Fall is not my favorite season. However, I do enjoy the cooler days with less humidity. I love the crispness of the air. I love the bold colors of the foliage on the trees, and watching the leaves drift gracefully through the sky to the ground. The smell of freshly raked leaves brings pleasant memories of raking leaves with my parents and of being able to rake leaves in my own yard as an adult.
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
— Emily Brontë (1818-1848) English novelist and poet
This year the first day of fall (for the Northern Hemisphere) is Wednesday, September 22. During the autumnal equinox the sun is directly over the equator making day and night of equal length. The days (or rather the amount of sunlight each day) will get shorter until the winter solstice in December.
Having less sunlight feels depressing. I have found that if I watch the sun going down each day it seems to help ease the feeling of darkness descending all around. And, of course, music helps! There are many great songs about fall. Some are wistful and some merely comment on usual fall activities. The following are my Top Ten favorite songs of fall.
Top Ten Songs of Fall
10. “Harvest Moon”
Neil Young wrote this song in 1992. It was the first single from his album of the same name. It is a beautiful song that perfectly evokes the images of love under a harvest moon. (A harvest moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox.)
9. “Forever Autumn”
This song was written by Jeff Wayne, Gary Osborne, and Paul Vigrass. The original melody was written by Wayne in 1969 for a jingle for a Lego commercial. Lyrics were added in 1972 for Osborne and Vigrass’s 1972 album Queues. The most famous version is the 1978 version sung by Justin Hayward (of The Moody Blues) on Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds album. I love the beautiful sweeping music.
8. “See You in September”
I remember hearing the version by The Happenings in the sixties. The song evokes the end of summer and getting back to the school year after summer vacation. It was written by Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards and first recorded in 1959 by The Tempos. The Happenings recorded the song in 1966 and reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
7. ‘Try to Remember”
This song was written by American lyricist Tom Jones and composer Harvey Schmidt. It is the first song from the musical comedy The Fantasticks (1960). I had an album with John Davidson singing this song. The beginning lines always gave me a feeling of nostalgia.
Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh, so mellow
I would play that album over and over just to listen to his voice.
6. “September”
Everything about this song is wonderful . . . the energy, the rhythm, the horns, and the sound of the band. Earth, Wind & Fire is one of the best! It was written by Maurice White, Al McKay, and Allee Willis. Released as a single in 1978 it reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot R&B chart.
5. “Autumn in New York”
Written by Vernon Duke in the summer of 1934, the song is a jazz standard. Famous versions include those by Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Bill Evans, as well as a duet version by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. I don’t think I knew the song until I studied vocal jazz and was assigned this song to learn. The scenes of New York are described with unforgettable images . . .
Glittering crowds and shimmering clouds
In canyons of steel
4. “September Song”
This American standard is composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson. It was included in the 1938 Broadway musical, Knickerbocker Holiday. After it was used in the film September Affair (1950) numerous singers and instrumentalists recorded the song including Frank Sinatra, Willie Nelson, Bing Crosby, and Zoot Sims. The lyrics are set to a lovely melody.
Oh, it’s a long, long time
from May to December,
but the days grow short
when you reach September.
3. “Leaves That Are Green”
It was written by Paul Simon and is on the 1966 album Sounds of Silence. The music is fresh and upbeat. The lyrics describes the passage of time with the many ups and downs of life.
2. “Moondance”
Written by singer-songwriter Van Morrison, it is the title song on his third studio album Moondance (1970). The song is about autumn which is his favorite season. It also is one of his definitive jazz compositions. I love singing this song with its wonderful rhymes and rhythms. And . . . what other song has the word fantabulous?
Well, it’s a marvelous night for a moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
‘Neath the cover of October skies
1. “Autumn Leaves”
This song is a pop and jazz standard. It was written in 1945 by Joseph Kosman with French lyrics by Jacques Prévert (“Les Feuilles mortes”). They were later translated into English by Johnny Mercer. An instrumental version by pianist Roger Williams was a No. 1 hit on the US Billboard charts in 1955.The song has been recorded over 1400 times with versions by Jo Stafford, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Eva Cassady, Bill Evans Trio, and Eric Clapton.
It is my favorite because my sister had the sheet music and would play it on the piano. The English lyrics are simple yet descriptive.
The falling leaves
Drift by the window
The autumn leaves
Of red and gold
It is one of those songs that every fall, I spontaneously burst out singing as the leaves begin to fall!
Songs of Fall Honorable Mentions
U2: “October”
The Doors: “Indian Summer”
Rod Stewart: “Maggie May”
Neil Diamond: “September Morn”
And . . . an older song that deserves a mention
“Shine on Harvest Moon”
This is a popular early 1900s song. It is credited to the vaudeville team Nora Bayes (music) and Jack Norworth (lyrics). The song was debuted in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1908 and became a pop standard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIw14TwJvZc Laurel and Hardy from the 1939 film Flying Deuces.
What is your favorite song about fall?
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