Spring 2018 Is Here...At Least On The Calendar

Spring                                                      William Blake, Songs of Innocence, 1789

Today was the first full day of spring but most folks from Georgia to Maine hardly noticed. What was morning rain turned to snow in the mountains, then snaked northeast along the Appalachians into Virginia where it exploded into another major snowstorm aimed at the Canadian Maritimes.   So it feels like just another day in Winter but who among us expects seasonal doors to close and open abruptly. Most times, the changes are comfortably gradual. There are thousands of songs written about the promise of this new season. Some of the best deal not with the fullness of the season, but with the anomalies and the worlds turned upside down when snowfall covers the tulips in our lives.

The incomparable Ella Fitzgerald captured an unfulfilled spring in a song, Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most, written in 1955 by Tommy Wolfe and the poet and lyricist, Fran Landesman.  It's superb, and many critics say it is Fitzgerald at her finest.

If you enjoyed the song it has an interesting backstory you may enjoy posted by Scott Johnson on Powerline.