I was trying to decide what to play for some spring songs. Fortunately, I pulled Joel Whitburn’s Album Cuts, 1955-2001 off my shelf. The annoying thing is that, as a strict list, it does not differentiate between songs with the same title but are different, and covers of the same song.
Spring – Little Milton (1969)
Spring – John Denver (1972)
Spring – Meryl Streep · George Winston (1985) from The Velveteen Rabbit, a story I love
Spring – · Ned’s Atomic Dustbin (1992)
These were all different songs, despite the same title.
Spring Again – Lou Rawls (1977)
Spring Fever – Biz Markie (1989)
Now, I come to a song with oodles of covers. “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” (1955) is a popular song with lyrics by Fran Landesman, set to music by Tommy Wolf. The title is a jazz rendition of the opening line of T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, “April is the cruelest month.” The song describes how somebody feels sad and depressed despite all the good things associated with spring
Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most – The Pete Jolly Trio (1963)
Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most – Ella Fitzgerald (1960)
Then…
Spring Collection – The Vapors (1980)
Spring Comes To Spiddal – The Waterboys (1990)
Spring Is Here – Peter Nero. When I tried to search for Nero’s Spring Concerto from 1961, this is what came up.
Spring Creek – George Winston (1991) from the album Summer
Spring Fever -· Elvis Presley (1965)
Spring Fever – Orleans (1976)
I was unfamiliar with all of the songs.
Highbrow
There are two pieces of music I play every vernal equinox. The first is The Rite of Spring (1913) by Igor Stravinsky. I always loved the story of the ballet, explained entertainingly by Classics Explained.
There are several recordings. I decided on Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky (1960) with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra.
The other annual ritual is playing The Four Seasons (1725) by Antonio Vivaldi. I prefer summer and winter; the solstices are in minor keys, whereas the equinoxes are in major keys.