll take to the sky
But ’til that mornin’, there is nothin’ can harm you
With Daddy and Mummy, Mummy standing by
Don’t you cry…

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Ira Gershwin / George Gershwin / Dubose Heyward