(above) header tab 5 generation browse demonstration: Page Index > Songbook site index > Songwriter > Songwriters to 1954 > Berlin, Irving > Berlin pages (11) — correction: The page Irving Berlin: selected songs of 1909 and 1910is now included in the Berlin drop down index.
Summer Green, Autumn Gold (m. Maurice Jarre, w. Paul Francis Webster) — The song was adapted from the theme music, composed by Maurice Jarre, for the 1973 film Ash Wednesday, starring Elizabeth Taylor. This theme plays during the title sequence, and is heard again at critical points throughout the film.
The song was copyrighted on 12 November 1973, just 11 days after the film was released. The page on the song at the Database of Popular Music bears the note “Lyric added for exploitation only.” I’m not sure what to make of that statement, but the following facts may be relevant:
A recording of “Summer Green, Autumn Gold” by Robert Goulet, released on a single in (presumably late) 1973 by Paramount Records, is the only vocal recording of the song that I’ve found.
That the Goulet single was released on a label owned during the period 1969-1974 by Paramount Pictures, the company that distributed the film, suggests that Paramount Pictures may have commissioned the writing of the lyric, and the Goulet recording, for promotional purposes.
Ash Wednesday (1973) title sequence — The soundtrack recording is simply named “Main Title” in the 2010 4-CD box set compilation album Le cinéma de Maurice Jarre, EmArcy 275 336 4.
The following selection, recently amended with the addition of a couple of live performances, was originally published in June 2012 as the page doc’s 60s and 70s summer picks #1. The page features primarily songs that I associate with summer, regardless of song title and content. Most of the songs are from the 1970s, particularly 1970 -1976, a period which includes my age 12 to 18 years, and I believe most were released as singles in a summer month. Many of these take me back to summer vacations at the beach, where they became intimately woven into those wonderful days and nights. These songs, and many others like them, combined to form the soundtracks of my summers. I’m still working on the sequel.😊
Open up your heart And let the lovin’ start
Pipeline (Brian Carman and Bob Spickard) — The Chantays, 1962 (#4)
The tune, originally called “Liberty’s Whip,” was renamed after the band members saw a surfing movie showing scenes of the Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii.[1] The tune, fitting in with the popular surfing craze of the time, swiftly rose up the Billboard Pop charts, reaching #4, and becoming a classic hit of its time. The tune is notable for using Alberti bass chords.
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Don’t Worry Baby (Brian Wilson, Roger Christian)
Beach Boys — from the 1964 album Shut Down Volume 2. It was also released on 11 May 1964 as the B-side of “I Get Around,” which became the first #1 single by the Beach Boys. “Don’t Worry Baby” reached #24.
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Surfer Girl(Brian Wilson)
Beach Boys — b/w “Little Deuce Coupe” (Capitol 5009), released 22 July 1963, #7 Hot 100 — from the 1963 LP Surfer Girl
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Ball of Fire(Tommy James, Mike Vale, Bruce Sudano, Woody Wilson*) – Tommy James & the Shondells, Roulette single R-7060, b/w “Makin’ Good Time,” released September 1969
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Tighter, Tighter(Tommy James)
Alive N Kickin’ — Released in May 1970, the single peaked at #7 on the Hot 100 and remained on the chart for 16 weeks (throughout the summer). It sold more than a million copies, and was certified gold by the R.I.A.A.
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O-o-h Child (Stan Vincent)
The Five Stairsteps — “O-o-h Child” was originally released in February 1970 on the single Buddah BDA 165, as the B-side of “Dear Prudence.” In May 1970 it was reissued under the same catalog number, b/w “Who Do You Belong To”
“O-o-h Child” was by far the most successful single on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart by the Five Stairsteps, reaching #8. It also peaked at #14 on the R&B singles chart, and became the 11th (chronologically) of 15 top forty R&B hits by the Stairsteps from 1966 to 1980.
1941 recordings of the song include those by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, vocals by Ray Eberle & The Modernaires; Harry James and his Orchestra, vocal by Dick Haymes; and Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra, vocal by Garry Stevens. I’ve also included a recent (2018?) live performance of the song by Alethea Kilgore, and a link to a live 9 May 2021 performance by a group called Chansonniers.
The Glenn Miller and Harry James versions have very different lyrics, which might explain the two different copyright dates, twenty days apart in March 1941. These two lyrics are provided below. The Charlie Spivak recording uses the Glenn Miller lyric version, but omits its introductory vocals.
