Summertime, and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good lookin'
So hush, little baby, don't you cry
One of these mornings you're gonna rise up singing
Yes you'll spread your wings and you'll take to the sky
But 'til that morning, there's nothin' can harm you
With daddy and mammy standin' by
Summertime, and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good lookin'
So hush, little baby, baby don't you cry
Don't you cry
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good lookin'
So hush, little baby, don't you cry
One of these mornings you're gonna rise up singing
Yes you'll spread your wings and you'll take to the sky
But 'til that morning, there's nothin' can harm you
With daddy and mammy standin' by
Summertime, and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good lookin'
So hush, little baby, baby don't you cry
Don't you cry
Lyrics submitted by anna118k
Summertime Lyrics as written by Du Bose Heyward Dorothy Heyward
Lyrics © Raleigh Music Publishing LLC, TuneCore Inc., BMG Rights Management, O/B/O DistroKid, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Royalty Network, Sentric Music, Downtown Music Publishing, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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I hear this song as a black servant (employed to look after rich white children) singing to the baby she's looking after. It sounds like a happy song the first time you hear it, but every line is loaded with oppression - the servant sings to the baby of its fortune in life - "your daddy's rich and your ma is good-looking" knowing that owing to her own start in life, she will never have as much as this child is certain to have some day. The song is full of references to the legacy of slavery - references to cotton recalls the plantations, and while "one of these mornings" this baby will "spread its wings and take to the sky", but the singer never will - she will never truly be free. What confirms this for me is the music. If this was a happy song, it would be full of uncomplicated major chords. The dark lyricism of the music in this song makes me certain that it was never meant to be viewed as a happy song.