From the recording All That Jazz
"Summertime" is an aria composed in 1934 by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward, the author of the novel Porgy on which the opera was based, and Ira Gershwin.
The song soon became a popular and much-recorded jazz standard, described as "without doubt ... one of the finest songs the composer ever wrote ... Gershwin's highly evocative writing brilliantly mixes elements of jazz and the song styles of blacks in the southeast United States from the early twentieth century". Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim characterized Heyward's lyrics for "Summertime" and "My Man's Gone Now" as "the best lyrics in the musical theater".
Lyrics
Summertime, and the livin' is easy
Catfish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good-lookin'
So hush little baby, Darlin’, Don't you cry
One of these mornings you're gonna rise up singing
And you'll spread your wings and you'll take to the sky
But 'til that morning, ain't nothin’ can harm you
With Daddy and Mammy standin' by
With Daddy and Mammy standin' by