Story and photo by Gordon Berg
If you’re like me, you live for summer. Here in Northern Michigan, summers are phenomenally glorious. Slow sunsets. Campfires on the beach. Warm days. Cool nights. And just when you settle into summer’s rhythm, it’s over. Poof. Gone.
So, I prefer to think of summer as many months longer. Spring, therefore, becomes the harbinger of summer as the days get longer and the whole of life wakes up and becomes fresh and new. It’s thrilling.
Meanwhile, fall is not a separate season but more of a long goodbye to summer. One last gift of brilliant colors. There’s a briskness in the air. But the flip side of all that is that there’s a sadness to autumn, too. It is the bittersweet season.
Such is the yin and yang of fall. It invites us to look more deeply within, to celebrate the splendor of our lives while embracing the profound changes there, too.
Many songwriters have found ways to tap into those contrasting feelings. And so to celebrate the end of summer and all the changes in the air, here’s a very short list of my favorite autumn songs.
“When Fall Comes to New England” by Cheryl Wheeler
Wheeler’s lyrics are so evocative. Every time I hear this exquisite song, my mind substitutes the words “Northern Michigan” for New England, as in the opening line, “When fall comes to New England, the sun slants in so fine.” Picture “…leaves are Irish Setter red” and “… winter warnings race across the sky.” Her lyrics resonate with anyone who lives along the western coast of Michigan.
“Urge for Going” by Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell is one of the greatest songwriters of the latter half of the 20th century. “The Urge for Going” captures the restlessness of fall. “The geese in chevron flight …” are harbingers of change. Changes in seasons. Changes in relationships. “… All her empires are falling down and winter’s closing in.” If ever there was a song to turn you into a snowbird or remind you that it’s time to shore up your supply of firewood, this is it. Tom Rush’s version of Mitchell’s song is equally haunting.
“Autumn in New York” as sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
A jazz standard written by Vernon Duke in the summer of 1934, during the height of the Great Depression. Duke could have been tempted to write a light-hearted piece about the beauty of New York in the fall. Instead, he chose to be honest. Yes, life there offers “… the thrill of first nighting,” and “…the promise of new love.” But it’s also “mingled” with pain and “dreamers with empty hands.” Many of us can relate. The beauty of fall around us contrasts with the lingering pain of the pandemic and wrestling with inflation. Duke recognizes these difficulties are real. But at the same time, he reminds us … so is love. “Lovers that bless the dark on benches in Central Park.” It’s autumn in New York. Or Bear Lake. Or Scottville. “It’s good to live it again.”
“Harvest Moon” by Neil Young
Fall is about falling in love. Maybe it’s with someone new. Maybe it’s a reminder of why we fell in love with that certain someone so many years ago. This song invites us to celebrate tender moments. Closeness. A full moon. Dancing. “Let’s go out and feel the night.” Yeah. Slow dance in the kitchen with your honey to this, as you chase away the chill of an autumn night.
“When October Goes” as sung by Barry Manilow
Johnny Mercer wrote numerous songs considered to be part of the Great American Songbook. Standards like: “Moon River,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” and “Autumn Leaves” (more on that below). He was a maestro of songwriting. He also was an admirer of Barry Manilow’s work. After Mercer passed away, his widow asked Manilow to sift through a stack of his unfinished poetry. Manilow heard the melody in Mercer’s “When October Goes” lyrics to complete this contemporary standard.
“Autumn Leaves” as sung by Eva Cassidy
Summer loves. Looking back. The yearning. The longing. It’s all right here in this beautiful song composed by Joseph Kosma, with original French lyrics by Jacques Prévert. English lyrics were written later by Johnny Mercer. Eva Cassidy was fairly unknown in 1996 when she passed away from melanoma at age 33. Check out her versions of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Fields of Gold”. Each is as beautiful as her version of “Autumn Leaves”.
“Changes” by Phil Ochs
“Sit by my side. Come as close as the air. Share in a memory of gray. And wander in my words. Dream about the pictures that I play of changes.” You can’t help but lean in a little more closely to hear what’s next. Listen to Gordon Lightfoot’s version made all the more poignant with his passing a few months ago. (Read our story Nov . 9, 2020 story: “Lightfoot: Understanding the ‘Wherefore and Why‘”.)
“Autumn Serenade” as performed by John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman
Written by Peter de Rose and Sammy Gallop. This is one of those songs I would love to have seen performed live in an intimate jazz club somewhere in New York, with smoke in the air and the clatter of cocktail glasses in the background.
“Try to Remember” by Harry Belafonte
From The Fantasticks — the world’s longest-running off-Broadway musical. Written by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones. Belafonte passed away this year. What better voice than his to help us remember better days and how to grow from loss.
“When Summer Ends” by Silly Wizard
A hauntingly beautiful instrumental by this brilliant Scottish band. If it were the only song I heard in October, my autumn would be complete.
One more song to round out the playlist. A Jimmy Buffett/Mac McAnally song that celebrates the end of a chaotic tourist season. “When the Coast Is Clear.”
Gordon Berg is a descendant of Manistee’s Bergs, Swansons and Martinsons. His debut book, “Harry and the Hurricane”, is about his father’s life as a young boy and how he survived the Miami Hurricane of 1926. Harryandthehurricane.com
More Stories by Gordon Berg HERE
