The beautiful weather this week had me thinking about songs for springtime. Here are a few for you to enjoy—let me know of others that are your personal favorites.

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Here Comes the Sun: The Beatles

There is no better song to welcome Spring after a “long cold lonely winter” than the Beatles’ classic Here Comes the Sun. It is without a doubt George Harrison’s best known, and most-beloved, song.

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April Come She Will: Simon & Garfunkel

Another from the 60s—Paul Simon’s wistful and beautiful April Come She Will—is short, with a melancholic tone about what’s to come.

April, come she will | When streams are ripe and swelled with rain | May, she will stay | Resting in my arms again | June, she’ll change her tune | In restless walks she’ll prowl the night | July, she will fly | And give no warning to her flight | August, die she must | The autumn winds blow chilly and cold | September, I’ll remember | A love once new has now grown old

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Grazing in the Grass: Hugh Masekela

Here’s an infectious tune from South Africa-born Hugh Masekela that keeps the Spring 60s vibe going.

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Sittin’ on Top of the World: Jimmy Martin

From the bluegrass world, one of my favorite songs about this season begins with a bit of a downer: the writer’s girl has left him. However, with the sun shining, our hero doesn’t stay down for long.

Jimmy Martin may have been the bluegrass performer most associated with the song, recording it on Volume 2 of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Will the Circle Be Unbroken as well as on other albums. Besides Martin’s signature vocals, this version contains killer breaks by Vassar Clements on fiddle, Jerry Douglas on dobro, and Mark O’Connor on mandolin. I like this song so much I wrote an entire post featuring different interpretations from a variety of artists.

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April in Paris: Count Basie

In the hands of a master like Count Basie, no words are necessary to capture the feeling one gets while “strolling through the City of Light in that first warm month.”

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Feeling Good: Nina Simone

What could be better than a beautiful day in the sun, a light breeze, and birds flying all around? That’s a rhetorical question.

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The Point of Arrival: Carrie Newcomer

Newcomer’s recent Substack newsletter post entitled The Curious Promise of Limited Time was the inspiration for this post. Her tune The Point of Arrival was written “about how every ending is a beginning. It seems appropriate for springtime when nature begins again, sometimes growing out of the seeds and leaves that needed to fall last autumn.”

Newcomer’s practice—which is a regular feature of her newsletters—is a good reminder for all of us in this season, no matter our age.

Take a break from whatever you are doing. Step out into the springtime or open a window. Close your eyes and feel the freshness of the air and the way the sunlight feels soft and gracious in the early spring. Breathe in this singular moment in this unfolding spring time. Love the way all things start again and become new in April. Open your eyes, and carry that awe and appreciation through the day.

Find some time to get outside and enjoy the wonder of Spring.

More to come . . .

DJB

Photo by Arno Smit on Unsplash