Take to the Sky

Fish are Jumpin', Cotton is High - in progress

Recently, I was shuffling through some unused drawings I had cut out of textbooks and never used. Two jumped out at me at practically the same time -- the yellow cotton piece and the jumping green fish piece.  Immediately, the song "Summertime" jumped into my head and this collage began.  I have no idea how many recorded versions of this song are out there, but to me, only one stands out.  Way out.  No one can top Janis Joplin wailin' out these words:


Summertime, 
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Oh, Your daddy's rich
And your mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don't you cry

One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll take to the sky

But until that morning
There's a'nothing can harm you
With your daddy and mammy standing by

Summertime, 
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Your daddy's rich
And your mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don't you cry

Songwriters: GERSHWIN, GEORGE / HEYWARD, DU BOSE / HEYWARD, DOROTHY / GERSHWIN, IRA

Janis puts a certain kind of melancholy and desperation into this song that completely resonates with me.  The sky is yellow with heat.  There's joy and release in letting everything that's inside of you out into the air.  The menace of sorrow and rain is a wide ribbon of black on the horizon.