Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most

"Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" is a jazz standard composed by Tommy Wolf with lyrics by Fran Landesman, written in 1955. The song is a poignant ballad of bittersweet longing, its arch lyrics directly inspired by T.S. Eliot's famous line from The Waste Land, "April is the cruelest month." Landesman challenged herself to rephrase that literary sentiment in jazz musician lingo, producing the memorable title phrase. Wolf's melancholic melody pairs with Landesman's witty, rueful words to create one of the most emotionally resonant ballads in the jazz canon. The song was first recorded by Jackie Cain and Roy Kral in 1955, and Wolf himself recorded it in 1957 on his album of the same name for Fraternity Records, in a piano trio setting with Monty Budwig on bass and Shelly Manne on drums. It stands as Wolf's most famous composition from a prolific partnership with Landesman that produced numerous songs. The tune has been recorded by well over 200 artists, cementing its place as a core jazz standard. Notable recordings include versions by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Betty Carter, Chet Baker, Carmen McRae, Barbra Streisand, Mark Murphy, and Norah Jones, whose early demo later appeared on the 20th anniversary edition of Come Away With Me. Ted Gioia included the composition in his reference work The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire. More recently, Michael Mayo recorded it on his 2024 album Fly.