"Summertime" by Gershwin - new ukulele song video lesson by 21 Songs in 6 Days: Learn Ukulele the Easy Way

http://ukulele.io/Buy21Songs Learn to play ukulele the easy way with "21 Songs in 6 Days". And visit our website for more great ukulele lessons, tabs, and a FREE ebook http://ukulele.io/free-stuff-offer

http://youtu.be/sfl9kjJCrno - Summertime for Ukulele

"Summertime" was composed in 1934 by George Gershwin for his 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward although the song is also co-credited to Ira Gershwin by ASCAP.

The song soon became a popular and much recorded jazz standard. In fact, it is recognized as one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded music, with more than 33,000 covers by groups and solo performers. 

Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim has characterized Heyward's lyrics for "Summertime" and "My Man's Gone Now" as "the best lyrics in the musical theater”. Here’s what Sondheim says about the first line of the song “Summertime, and the living is easy”. 

"That "and" is worth a great deal of attention. It's the exact right word, and that word is worth its weight in gold. "Summertime when the livin' is easy" is a boring line compared to "Summertime and". The choices of "ands" [and] "buts" become almost traumatic as you are writing a lyric – or should, anyway – because each one weighs so much."

There are over 25,000 recordings of “Summertime”. In September 1936, a recording by Billie Holiday was the first to hit the US pop charts, reaching no. 12. Other versions to make the pop charts include those by Sam Cooke, Al Martino. The Marcels, Rick Nelson, and the Chris Columbo Quintet. The most commercially successful version was by Billy Stewart, who reached no. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, and no. 7 on the R&B chart in 1966. Janis Joplin's version with Big Brother and the Holding Company has been highly praised.


To learn lots more ukulele chords, try our playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5meDCz5zO-B8UjXstv_2WurNRGJyyWz8. 

To spice up your strumming, try our playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5meDCz5zO-DD1mcV8_t_tuga9MzOJA46

Want to learn to play the theme music from our intro? Check out https://youtu.be/YznUjC8pnUQ. 

ukulele songs, easy ukulele songs for beginners, ukulele, ukulele songs for beginners, easy ukulele songs, beginner ukulele songs