Here’s the fifth entry in our series of best-of lists, Four for Foray—from under our rain-soaked umbrellas ☔️—these are our favorite songs of Spring.
Thaïs: Meditation written by Jules Massenet: growing up this song always reminded me of what spring would look like in musical form. Imagine enjoying the sights of the first buds of April and May and you see this monarch butterfly making its way around the sun-filled scape. Oh! Izthak Perlman’s version—yes.
The Rite of Spring written by Igor Stravinsky: “In his handwritten version of the story, Stravinsky described The Rite as ‘a musical choreographic work.’ It represents pagan Russia and is unified by a single idea: the mystery and the great surge of the creative power of spring…” (LA Phil). Just as Stravinsky revolutionized classical music with this piece, Hubert Laws revolutionized jazz with his arrangement of it. This was my first encounter with true third stream music; it expanded my mindset of what the jazz idiom was capable of sounding like. Thanks, Spring.
Don’t Cry written by Kirk Franklin: Is it Easter without this Kirk Franklin classic? Every single Easter the praise team would dance to this song, and every single Easter I would be in the pew sobbing, but the good kind.
I’ll Remember April written by Gene de Paul: “Your lips were warm and love and spring were new / I’m not afraid of autumn and her sorrow / For I’ll remember April and you.” So not only is spring a time for renewal in nature, but it is a time for a faith in love. Check out Wynton Marsalis’ version—although it is an instrumental, the feelings of spring are heard throughout: in his solo, in the tempo, in the comping of the snare drum, all of it.
You Must Believe In Spring written by Michel Legrand and Jacques Demy: The melody of this song is beautifully crafted. Spring and love are interchangeable in meaning: the last verse says, “you must believe in love and trust it’s on its way, just as a sleeping rose awaits the kiss of May. So, in a world of snow, of things that come and go, where what you think you know, you can’t be certain of, you must believe in spring and love.” Check out Bill Evans and Tony Bennett.
Up Jumped Spring written by Freddie Hubbard: Abbey Lincoln sings my favorite version of this song. The changes during “up jumped springtime” are half-steps apart, and that chordal movement has really inspired me in my songwriting.
My One and Only Love written by Guy Wood and Robert Mellin: “The very thought of you makes my heart sing like an April breeze on the wings of spring.” I like singing this melody, and it has one of those bridges that makes it so satisfying to sing the last A. Versions of this song abound! Ella Fitzerald, Sarah Vaughan, Coltrane/Hartman, Oscar Peterson, Louis Armstrong, Michael Brecker… (The list goes on—even Sting has a version.)
If You Were the Rain written by Stephen Day: An endearing love song, this is bound to lift your spirits, and it puts rain in that romantic light. “Yes, if you were the rain / And I was outside, no / I wouldn’t run, I wouldn’t hide / I’d just look up to the sky and I’d say / That’s okay, ‘cause today / Well, I wanna play in the rain / That’s alright, I don’t mind / A little time with no sunshine.”
Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most written by Tommy Wolf and Fran Landesman (1955): The title is a riff on the opening line of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, "April is the cruelest month.” While there’s plenty of harmonic surprises in this song, when it really comes down to it, it’s the lyrics that steal the show. “Morning's kiss wakes trees and flowers / And to them I'd like to drink a toast / I walk in the park just to kill lonely hours / Spring can really hang you up the most.” Check out Norah Jones (the first version I heard, in college), Betty Carter, and Mark Murphy on this one.
Spring is Here written by Rodgers and Hart (1938): Another banger from the Great American Songbook, re: unrequited love. “Spring is here… I hear.” Nina Simone has a brilliant rendition, but my favorite version of the song will always be courtesy of my boy, Peter Eldridge.
April She Will Come by Simon & Garfunkel (1966): It sort of feels like every Simon & Garfunkel song is about spring—there’s a warm, fresh breeze, we’re young, we’re hanging out in New York, getting into trouble, but when push comes to shove it was all innocent fun. “April She Will Come” tells the story of a love affair—or conversely, a life lived—from April to September. Birth, growth, decline, and ultimately, death. Just like real life: it’s kind of brutal, but, somehow, you know, beautiful.
Cranes in the Sky by Solange (2016): A song that I’ve loved, but misunderstood for a long time. In a 2017 Song Exploder episode, Solange broke the production and the meaning of the song down: “there was just so much real estate development (in Miami, FL where she was staying at the time). And, literally everywhere that I looked, I saw a crane in the sky. You could not look down any street without seeing dozens and dozens of them, and it felt very heavy.” I had always pictured actual birds flying through “metal” clouds, leaving their pasts behind, but the idea of being overwhelmed with all of these buildings going up around you, feeling boxed in, totally tracks with how I often start to feel around this time of year. Trying all of these tricks to get through the dark days of late winter, and at some point dealing with what’s really going on and searching for nature, space, peace, and new things.
You’ve heard what we’ll be spinning this spring, but we want to know what songs you’ll be tip-toeing through the tulips to. Let us know in the comments below, and from the entire Foray Music squad, Happy Spring!
We think you’re super,
Charlie & Alexandria + Amy
Coda: it’s gonna be Maaay.
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