The sun is just burning away the mist on what is promised to be summer’s finale today, before autumn settles in next week. Nothing exudes those hazy, lazy days when “the livin’ is easy” more than Summertime, from the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess. It has been one of my favourite songs for over 20 years, since I first got the sheet music for it. And with a new production opening in New York this weekend, the opera (or is it a musical?) remains as controversial and relevant as ever.
The lyrics of this lullaby are as beautiful as the melody; I used to sing it to my children when they wouldn’t sleep (“Hush little baby, don’t you cry”) and even now it feels to me like it was written especially for them (“One of these mornings, you’re gonna rise up singing, and you’ll spread your wings and you’ll take to the sky”).
I love this piano arrangement of Summertime by The Pianos of Cha’n, and have lately become a little obsessed with playing it, even with an ugly page turn and the occasional wrong notes ?
Enjoy the sun and the last blast of summer today. ☀️
