In the Summer of His Years (song)
"In the Summer of His Years" is a 1963 pop song with lyrics written by Herb Kretzmer and music by David Lee. Kretzmer and Lee composed the song as a tribute hours after learning that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. "In the Summer of His Years" was first performed by English singer Millicent Martin during a tribute broadcast to President Kennedy that aired on the BBC on 23 November 1963. The show on which the song was introduced was a special broadcast of the BBC's satirical weekly news programme That Was the Week That Was; after the news of the assassination broke, the producers of the show discarded the week's planned scripts and sketches and decided to refashion that week's show as a somber and respectful tribute to President Kennedy. NBC later rebroadcast the programme. A soundtrack to the That Was the Week That Was broadcast was also released in the United States on Decca Records. Other versions After the song was performed on the BBC, several other artists recorded and released the song as a single. Mahalia Jackson recorded the song on November 29, 1963 which was released by Columbia Records;