“Summertime”
Song by Ray Charles and Cleo Laine
Ray Charles and Cleo Laine included “Summertime” on their 2-LP Porgy And Bess project for RCA in 1976. “Summertime”, one of the most famous and the most-recorded songs in history, opens this version of the classic 1935 Gershwin/Gershwin/Heyward folk opera, first in an instrumental version and then in this vocal version featuring both singers against a lovely and sympathetic orchestral background.
“Summertime” comes on liltingly, flutes flapping up to the sky like the wings of the person the lyrics address. Over six minutes, “Summertime” is given the chance to stretch out and take its time. The vocalists don’t come in for some time, and for the first two verses it’s only Ray Charles. He sings the familiar lines about fish, cotton, your rich daddy and your good-lookin’ mama, following the complex melody up and down and merging his own vocal instrument with the flourishes of the orchestra behind him.
The second two verses are taken by the versatile Cleo Laine, whose sultry voice is at turns sturdy and delicate here, sometimes cracking into a wincing oblivion on a particularly emotional word or phrase. It may be left up to each listener whether Cleo and Ray were a good match vocally, but there is no denying that her skill as demonstrated on “Summertime” is astonishing.
Ray and Cleo combine to duet on the final verse, although Ray gets the song’s final lines. Like the 2-LP box set itself, with its booklet and its double-album length, “Summertime” gives the distinct impression that careful time was being taken to do this as the project’s organizers saw fit. “Summertime” was recorded in April 1976 at Ray’s RPM Studios in Los Angeles, as was most of his music from the mid-1960s on; his comfort in his surroundings always came across, and it does here.
“Summertime” was not released as a single by RCA, only appearing to open the October 1976 2-LP box set of Porgy And Bess. Copies of this set, which was not a huge seller but which did have the advantage of being a compelling work of art by a legendary name, are easy to find for sale.
Listen to “Summertime”
Songs on Porgy And Bess