Mention a song by George and Ira Gershwin, and folks start humming and tapping their toes. These two talented brothers left a singular imprint on American music, from Broadway to Hollywood, George composing the music and Ira writing the lyrics. In the process, they elevated American music to new heights of artistic merit. You would expect that they had been trained at acclaimed musical conservatories or were great protégés of celebrated teachers.
Actually, their upbringing was much humbler than that. They were born in New York City near the turn of the 20th century to poor Russian immigrants. Their father changed jobs nearly 30 times by Ira’s 18th birthday; the family moved up and down Manhattan just as often. Perhaps their famous refrain “I got plenty of nothin’, and nothin’s plenty for me” was autobiographical.1
Ira’s journal reveals his taste for everyday pleasures, even everyday sounds. In one entry he wrote: “Heard in a day: An elevator’s purr, telephone’s ring, . . . a baby’s moans, a shout of delight, a screech from a ‘flat wheel.’ ”2 His description brings to mind a line from George and
Ira’s well-known musical Porgy and Bess: “The things that I prize, like the stars in the skies, are all free.”3
Are the things that we prize so affordable? Do our journal entries and hearts record joy in the simple things of life, like a walk in the rain; a slow, colorful sunset; an afternoon nap; the chatter of birds in the forest; or simply one more glorious day? Even if that’s just about all we have, we’ll find that it’s enough. Or, as Ira Gershwin put it, “I got plenty of nothin’, and nothin’s plenty for me.”
Program #4062
1 Ira Gershwin, “I Got Plenty of Nothin’,” Porgy and Bess.
2 In “Ira Gershwin,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Gershwin.
3 Ira Gershwin, “I Got Plenty of Nothin’.”