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Summertime
Words & Music by Dubose Howard & George GershwinFrom the musical "Porgy and Bess," 1935
Recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, 1960
Intro: | G - Am | C - B7 | Em - Am | Em - B7 |
(B7 ) Em B7 Em A9 Em Am Em Fm F#m Gm
Summertime, and the livin' is ea - sy;
Am Am+7 Am7 C B7 C B7
Fish are jumpin', and the cotton is high.
(B7) Em B7 Em A9 Em Am7 Em Fm F#m
Your daddy's rich and your mama's good-lookin',
Am G Am CM7 CM7/6 B7 Em Am Em (C) B7
So hush, little baby, don't you cry.
B7 Em B7 Em A9 Em Am Em Fm F#m Gm
One of these mornin's, you're gonna rise up singin';
Am Am+7 Am7
You're gonna spread your wings
C B7 C B7
And take to the sky.
B7 Em B7 Em A9 Em Am Em Fm F#m
But 'til that mornin', ain't nothin' can harm you
Am G G/F# Em CM7 CM7/6 B7 Em B+ Em7 Em6 Am7 B7 Em
With dad - dy and mammy stand - in' by.
This chart replaces one that has been here for years now, and is a virtual duplicate of one used by good friends
of mine, a band called Exit 41 from Omaha, Nebraska. The chord sequence at the end of the first line of each verse
is not made up of full chords; it's more like an Em slid down the neck of the guitar. The Fm is nothing more than the
two fretted strings of the Em chord moved one fret up the neck; the F#m is two frets up from the Em, and the G three
frets up -- and only the two fretted strings need be played, so you can think of the sequence as x22xxx to x33xxx to
x44xxx to x55xxx. Another cool touch, not shown here but which I now use, is to use a bass string slide at the end
of the first verse, starting with the low E string at the 7th fret and sliding down to the 2nd in lieu of playing an actual
B7 chord. It also works very well at the end of the instrumental intro leading into the first verse.
Thanks to John, Julie and Terry for showing me a cooler way to play this song.