🎼 Summertime... and the livin' is easy... 🎷
Certain songs capture a mood, feeling, memory, or cultural moment so well that they become part of our cultural lexicon. In the long, hot days of summer, you might feel nostalgic for your younger years when school was out and you had the whole summer to relax, play with friends, go on adventures, explore the neighborhood, or just sit around and be bored. In other words, when the livin' was easy. As adults with jobs, families, and responsibilities, the livin' is often not easy, and we know how special and fleeting those moments are. Certain songs, like George Gershwin's jazz standard Summertime from the opera Porgy and Bess, become classics because they capture these feelings and memories so well.
Porgy and Bess is an American folk opera composed by George Gershwin, and it's based on the novel Porgy by the South Carolina novelist, poet, and playwright DuBose Heyward. Summertime was the first song written for the opera, and it's actually supposed to be a lullaby sung to a baby. DuBose Heyward wrote the lyrics and George Gershwin composed the music, finishing it in February of 1934 (in the middle of the Great Depression, when the livin' wasn't easy for most Americans). The completed opera later premiered in Boston on September 30, 1935. It was considered radical at the time because George Gershwin insisted on having an all-Black cast, and the Gullah people of South Carolina strongly influenced the work. Gershwin wrote the song in a minor key, which gives it a tone of melancholy and sentimentality and makes you think that the livin' might not actually have been as easy as the lyrics describe. Summertime became such an instant classic that it was later re-recorded by other recording artists like Billie Holiday, Sam Cooke, Mahaila Jackson, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, and Janis Joplin.
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
Summertime - Most of the country is experiencing a massive heat wave right now, and you can read about it in the news.
Livin' is easy - Like I mentioned above, for most adults, life is not that easy or carefree, but it's still important to take some time for your mental health. Check out our blog post on upgrading your downtime.
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high - If for some reason your curiosity is sparked by industry reports, you can get updates on the fishing industry and cotton industry.
So hush little baby, don't you cry - Read some interesting studies about the effect of lullabies on early childhood development.
One of these mornings, you're goin' to rise up singin'
And you'll spread your wings and you'll take the sky
But 'til that mornin', there's a-nothin' can harm you
With daddy and mommy standin' by
You'll spread your wings and you'll take the sky - Not to toot our own horn, but our goal at the University of Phoenix and here in the library is to help you spread your wings and take the sky (or job market)! We have a new database that can help you do just that - PrepSTEP has tutorials, microlessons, study guides, and practice tests for a wide range of subjects, as well as resources to help you with career preparation.
Julia Reed is the systems librarian and focuses on technology development and maintenance. She's into graphic design, photography, and spending time outdoors in her free time.