Ella Fitzgerald Sings ‘Summertime’ by George Gershwin, Berlin 1968

Here’s a beau­ti­ful per­for­mance by Ella Fitzger­ald of “Sum­mer­time,” the famous lul­la­by from the 1935 George Gersh­win opera Por­gy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Hey­ward, who wrote the nov­el the opera is based on.

Sum­mer­time,
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cot­ton is high

Oh, your dad­dy’s rich
And your mam­ma’s good lookin’
So hush lit­tle baby
Don’t you cry

It was filmed on Feb­ru­ary 11, 1968 at the Deutsch­land­halle in Berlin. Fitzger­ald was on a 21-city tour of East­ern and West­ern Europe, pre­sent­ed by Nor­man Granz. She was accom­pa­nied by the Tee Car­son Trio, with Car­son on piano, Keter Betts on bass and Joe Har­ris on drums.

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Relat­ed Con­tent:

Gersh­win Plays Gersh­win: The Piano Ver­sion of ‘Rhap­sody in Blue,’ 1925

Duke Elling­ton Plays for Joan Miró in the South of France, 1966: Bassist John Lamb Looks Back on the Day