"Spring is Here" is a 1938 popular

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

composed by

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers wa ...

, with lyrics by

Lorenz Hart Lorenz Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include "Blue Moon"; " The Lady Is a Tramp"; "Manhattan"; " Bewitched, Bo ...

for the musical '' I Married an Angel'' (1938), where it was introduced by Dennis King and Vivienne Segal. Rodgers and Hart had previously written a song entitled "Spring is Here in Person," which served as the title song for a 1929 Broadway production (filmed in 1930 - see '' Spring is Here (film)''). Theatrical producer Josh Logan, a longtime associate of Rodgers & Hart, would opine that "the most touching f Hart's lyricsare those about unrequited love ith the 1938 song'Spring is Here' eingone of the greatest examples". Hart had had a romantic interest in ''I Married an Angel'' leading lady Vivienne Segal who turned down more than one

marriage proposal A marriage proposal is a custom or ritual, common in Western cultures, in which one member of a couple asks the other for their hand in marriage. If accepted, it marks the initiation of engagement, a mutual promise of later marriage. Norms a ...

from him. Logan believed that Hart's lyrics for "Spring is Here" evoked the composer's disappointment over Segal's failure to reciprocate his interest.

Notable recordings

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

– ''Deep in a Dream'' (2002, posthumous, previously unreleased) *

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the James Bond music, theme songs to three James Bond films - the only artist to officially perform more than o ...

– '' Let's Face the Music'' with Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra (1962) *

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

– ''The Rodgers and Hart Songbook'' (1973) * Nick Brignola – ''L.A. Bound'' (1979) *

June Christy June Christy (born Shirley Luster; November 20, 1925 – June 21, 1990) was an American singer, known for her work in the cool jazz genre and for her silky smooth vocals. Her success as a singer began with The Stan Kenton Orchestra. She pursued ...

– ''The Intimate Miss Christy'' (1963) * Rosemary Clooney- ''Rosemary Clooney Sings Ballads'' (1985) *

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

– ''Standard Coltrane'' (1958) *

Chris Connor Mary Jean Loutsenhizer, known professionally as Chris Connor (November 8, 1927 – August 29, 2009), was an American jazz singer. Biography Chris Connor was born Mary Loutsenhizer in Kansas City, Missouri, to Clyde Loutsenhizer and Mabel Sh ...

– ''Sings Lullabys of Birdland'' (1957) *

Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist, widely considered the "godfather of fusion". Alongside Gábor Szabó, he was a pioneer in melding jazz, country and rock ...

– ''Private Concert'' (1999) *

Vic Damone Vic Damone (born Vito Rocco Farinola; June 12, 1928 – February 11, 2018) was an American traditional pop music, pop and big band singer and actor. He was best known for his performances of songs such as the number one hit "You're Breaking My ...

– '' That Towering Feeling!'' (1956) *

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

– ''Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall'' (1961) *

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, block chords, innovative chord voicings, a ...

– '' Portrait in Jazz'' (1959) *

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...

– '' Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers & Hart Songbook'' (1956), '' 30 by Ella'' (1968) *

The Four Freshmen The Four Freshmen is an American male vocal quartet that blends close and open harmony, open-harmonic jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires, The Pied Pipers, and The Mel-Tones, founded in the Barbershop music, ...

– '' Love Lost'' (1959) * Erroll Garner – (1950) *

Ahmad Jamal Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones; July 2, 1930 – April 16, 2023) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, and educator. For six decades, he was one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz. He was a NEA Jazz Ma ...

– '' Chamber Music of the New Jazz'' (1955) * Felix Knight – Original 78rpm: Victor 25842 – ''Spring Is Here'' (Rodgers-Hart) by Leo Reisman & His Orchestra (1938) *

Julie London Julie London (born Julie Peck; September 26, 1926 – October 18, 2000) was an American singer and actress whose career spanned more than 40 years. A torch song, torch singer noted for her contralto voice, London recorded over thirty album ...

– '' Julie Is Her Name, Volume II'' (1958) * Susannah McCorkle – ''I'll Take Romance'' (1992) * Jessye Norman – ''The J.Norman Collection'' (1984) *

Anita O'Day Anita Belle Colton (October 18, 1919 – November 23, 2006), known professionally as Anita O'Day, was an American jazz singer and self-proclaimed “song stylist” widely admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appe ...

– ''

Anita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart ''Anita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart'' is a 1960 studio album by American jazz singer Anita O'Day, arranged by Billy May. O'Day and May had previously recorded an Anita O'Day Swings Cole Porter with Billy May, album dedicated to a si ...

'' (1960) *

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Billboard Hot 100, top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation (song), Anticipatio ...

– ''

Torch A torch is a stick with combustible material at one end which can be used as a light source or to set something on fire. Torches have been used throughout history and are still used in processions, symbolic and religious events, and in juggl ...

'' (1981) *

Nina Simone Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...

– '' Nina Simone with Strings'' (1966) *

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

– Columbia single (1947); '' Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely'' (1958) *

Jo Stafford Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917July 16, 2008) was an American traditional pop singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classical tr ...

– '' As You Desire Me'' (1952) * Maxine Sullivan with Claude Thornhill & His Orchestra (1938) *

The Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959 as the Primettes. A premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful Amer ...

– '' The Supremes Sing Rodgers & Hart'' (1967) *

Cal Tjader Callen Radcliffe Tjader Jr. ( ; July 16, 1925 – May 5, 1982) was an American Latin Jazz musician, often described as the most successful non-Latino Latin music (genre), Latin musician. He explored other jazz idioms, especially small group mod ...

– Soul Sauce (1964) * Danny Zeitlin – ''Mosaic Select'' (1967)

References

External links

*''Spring is Here'' a
jazzstandards.com
Songs with music by Richard Rodgers Songs with lyrics by Lorenz Hart Ella Fitzgerald songs Nina Simone songs Jo Stafford songs Real Book Song 1938 songs 1930s jazz standards {{Show-tune-stub