Posted 7:57 AM by Blah blah

Summertime (Singing)

I just got this email. Another shock:

"Hi Raymond,

I'm from Holland and a Dutch collector of Gershwin's song Summertime. Together with some international friends we have about 2600 different recordings of this song. We also have a great database with information like recording date/place, album, musicians etc.

On your site I found a short version by you. Is there more, maybe with the Stanford Symphonic Chorus. I'm interested.

Can you give me your family name for the information in our database. And maybe a recording date.

Yours,

Henry"

Some guy in Europe actually liked my singing! I had sung the first two verses of "Summertime," from George Gershwin's fantastic opera "Porgy and Bess," and posted it on my singing page .

I performed with Stanford Symphonic Chorus some years ago, and he thought this was one of our songs. It wasn't. I was just singing in the bathroom!

I'm really a lousy singer, but if you're interested in the other songs I recorded for my singing page, please email me and I'll give you the login and password for my Yahoo Briefcase, where I uploaded the songs. (Yahoo made all files in Briefcase hidden from the public.)

Summertime,
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Your daddy's rich
And your mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don't you cry

One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll take to the sky

But till that morning
There's a'nothing can harm you
With daddy and mamma standing by

Summertime,
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Your daddy's rich
And your mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don't you cry

I love Gershwin's music---especially this song! Much of Gershwin is both bittersweet and inspiring, like "Summertime." To hear a REAL professional sing the first part of it, click on this Porgy and Bess page . Magnifique.