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Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, vocals: Ray Eberle & The Modernaires — recorded 20 February 1941; issued 28 March 1941 on the single Bluebird B-11095, as the B-side of “Perfidia” — lyric
Spring Will Be So Sad (When She Comes This Year) – w.m. Margaret Bonds, Harold Dickinson
intro: Spring will be so sad when she comes this year How could she be glad when she reaches here? Oh, spring will be so sad when she comes this year
chorus: Spring will be so sad when she comes this year How could she be glad when she reaches here? The winds have whispered while they race There’s a frown on April’s face For she can’t find any trace Of contentment’s hiding place
Spring just can’t be gay when she comes this year She won’t want to stay when she reaches here This troubled world can’t tell you when She’ll be happy once again Oh, spring will be so sad when she comes this year
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Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra, vocal: Garry Stevens – recorded 17 March 1941 in NYC; issued on the 78 rpm single OKeh 6191, b/w “Slap – Slap”
Harry James and his Orchestra, vocal by Dick Haymes — Although evidently made during a 1941 session, this recording may not have been released until 1980, when it was included on the compilation album James and Haymes, Circle CLP-5. In the extensive notes on the back of the album is a single sentence that suggests a tentative recording date month and provides a clue as to the source of the music inside: “The World Transcription recording log for the James session is not dated but indications are that it took place in May, 1941.” The album was reissued in CD format in 1989 on Circle CCD-5.
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lyric, Harry James version; transcribed by doc, March 2022:
Spring Will Be So Sad (When She Comes This Year) – w.m. Margaret Bonds, Harold Dickinson
Spring will be so sad when she comes this year She won’t understand why you left me, dear The wind will search our meeting place For a sight of your sweet face There beside the rippling streams She will find our broken dreams
Spring will breathe a sigh when she comes this year She will wonder why you’re not here, my dear The robin’s song is out of tune So my darling come back soon Or spring will be so sad when she comes this year
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Alethea Kilgore — published to YouTube on 7 December 2018
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See a live performance by Chansonniers @Facebook, an excerpt from a 9 May 2021 concert. This version features an introductory verse section not heard in the other recordings included in this page, but found on page 3 of the 1941 sheet music (see above left). The first page of music and words in a traditional commercial sheet music booklet is page 3, because the cover and inside cover are pages 1 and 2. Warning: the volume is inconsistent in this video.
The composite image above right, evidently used to provide notice of or promote a 7 May 2022 Chansonniers concert, seems to employ an image from a video of the 9 May 2021 concert at the same location.
Among the many popular songs written or co-written by Sam H. Stept are “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone” (1930), “All My Life” (1936), and “Comes Love” (1939). Recordings of “Spring Made a Fool of Me” released in 1950 include those by Eddy Duchin and his Orchestra (v. Tommy Mercer); Bill Farrell with Orchestra conducted by Russ Case; Tony Martin with Orchestra conducted by Henri René; Buddy Williams and his Golden Echo Music (instrumental); and Nancy Evans.
The Eddy Duchin 15 January 1950 recording of “Spring Made a Fool of Me” may have been the first, and the release date of the Duchin single, 21 February 1950, is the earliest release date that I’ve found. In its page on the Bill Farrell single, 45Worlds.com includes the note “Probably recorded late 1949 to early 1950,” but it wasn’t released until March 1950. The Nancy Evans recording of 6 February 1950 may be the second earliest recording of the song. I’ve yet to find audio files of the Duchin and Evans recordings.
Tony Martin with Orchestra conducted by Henri René — issued in 1950 on the 78 rpm single RCA Victor 20-3756 (and the promotional 78 rpm single RCA Victor DJ-954), and issued on 17 April 1950 on the 45 rpm single RCA Victor 47-3756, as the B-side of “The Thrill is Gone” in each case — Each side of both the 78 rpm and 45 rpm versions of this single is credited, incorrectly it appears, to Freddy Martin and his Orchestra in some discographies.
Buddy Williams and his Golden Echo Music — issued in June 1950 on the 78 rpm single Rainbow Records 40088, b/w “On the Mall,” and on the the 45 rpm single Rainbow Records 45-40088, as the B-side of “On the Mall”
Sing of Spring (George & Ira Gershwin) — This is one of two faux madrigals written by the Gershwins for the 1937 musical film A Damsel in Distress, the other being “The Jolly Tar and the Milkmaid.” These are performed by a group of madrigal singers, with Fred Astaire joining in on the latter.
From George Gershwin: An Intimate Portrait, by Walter Rimler, originally published in 2009, p. 144:
In a May 12 [1937] letter to Isaac Goldberg, George said that he and Ira had written [“The Jolly Tar and the Milk Maid” and “Sing of Spring”] “so the audience will get a chance to hear some singing besides the crooning of the stars.”
Excerpts from Ira Gershwin’s book Lyrics on Several Occasions, originally published in 1959 (1997 edition page numbers cited here), pp. 197 and 198, respectively:
The introduction of a group of madrigal singers in Damsel in Distress permitted the writing of a couple of pieces in the style, and with the flavor, of several centuries ago. In “The Jolly Tar and the Milkmaid” we tried for the feel of an English eighteenth-century light ballad.* The “With a hey and a nonny” and “With a down-a, down-a-derry” inclusions, though, are refrain phrases ordinarily associated with songs of an earlier period. These and similar sixteenth-century phrases were attached to the stanzas of many songs for jingle quality and singability.
