A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

 One of my favorite songs of all time is "All the Things You Are" by composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. Written in 1939 for the musical "Very Warm for May," it quickly became a popular standard of the Big Band era. Many singers, instrumentalists, and orchestras of the period did covers; Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, Artie Shaw, Helen Forrest, Charlie Parker, Judy Garland, and Glenn Miller surely did back in the days of World War II and shortly after. Like other classics from the 1930s and 1940s - think "Moonlight Serenade" or "The Nearness of You" - "All the Things You Are" continues to captivate both singers and listeners, as new generations discover the charms of Kern's romantic melody and Hammerstein's poetic lyrics. The array of singers who have covered "All the Things You Are" is dizzying; it includes Ella Fitzgerald, Rebecca Luker, Renee Fleming, Johnny Mathis, Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanian...

This song, composed by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II in 1939 for the musical Very Warm for May , is a standard that has been covered by many artists over the past 84 years, including Artie Shaw, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Tony Bennett, and Carly Simon. It's usually not performed in its entirety; most of the covers I've heard begin with the line... "You are the promised kiss of springtime..."  This choral performance is one of the best I found on YouTube, and it includes both the intro verse and the better-known verse sung by most of the cover artists.