Younger Than Springtime

"Younger than Springtime" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. It has been widely recorded as a jazz standard. The song is performed in the first act by Lieutenant Cable when he makes love to his adored Liat, to whom he was only recently introduced by her mother Bloody Mary. The song shows that love just happens and does not follow the rules of racial separation prevalent in the United States at that time. In the original Broadway show, the song was performed by William Tabbert while in the 1958 film, it was sung by John Kerr miming to a vocal by Bill Lee. Lyrical Analysis Hammerstein used repetition as a key aspect of the song repeating the words "am I" and "are you" when describing Cable and Liat: "softer than starlight", "gayer than laughter" and "younger than springtime".