Summertime, time, time,
Child, the living's easy.
Fish are jumping out
And the cotton, Lord,
Cotton's high, Lord, so high.

Your daddy's rich
And your ma is so good-looking, baby.
She's looking good now,
Hush, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby,
No, no, no, no, don't you cry.
Don't you cry!

One of these mornings
You're gonna rise, rise up singing,
You're gonna spread your wings,
Child, and take, take to the sky,
Lord, the sky.

Until that morning
Honey, n-n-nothing's going to harm you now,
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Don't you cry,
Cry.



Lyrics submitted by annazoff

Track duration: 03:58


Summertime song meanings
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21 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Janis Joplin is my hero, plain and simple. She is, in my eyes, the best singer of all time. This song and so many others of her's makes me happy even if I've just had the worst day ever. Every time I hear her, it makes my day. Her voice is truly my life saver on a day to day basis. Thank you, Janis.
    Flag hippiequeen27on April 01, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Now this song is a great blues song and Janis sings it so well. The vocals are fantastic as is the rest of the band. Makes me think of a lazy day near the Tennessee River.... Beautiful song.
    Flag FantomeFleuron May 12, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I actually found this listed as Janis Joplin & Jimi Hendrix, which I thought was ridiculous, no Jimi Hendrix I've ever heard has sounded this evil and noir-ish

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

    "Guitar Player magazine listed Sam and James work on "Summertime" as one of the top ten psychedelic solos in music history."

    Sam and James=Big Brother & the Holding Company, who Janis Joplin sang with for a few years. I'm not sure about the vocal but the guitars are fantastic
    Flag Zoltan Pandemoniumon November 23, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:the vocals in this song are amazing... janis has got the greatest female vocal of all time probably... and this song is not Billi Holiday's origibnal nor Janis', it's from George Gershwin's opera Porgy And Bess.
    Flag madameon July 27, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:yeah I love the intro guitar and when she starts to sing..its the best...and then in the solo in between it's amazing in the end...my god it's a musical perfection...
    Flag oldmusicloveron June 15, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Sorry, Age old moods, but you're wrong.

    Artie Shaw would have been 8 years old in 1918. He didn't learn to play music till he was 15. Billie Holliday would have been 9 years old in 1924. She didn't start singing till the early 1930's.

    Regardless, the song is an original composition by Gershwin, who wrote it in the mid 1930's.
    Flag penitenziagiteon June 15, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:to "lovely" above there and to anyone else who this may concern, one last thing.
    and even though "lovely" wrote this in 04, who knows, might answer someone elses question

    the duet was between Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
    Flag This Charming Manon May 29, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song, which, is up there with "Me and Bobby Mcgee" and "Mercedes Benz" as my favourite Janis songs is actually the most covered song along with the Beatles' "Yesterday"

    Here's to Summertime 06, have a goodone everybody!
    Flag This Charming Manon May 29, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:WOODSTOCK!!!!!!
    Flag Let_The_Led_Outon March 04, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:WOODSTOCK!!!!!!
    Flag Let_The_Led_Outon March 04, 2006   Link

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