“When all the world is a hopeless jumble…” lyricist Yip Harburg suggests turning to a fantasy place “over the rainbow” for solace. In “We’ve Got a World That Swings,” from 1963’s The Nutty Professor, Lil Mattis proffers that all you need to take on the turbulence of the age is a relationship that swings, presumably in the sense of being hip and exciting.

The original lyric from the bridge references Cold War concerns such as atom bomb scares. Those words have been updated by yours truly to reflect contemporary concerns, environmental and financial, and are noted below.

With apologies to Jerry Lewis, the best version of “We’ve Got a World That Swings” is not the Buddy Love rendition, but the Velvet Fog’s offering. In typical Tormé fashion, he lyrically and musically weaves in quotes from “I Got the Sun in the Morning” and “World on a String.”

In our version we swap out those two for “You Leave Me Breathless” and “Our Love is Here to Stay.” Jim Tullio, who mixed the project, especially likes what he calls the “Jon Hendrick’s bebop section at the end” of the tune. Another big finish on this one.

Bridge (Ferris lyrics)
Climate change in the atmosphere
The stock exchange causing fear
The world is all deranged
So I flip a little too,
Until I’m holding you

Original Bridge
Atom bombs
Cape Canaveral and false alarms
Half the universe is up in arms
So I flip a little too,
Until I’m holding you