Spring, Spring, Spring

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Spring, Spring, Spring (m. Gene de Paul, w. Johnny Mercer) — copyright registration, 26 October 1953 and 7 July 1954; introduced in the 1954 film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

lyric:
- The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer, edited by Robert Kimball, Barry Day, Miles Kreuger and Eric Davis (2009), pp. 233, 234, and 235
- Seven Brides (1953) version – International Lyrics Playground* (incomplete)
- In Praise of “Spring, Spring, Spring” @Cinema Gumbo (incomplete)

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Production number in the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) — performed by various cast members, including Howard Keel, Tommy Rall, Russ Tamblyn, Virginia Gibson, Barbara Ames, Betty Allan, etc.

full number

(below) song only

From the Seven Brides for Seven Brothers original soundtrack album, M-G-M Records E244 — released in August 1954 — The front cover indicates that the tracks on the 10″ LP were “[r]ecorded directly from the sound track of the M-G-M motion picture”

vocals: Brothers and Girls
music: M-G-M Studio Orchestra, conducted by Adolph Deutsch

The Ray Charles Singers — from the 1955 album Spring is Here, MGM Records E3162; also issued in 1955 on the EP MGM X1130

audio file from the Spring is Here page at archive.org:

Ruby Murray, Ray Burns, Diana Decker, Ronnie Harris and Ray Martin and his Orchestra — issued in 1955 on the 78 rpm single (UK) Columbia D.B. 3567, c/w “Goin’ Co’tin'” — Discogs.com has “Spring, Spring, Spring” as the A-side, while 45Worlds.com has the sides in the reverse order. “Co’tin'” is a colloquial version of “Courting.”

The lyric of this version is the same as that of the film version except that the following section is added, which can be found in the section Additional Lyrics, Refrain 4, of The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer, on p. 234:

Every male little mallard
Honks a heart-rending ballad
From the stream where he sloshes
In his web-foot galoshes
He gurgles brimmingly,
“We’ll get along swimmingly”
Spring, spring, spring

Johnny Mercer with the Paul Smith Trio and The Notables — from the 1956 LP Sings Just for Fun, Jupiter Records JLP 1001

The words in this recording include the following lines, in which Mercer rhymes the last three syllables of hippopotami (“-potami”) with “bottom, my,” and then immediately half-rhymes these with the last three syllables of the mispronounced “anato-my.” This section isn’t present in the film version, or in any other recorded version that I’m aware of.

Hear them sigh, those unhappy hippopotami
What a weighty problem mars their joy
“From my top to my bottom, my anato-my
Makes it hard to tell a girl from boy”

These lines may be found in the section Additional Lyrics, Refrain 5, of The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer, on p. 235, but the second line there contains a typographical error. The line is given there as “What a weighty problem marks their joy!–,” which doesn’t make sense in context. According to the first line, the hippopotami are unhappy. Why? Part of the reason seems to be that a weight problem mars their joy. Mercer obviously sings “mars” and not “marks” in this recording.

Also included in this version are the following lines found in Refrain 5 of the Additional Lyrics section, on p. 235:

If for the stork you pine
Consider the porcupine
Who loves to cling
Keepin’ comp’ny is tricky
It can get pretty sticky
In spring, spring, spring

Joanie Sommers — from her 1963 album Sommers’ Seasons, Warner Bros. Records W 1504 (Mono), WS 1504 (Stereo) [All copies of stereo version covers that I’ve seen have the catalog number 1504 on the front, with no letters.]

Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire — from the album A Couple of Song and Dance Men, recorded 15–17 July 1975, at the Music Centre, in Wembley, London, according to Wikipedia; Discogs.com and RateYourMusic.com indicate that the album was released in 1976, though Wikipedia says 1975.

Wikipedia says:

Fred Astaire had agreed to producer Ken Barnes‘ request to make recordings for two long-playing albums in London. When it was found that Astaire’s visit would coincide with Bing Crosby’s stay in the UK, Barnes obtained the agreement of both artists to make an album together. In three morning sessions, held on consecutive days, they recorded thirteen tracks of which eleven were duets and two were solos in which they each sang a number famously associated with the other.^[6]

Original London Cast of “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” — cast album, released in 1986 on (UK) First Night Records CAST 2 (vinyl LP), and (UK) First Night Records OCR CD8 (CD)

Michael Feinstein — from his 1989 LP The M.G.M. Album, on Elektra Records

Bonnie Langford with orchestra conducted by Matthew Freeman — originally released on the 1994 CD album Music & Songs from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Pickwick PWKS 4209 (sources: 1, 2, 3)

Bourneville Musical Theatre Company — production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, April 2008

From the company’s website (http://www.bmtcweb.co.uk/):

Based in Cotteridge in Birmingham, close to the heart of Bournville, we are a company made up of a range of ages who, in recent years, have produced a wide variety of shows from Oklahoma! to our award winning productions of Jekyll and Hyde (The Musical), The Producers, and, coming in 2018, Legally Blonde The Musical!

This version includes the “little mallard” section heard in the 1955 Ruby Murray et al version (see above), except that for unknown reasons the word “sloshes” has been replaced by “splashes,” which is why the word “galoshes” is here intentionally mispronounced as “ga-lashes.”

Jalala – live performance, summer 2009 @ Borders, Columbus Circle, NYC — “Spring, Spring, Spring” was the first track on the group’s 2009 album That Old Mercer Magic

Jalala: Janis Siegel, Laurel Massé, Lauren Kinhan – vocals
Yaron Gershovsky – piano
Dave Fink – bass
Matt Wilson – drums

Relevant Stage Theatre Company — from the November 2010 production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, CA — Darren Giglio (Gideon) and Kendall Lewis (Alice) lead off the number before being joined by other pairs.

From a November 15, 2010 review of the show by DailyNews.com (Los Angeles Daily News):

Notable was Darren Giglio as the very tall and very gangly Gideon, youngest of the seven brothers, who used his striking size as a part of his character. Other brothers were Dash Porter as Benjamin, Frank Weidner as Caleb, Keenan Hooks as Daniel, Jayson Ziehenhagen as Ephraim and Calvin Tucker as Frank. Partnering them, and dancing with every bit as much energy, were Kendall Lewis as Alice, Rachel Lynn Walker as Sarah, Robin Twitty as Ruth, Beth Benedict as Dorcas, Kaitlin Brasuel as Martha and Melissa Fong as Liza.

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* The correct last line of the version of “Spring, Spring, Spring” heard in the 1954 movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and in the 1955 Ruby Murray et al. version, is “When love is king.” However, the line is given incorrectly in every online lyric site posting a transcription of the lyric that I’ve found, including International Lyrics Playground, though the movie’s subtitles provided by sites featuring a subtitle grabbing service do include the correct line. The line may easily be found on such sites with a Find tool. The line “When love is king” is usually replaced by “Spring, spring, spring” in cover versions that include the ‘Mother’s Day’ section of the lyric, the 1955 Ruby Murray et al recording being an exception.

The International Lyrics Playground transcriptions of the 1954 film version and the Crosby and Astaire version each contain other minor errors.

A YouTube video may be set by the owner of the channel posting it to provide closed captioning, but each of the copies of the 1954 film number that I’ve checked at YouTube either doesn’t have closed captioning, or does a poor job of transcribing the words of the song (case 1), (case 2).