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Autumn Leaves, Frank Sinatra, Les Feuilles Mortes, MUSIC, Nat King Cole, Nora Jones, September in the Rain, September of my Years, September Song, Tony Bennett, Yves Montand
Another September gone and what do you remember, the sultry start or the chilly end? Chances are, whatever the weather, the memories remain in a sentimental refrain. Probably no other month has inspired poets and musicians more than September, the time when the fantasies of summer are abandoned for the realities of autumn. Summer loves depart, fall duties return. This is when the year and life itself transition to a more somber state. Here are some songs that capture the September sentiment.
AUTUMN LEAVES – Joseph Kosma, Johnny Mercer (1947)
The falling leaves drift by the window
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold
Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I’ll hear old winter’s song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall
LES FEULLIES MORTES – Joseph Kosma/Jacques Prévert (1945)
SEPTEMBER SONG – Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson (1938)
When I was a young man courting the girls
I played me a waiting game
If a maid refused me with tossing curls
While I plied her with tears in lieu of pearls
I’d let the old Earth make a couple of whirls
And as time came around she came my way
As time came around, she came
Oh, it’s a long, long time from May to December
But the days grow short when you reach September
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
One hasn’t got time for the waiting game
Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few
September, November
And these few precious days I’ll spend with you
These precious days I’ll spend with you
SEPTEMBER OF MY YEARS – J. Van Heusen, S. Cahn (1965)
One day you turn around and it’s summer
Next day you turn around and it’s fall
And the springs and the winters of a lifetime
Whatever happened to them all?
As a man who has always had the wand’ring ways
Now I’m reaching back for yesterdays
‘Til a long-forgotten love appears
And I find that I’m sighing softly
As I near September, the warm September of my years
As I man who has never paused at wishing wells
Now I’m watching children’s carousels
And their laughter’s music to my ears
And I find that I’m smiling gently
As I near September, the warm September of my years
All the golden warm Septembers of my years
SEPTEMBER, IN THE RAIN – Harry Warren/Al Dubin (1937)
The leaves of brown, came tumbling down, remember
That September, in the rain
The sun went out just like a dying ember
That September, in the rain
To every word of love I heard you whisper
All the raindrops seem to play a sweet refrain
Though spring is here, to me it’s still September
That September, in the rain
TRY TO REMEMBER – Harvey Schmidt/Tom Jones (1960)
Try to remember the kind of September
when life was slow and oh so mellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
when grass was green and grain was yellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
when you were a tender and callow fellow,
Try to remember and if you remember then follow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
that no one wept except the willow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
that dreams were kept beside your pillow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
when love was an ember about to billow.
Try to remember and if you remember then follow.
Deep in December it’s nice to remember
although you know the snow will follow.
Deep in December it’s nice to remember
without the hurt the heart is hollow.
Deep in December it’s nice to remember
the fire of September that made us mellow.
Deep in December our hearts should remember and follow.
And just to show September is not all melancholy, here’s one just for fun.
