It Might as Well Be Spring

By Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II
1945

A lilting, delicate melody highlights this late Rodgers composition, from his second major collaboration, that with Hammerstein. This came from State Fair, which was the only original film score the duo ever wrote. It was sung in the film by Jeanne Crain--and Dick Haymes, who also starred in the movie, had the first hit recording of it the same year.

Lyrics:

The things I used to like I don't like anymore.
I want a lot of other things I've never had before.
It's just like mother says... I sit around and mope.
Pretending I am wonderful. And knowing I'm a dope.

I'm as restless as a willow in a windstorm,
I'm as jumpy as a puppet on a string.
I'd say that I had spring fever,
But I know it isn't spring.

I'm starry-eyed and vaguely discontented
Like a nightingale without a song to sing.
Oh, why should I have spring fever
When it isn't even spring?

I keep wishing I were somewhere else,
Walking down a strange new street.
Hearing words that I have never heard
From a man I've yet to meet.

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 on the wing.

But I feel so gay,
In a melancholy way,
That it might as well be spring,
It might as well be spring.

Recorded By:

Ella Fitzgerald
Nina Simone
Frank Sinatra
Sammy Kaye
Blossom Dearie