THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

842-Dick Haymes-It Might as Well Be Spring.

1945-It has never charted in the UK. There was no UK chart until 1952.

Best Bit-At 0.11. Some music critics have commented that the lyrics verge on corny, well if that’s true, sign me up to the corny club immediately.

‘It Might as Well Be Spring’ was written by the legendary songwriting team of Richard Rodgers, (1902-1979) (music) (see also best songs 343 and 60) and Oscar Hammerstein II, (1895-1960) (lyrics) (see also best songs 82 and 60) for the 1945 musical film ‘State Fair,’ it was the only ‘Rodgers and Hammerstein’ musical written directly for a film. ‘State Fair’ itself was a musical adaptation of the 1933 film of the same name, which itself was an adaptation of the 1932 novel, by the American author Phil Stong (1899-1957.) Both Rodgers and Hammerstein who are also critically acclaimed for their collaborations with others, are considered the greatest musical theatre writing partnership of the 20th Century, their Broadway productions in the 1940’s, and 1950’s, which is now considered to be the ‘Golden Age’ of musical theatre, included their outstanding Broadway productions, ‘Oklahoma!,’ ‘Carousel,’ ‘South Pacific,’ ‘The King and I,’ and ‘The Sound of Music,’

Richard Charles Rodgers was born on June 28th, 1902, in New York City, United States, he died on December 30th, 1979, at the age of 77, after surviving cancer of the jaw, a heart attack, and a laryngectomy. He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered at sea. Rogers who was the co-composer of 43 Broadway musicals, and over 900 songs between 1917-1979, is best remembered for his songwriting partnerships, first with lyricist Lorenz Hart, (1895-1943) (see also best songs 343) and then with Oscar Hammerstein II. With Hart he wrote musicals during the 1920’s, and 1930’s, and then worked with Hammerstein during the 1940’s, and 1950’s. Rodgers was the first person to win all four of the top American entertainment awards in theatre, film, recording, and television. The awards are, a ‘Tony,’ an ‘Oscar,’ a ‘Grammy,’ and an ‘Emmy.’ In 1944 he was also awarded a ‘Pulitzer Prize,’ making him one of only two people to receive all five awards, the other is Marvin Hamlisch, (1944-2012) (see also best songs 214 and 145.)

‘It Might as Well Be Spring’ is sung early on in the 1945 film ‘State Fair,’ by the character ‘Margy,’ who is the teenage daughter of the ‘Frake family. In the film, the part of ‘Margy’ was played by the actress Jeanne Crain, (1925-2003) who mimes the song to the dubbed vocals by Louanne Hogan (1919-2006.) Also starring in the film was Dick Haymes, who played the part of ‘Wayne Frake, the brother of ‘Margy.’ In 1945 he recorded the first hit version of ‘It Might as Well Be Spring,’ which reached Number 5 on the ‘Billboard Magazine Best Seller’ chart. Also in 1945 another version of the song by Paul Weston (1912-1996) & Margaret Whiting, (1924-2011) reached Number 6 on the same chart, a third recording by Sammy Kaye, (1910-1987) also charted in 1946, making Number 8.

Dick Haymes was born Richard Benjamin Haymes, on September 13th, 1918, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he died from lung cancer on March 28, 1980, at the age of 61. Haymes who was one of the most popular vocalists of the 1940’s, and 1950’s, got his major break in 1942, when he became the replacement for Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) in the Tommy Dorsey (1905-1956) band, prior to joining Dorsey’s group, Haymes had sung with the Harry James (1916-1983) orchestra. Dick Haymes appeared in 26 films between 1935-1978, and had 62 top 30 hits on the Billboard Music chart between 1941-1951, of which three of those songs reached the Number 1 spot.

In the book titled ‘Lyrics,’ Oscar Hammerstein II wrote about ‘It Might as Well Be Spring,’ ‘As the story opens, the young girl is unhappy. She is not in love with anybody. She is going to a state fair with her family, but is not looking forward to it. She has the blues. She doesn’t know why. It occurred to me that her feeling was very much like spring fever. It then occurred to me, very unhappily, that all state fairs are held in the autumn. September or early October. Then, wanting desperately to write a song about spring fever, I toyed with the notion of having her say, in effect, “It’s autumn, but I have spring fever, so ‘it might as well be spring.’” Rather half-heartedly I threw the idea at Dick. He jumped up excitedly and said. “That’s it.”…In about a week I had written a refrain to this title. An hour after I gave the lyric to Dick, he had set the melody.

‘I’m as busy as a spider spinning daydreams, I’m as giddy as a baby on a swing. I haven’t seen a crocus or a rosebud, or a robin or a bluebird on the wing. But I feel so gay in a melancholy way, that it might as well be spring,