To the editor:
I have always appreciated William Perry’s poetry articles, and I particularly enjoyed his latest one on poems about spring.
I would add to his list a couple of songs from the Great American Songbook: “Spring is Here” by Rodgers and Hart and “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most” by Fran Landesman and Tommy Wolfe. Instead of celebrating spring, both songs bemoan the coming of spring.
“Spring is Here” lyrics (note the wonderful last line, “Spring is here, I hear”):
Once there was a thing called spring
When the world was writing verses
Like yours and mine
All the lads and girls would sing
When we sat at little tables
And drank May wine
Now April, May and June
Are sadly out of tune
Life has stuck a pin in the balloon
[Chorus]
Spring is here
Why doesn’t my heart go dancing?
Spring is here
Why isn’t the waltz entrancing?
No desire
No ambition leads me
Maybe it’s because
Nobody needs me
Spring is here
Why doesn’t the breeze delight me?
Stars appear
Why doesn’t the night invite me?
Maybe it’s because
Nobody loves me
Spring is here, I hear
Maybe it’s because
Nobody loves me
Spring is here, I hear
And here’s “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most”:
[Verse 1]
Once I was a sentimental thing
Threw my heart away each Spring
Now a Spring romance hasn’t got a chance
Promised my first dance to Winter
All I’ve got to show’s a splinter for my little fling
Spring this year has got me feeling like a horse that never left the post
I lie in my room staring up at the ceiling
Spring can really hang you up the most
Morning’s kiss wakes trees and flowers
And to them I’d like to drink a toast
I walk in the park just to kill lonely hours
Spring can really hang you up the most
[Bridge]
All afternoon those birds twitter twit
I know the tune, “This is love, this is it!”
Heard it before and I know the score
And I’ve decided that Spring is a bore
[Verse 2]
Love seemed sure around the New Year
Now it’s April, love is just a ghost
Spring arrived on time, only what became of you, dear?
Spring can really hang you up the most
Spring is here, there’s no mistaking
Robins building nests from coast to coast
My heart tries to sing so they won’t hear it breaking
Spring can really hang you up the most
College boys are writing sonnets
In the “Tender passion” they’re engrossed
But I’m on the shelf with last year’s Easter bonnets
Spring can really hang you up the most
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[Bridge]
Love came my way, I hoped it would last
We had our day, now that’s all in the past
Spring came along, a season of sun
Full of sweet promise but something went wrong
[Verse 3]
Doctors once prescribed a tonic
Sulphur and molasses was the dose
Didn’t help a bit, my condition must be chronic
Spring can really hang you up the most
All alone, the party’s over
Old man Winter was a gracious host
But when you keep praying for snow to hide the clover
Spring can really hang you up the most
For people unfamiliar with the songs, here are Tony Bennett singing “Spring is Here” and Norah Jones singing “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most,” the latter recorded live at Tanglewood:
As an extra added attraction, here is a screen test of Ann Margret singing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “It Might As Well Be Spring.” She didn’t get the role (Pamela Tiffin did) but did appear in the movie in a supporting role:
Brett L. Gold
South Egremont
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