Spring Will Be So Sad (When She Comes This Year)

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Spring Will Be So Sad (When She Comes This Year) – words and music by Margaret Bonds and Harold Dickinson; copyright, 10 March 1941 & 30 March 1941

Margaret Bonds links:

• Wikipedia
• Open Ears: The Endlessly Unfolding Story of Margaret Bonds, posted by Brian Lauritzen , 30 April 2018 @ Classical California KUSC (@ kusc.org)
• BlackPast.org
• At 100, Composer Margaret Bonds Remains A Great Exception, published on 13 March 2013 @All Things Considered, NPR
• Margaret Bonds: Composer and Activist, Georgetown University Library, Leon Robbin Gallery exhibit @library.georgetown.edu
• Song of America (@ songofamerica.net)

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

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audio file, VBR MP3 (5.7 MB), from the page SPRING WILL BE SO SAD (When She Comes This Year), at archive.org (***low sound quality***):

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lyric of the Glenn Miller version, from AlltheLyrics.com or a page dedicated to the song at Brew Lite’s Jazz Tales:

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”

audio file, VBR MP3 (5.5 MB), from the page Spring Will Be So Sad (When She Comes This Year) at archive.org:

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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.