New London Children's Choir - The Useful Plough

Credit where credit due to Wes Anderson, that track The Cuckoo is a sick crate-dig. So I had to pick up a copy of this CD, which I (mistakenly) believed to include the performance featured in the film. Anyroad, this track The Useful Plough is another standout from the same Benjamin Britten suite (Friday Afternoons) whence The Cuckoo is drawn.

Britten wrote Friday Afternoons for his schoolmaster brother, Robert, and the boys of Clive House preparatory school, Prestatyn. (Choir practice used to take place on Friday afternoons.) The text of The Useful Plough is anonymous, and Britten set it to music on May 14th, 1934, which was (appropriately) a Monday. He was 20 years old.

No courtier may

Compare with them who clothe in grey,

And follow the useful plough.

Erroll Garner: Summertime

recorded in New York City, January 3, 1952

featuring John Simmons on bass and Shadow Wilson on drums

What's up y'all? I woke up on Friday morning fully excited to post this, only to find that my Internet was down for the very first time since it was installed 5 years ago. Then I was away at a wedding all weekend with no web access. Blame it on a simple twist of fate.

Anyways, "Summertime": I kind of have issues with this song, not because I don't love it (I do), but because I feel that it's overplayed. (Indeed, according to Wikipedia: "It is widely believed that "Summertime" vies with the Beatles' "Yesterday" as one of the most often covered songs in popular music, with an estimated 2,600 different versions recorded.") That being said -- I love this version of "Summertime"! One of my favorite intros ever and quite possibly my favorite ending ever.

"Summertime" was written by George Gershwin, Dubose Heyward, and Ira Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy & Bess.

available on the life-changing compilation Body & Soul