Gershwin's "Summertime" has got to be one of the most beautiful, and not incidentally most maligned, songs in history. I was running through it last night, playing with some of the voicings of the chords I've used, changing up the tempos and rhythms to see what it would sound like faster or slower, with more complex or simpler guitar under the vocals, with more forceful or more lullaby-like vocals....and it just hit me with its beauty, as it had the first time I heard it when I was in high school and just discovering the wonder of Gershwin.
The first version I ever heard was Ella & Louie, as it should be. The many versions I have heard since....well, some I really dug (Janis Joplin's), some not so much (Fantasia on American Idol, which I'm ashamed to say I've even heard). I recorded a version with a couple friends that I think I liked, but haven't ever heard the final cut. I know it was inadequately miked and rehearsed...but I still think the essence of the song was present.
I'm thinking of recording it again, using the arrangement I started piecing together last night. Sometimes, I wonder how I dare sully such greatness with my meager efforts...and then I tell myself that if an American Idol can go there, I have nothing to worry about.
One of these mornings
You're gonna rise up singin'
You're gonna spread your wings
And take to the sky
- "Summertime," by G. & I. Gershwin
I'm a week out from ten days in the glorious Ozark wilds of Missouri. Although exactly what I'll be doing all day is still sort of up in the air, I'm trusting that the universe will give me what I need if I don't fight it too much. I suspect that what I need is some time to lounge in sunshine, to move among living things that have never heard the rumble of the el. I suspect what I need is to not hunch over a keyboard eight hours a day, and maybe to let that knot ease out of my shoulders. I suspect I need to drum and dance and sing and drink in the beauty of the world, hopefully minus drama and pollution. I suspect I need to skip reading headlines and step away from the culture war and the war in Iraq and maybe even allow myself a breath to appreciate my blessings without feeling guilty for every good thing I have. I may even need to allow myself to want the things I want in my life, and maybe let go of whatever energetic excuses I have for keeping them out of my life.
My guitar and my notebook and my pen will go with me, to greet the dawn on the Summer Solstice, and see what music the sun will share with me. I expect there's a song hidden in the center of a labyrinth, waiting for me to find it.
Recent entries...
27 December 2007: 2007: Finis.
17 December 2007: A ruse, a rant, and a poem. It's short.
11 December 2007: Music & falling....story of my life.
08 December 2007: Briefly...ish.
29 November 2007: A poem, a rant, a lesson.