Carter was born Lillie Mae Jones on 16th May 1929 in Flint, Michigan and grew up in Detroit, where her father led a church choir. She studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory. She won a talent contest and became a regular on the local club circuit, singing and playing piano. When she was sixteen, she sang with Charlie Parker. She later performed with Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis and toured with Lionel Hampton (from whom she received the nickname "Betty Bebop"), when she perfected her scat singing of bebop.
Her career was eclipsed somewhat during the 1960s and 1970s, though a series of duets with Ray Charles in 1961, including the R&B-chart-topping "Baby, It's Cold Outside", brought her a measure of popular recognition. She recorded for various labels during this period, including Peacock, ABC-Paramount, and Atco, but was rarely satisfied with the resulting product. An episode in which a record company A&R man tried to abscond with a set of her master recordings led her to establish her own record label, Bet-Car, in 1970. Some of her most outstanding recordings were first issued on Bet-Car, including the double album The Audience with Betty Carter (1980). She was well-received at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1977 and 1978. In 1987 Carter signed with Verve Records. She won a Grammy in 1988 for her album Look What I Got! and sang in a guest appearance on The Cosby Show in that year.
She died on 26th September 1998.
Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
Betty Carter Lyrics
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Threw my heart away each spring.
Now a spring romance
Hasn't got a chance.
Promised my first dance to winter.
All I've got to show's a splinter
For my little fling.
Like a horse that never left the post.
I lie in my room
Staring up at the ceiling.
Spring can really hang you up the most.
Morning's kiss wakes trees and flowers,
And to them I'd like to drink a toast.
But I walk in the park
Just to kill the lonely hours.
Spring can really hang you up the most.
All afternoon the birds twitter-twitt.
I know the tune. This is love, this is it.
Heard it before
And don't I know the score.
And I've decided that spring is a bore.
Love seems sure around the new year.
Now it's April. Love is just a ghost.
Spring arrived on time,
Only what became of you, dear?
Spring can really hang you up the most.
Spring can really hang you up the most.
Love came my way. I thought it would last.
We had our day, now it's all in the past.
Spring came along, a season of song,
Full of sweet promise
But something went wrong.
Doctors once prescribed a tonic.
Sulfur and molasses was the dose.
Didn't help one bit.
My condition must be chronic.
Spring can really hang you up the most.
All alone, the party is over.
Old man winter was a gracious host.
But when you keep praying
For snow to hide the clover,
Spring can really hang you up the most
In Betty Carter's classic jazz song "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most," the lyrics describe the melancholy feelings that often accompany the arrival of spring. Carter sings about the disappointment of past spring romances, reflecting on the fact that promises made in spring often do not last beyond the end of the season. She describes the beauty of spring - the trees and flowers waking up, birds chirping - but notes that the season can also be lonely and frustrating. The chorus, "Spring can really hang you up the most," emphasizes the idea that even though spring is often seen as a time of renewal and growth, it can also bring its fair share of sadness and heartbreak.
The lyrics use vivid imagery to paint a picture of springtime in the city. The singer walks in the park to pass the lonely hours, listening to the birds and feeling like love is just a ghost. She compares herself to a horse that never left the post – a metaphor for being stuck in a rut or unable to move on from past disappointments. The song ends with the realization that even though she may feel down in the dumps during spring, winter was not necessarily any better.
Line by Line Meaning
Once I was a sentimental thing;
In the past, I used to be very emotional and irrational.
Threw my heart away each spring.
I used to fall in love very easily in the springtime.
Now a spring romance
Hasn't got a chance.
Promised my first dance to winter.
All I've got to show's a splinter
For my little fling.
I've learned from my mistakes and won't fall for spring love again. I tried to have a winter fling, but it didn't work out well for me.
Spring this year has got me feeling
Like a horse that never left the post.
This spring, I feel stuck and unfulfilled.
I lie in my room
Staring up at the ceiling.
Spring can really hang you up the most.
I spend a lot of time alone, feeling trapped and overwhelmed by the spring season.
Morning's kiss wakes trees and flowers,
And to them I'd like to drink a toast.
But I walk in the park
Just to kill the lonely hours.
Spring can really hang you up the most.
The beauty of spring is lost on me, and I only go outside to distract myself from loneliness.
All afternoon the birds twitter-twitt.
I know the tune. This is love, this is it.
Heard it before
And don't I know the score.
And I've decided that spring is a bore.
The sounds of spring remind me of past loves, which only serves to bore me.
Love seems sure around the new year.
Now it's April. Love is just a ghost.
Spring arrived on time,
Only what became of you, dear?
Spring can really hang you up the most.
At the beginning of the year, love seemed possible, but now that spring is here, that love has disappeared without a trace.
Love came my way. I thought it would last.
We had our day, now it's all in the past.
Spring came along, a season of song,
Full of sweet promise
But something went wrong.
I once had a great love that didn't last, and now the romantic promises of spring only remind me of that loss.
Doctors once prescribed a tonic.
Sulfur and molasses was the dose.
Didn't help one bit.
My condition must be chronic.
Spring can really hang you up the most.
I once tried to cure my springtime blues with a tonic, but it didn't work. My despair is a continuous condition of the season.
All alone, the party is over.
Old man winter was a gracious host.
But when you keep praying
For snow to hide the clover,
Spring can really hang you up the most
Winter was good to me, but the arrival of spring only brings despair. My hope for a white spring only emphasizes how bad it feels to me.
Writer(s): FRAN LANDESMAN, TOMMY WOLF
Contributed by Nathaniel G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.