Summertime
Gershwin's lullaby from Porgy and Bess, in a rock arrangement by Sam Andrew.
Big Brother & The Holding Company, from Cheap Thrills (1968)
- Written by
- George Gershwin, DuBose Heyward
- Released
- 1968
- Album
- Cheap Thrills
George Gershwin composed Summertime in 1934 for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess, and DuBose Heyward wrote the lyrics. Big Brother already played it when Joplin joined. Sam Andrew said Peter Albin used to sing it before she arrived, and that it was a song they could do.
Andrew arranged the Cheap Thrills version, which runs 3:59. He called it the most unusual arrangement of the tune apart from Gershwin's own. It was the B-side of the Piece of My Heart single. A 4:38 live version is on Live at Winterland '68.
More songs by Big Brother & The Holding Company
Piece of My Heart, Ball and Chain, Down on Me, Combination of the Two
Sources
- Summertime (Gershwin song), Wikipedia
- Sam Andrew interview, part one, bbhc.com
- Sam Andrew interview, part two, bbhc.com