Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most

1955 song composed by Tommy Wolf with lyrics by Fran Landesman

"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 cruellest month".^[1] The song describes how somebody feels sad and depressed despite all the good things associated with spring.^[2]

Collaboration

Tommy Wolf was a pianist, composer, arranger, and musical director who met Fran Landesman while she was sitting in the bar of the Crystal Palace, a night club in St. Louis. Wolf was on the bandstand playing. This experience inspired her to begin writing song lyrics and in 1952 Wolf began setting her lyrics to music. More Landesman–Wolf collaborations followed, including the melodies for the songs for the 1959 Broadway musical The Nervous Set.

Notable recordings

Jackie Cain and Roy Kral – Storyville Presents Jackie & Roy (1955)^[3]
Ella Fitzgerald – Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie! (1961)^[3]
Mark Murphy – Rah! (1961)^[3]
Stan Getz – Reflections (1963)^[3]
Julie London - Sophisticated Lady (1962)
Carmen McRae – Bittersweet (1964)^[3]
Hampton Hawes and Martial Solal – Key for Two (1968)^[3]
Phil Woods - Phil Woods & The Japanese Rhythm Machine (1975)
Blossom Dearie – Winchester in Apple Blossom Time (1977)
Betty Carter – The Audience with Betty Carter (1979)^[3]
Ian Shaw - A Ghost in Every Bar: The Lyrics of Fran Landesman (Splash Point, 2012)
Bette Midler - Some People's Lives (1990)
Norah Jones - Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most / Come Away With (2022)
Radka Toneff - Live in Hamburg (1992,recorded in 1981)
Zoot Sims - Zoot Sims in Paris (1962)
Stanley Turrentine - A Chip off the Old Block (1964)
Bill Charlap Trio - Uptown/Downtown (2017)
Rickie Lee Jones - Pop Pop (1991)

References

^ Martin, Douglas (August 1, 2011). "Fran Landesman, Lyricist With a Bittersweet Edge, Dies at 83". The New York Times. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
^ "Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most Lyrics". Lyrics.com. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Gioia, Ted (2012). The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire. New York City: Oxford University Press. p. 394. ISBN 978-0-19-993739-4.