“Summertime ... and the living is easy...”

Last night, I was preparing for a service later this week and one ofsongs requested is ‘Summertime’, by George Gershwin. Originallyfrom the opera Porgy and Bess (1935), it has been performed by thousands of musicians. That's not bad for a piece of music that was part of an initially slow box-office run. The song is sung more than once in the opera, first as a lullaby, by Clara and then later it is sung by Bess.

As we head into the summer months...