The other piece we did was a short contrapuntal exercise originally called “Back to Bach”* and here newly worded to “Sing of Spring.” It contained imagined refrain lines like “Sing willy-wally-willo,” “Sing tilly-tally-tillo,” “Piminy mo,” and “Tra la la lo.”
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Unpar Choir (Parahyangan Catholic University Choir) – performance during a 1992 concert at Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung, Indonesia
University of California Irvine Choir — The Gershwin song is included as part of an event called “Sing of Spring” performed on 25 May 2013, at Winifred Smith Hall in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts Media Center, UCI.
* “English eighteenth-century light ballad” and “Back to Bach” — In the 2006 book George Gershwin: His Life and Work, by Howard Pollack, the author questions the 18th-century historical roots suggested by Ira, in Lyrics on Several Occasions, on pages 197 and 198, respectively, of the music of the two choral songs in A Damsel in Distress.
Regarding “The Jolly Tar,” Pollack says that “the number seems more patently descended from Gilbert and Sullivan,” whose fourteen comic operas were created between 1871 and 1896. (p. 680)
Pollack praises “Sing of Spring” as “an exquisite idyll that contains, nonetheless, some wayward blue notes and whimsical nonsense refrains.” Yet he again finds Ira Gershwin’s historical reference — Bach lived 1685 to 1750 — off the mark, opining that the music “evokes nineteen-century British traditions–“the circumstance,” commented Oscar Levant, “if not the pomp of Elgar.”” (pp. 680 and 681)
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Ordinarily I like to include at least eight or ten recordings in a post focused on a single song. It’s not for want of trying that I’ve only collected three recordings of “Sing of Spring” that I was able to insert into a post, and one other located within audio players elsewhere that I could only provide links to. While happily engaged for several months in the hunt, however, I did notice that the song has been performed, often during events celebrating spring, by various chamber choirs, chorales, and other singing ensembles. Most of the groups listed below have performed the song after the year 2000, exceptions noted, and it is listed in the current repertoire of at least one of them.
Some singing groups not featured in this post that have performed “Sing of Spring”:
West End Chamber Choir – repertoire
Cantabile Chamber Chorale
Interlochen Arts Academy Choir
Chamber Singers of Iowa City
Vashon Island Chorale
University of Nevada, Las Vegas Chamber Chorale
Arizona Repertory Singers
Hendricks Chapel Choir – 1981 performance
Gregg Smith Singers — 1976 recording
Burt Bacharach — from side one of the 1971 album Burt Bacharach, A&M Records SP-3501 — also issued in January 1971 on the single A&M 1241, (also AM-1241), b/w “She’s Gone Away”
featured vocalist: Cissy Houston
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Marion Maerz – German version titled “Auf dieser Erde,” with lyric by Michael Kunze, released in 1971 on the album Singt Burt Bacharach, Reprise Records 44 135 — In 2009, the album was released in CD format in Europe, with the order of recordings rearranged, under the title Burt Bacharach Songbook.
from the 11 December 1971 episode of the ZDF network television series Disco
All songs in the medleys to follow have music by Burt Bacharach and words by Hal David except as noted.
Andy Williams, with Burt Bacharach conducting and on piano — from the 1968 TV special Andy Williams’ Kaleidoscope Company — originally broadcast 28 April 1968 (NBC)
Walk On By
There’s Always Something There to Remind Me
The Look of Love
What’s New Pussycat?
Wives and Lovers
Say a Little Prayer for Me
What the World Needs Now is Love
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Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach, Glen Campbell — from the television special Dionne Warwick – Souled Out, originally aired on 17 June 1969
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.[3] The uplifting lyrics describe somebody who overcomes his troubles and worries by realizing that “it won’t be long till happiness steps up to greet me.”[4][5]
The single by B. J. Thomas reached No. 1 on charts in the United States, Canada and Norway, and reached No. 38 in the UK Singles Chart.[3] It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in January 1970 and was also the first American No. 1 hit of the 1970s. The song also spent seven weeks atop the Billboard adult contemporary chart.[6]Billboard ranked it as the No. 4 song of 1970. According to Billboard magazine, it had sold over 2 million copies by March 14, 1970, with eight-track and cassette versions also climbing the charts.[7] It won an Oscar for Best Original Song.[3] Bacharach also won Best Original Score.
from the film
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issued in October 1969 on the single Scepter SCE-12265, b/w “Never Had It So Good,” which was drawn from the B. J. Thomas album Rain Drops Keep Fallin’ On My Head, Scepter Records SPS 580 (and SPS-580), released on 14 October 1969
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