Since the arrival of the Beach Boys summer music gets all the heat, but every season has its own soundtrack. Here’s a list of 10 great songs about the most colorful time of the year, Fall:
“Harvest Moon”
Neil Young: Canada’s one-man answer to the Band uses the brightness of the autumn moon to reflect on enduring love in his gentle, acoustic guitar based ode from 1992.
“California Dreamin’”
The Mamas and the Papas: The oft-covered 1965 hit uses the imagery of the chilly fall as a springboard for lyrics about longing for the warmth of the Left Coast. Thanks to its haunting lyrics and flute solo, plus gorgeous harmonies, the tune’s number 89 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
“October”
U2: With a few spare words Bono and the Edge use the shift of seasons as a metaphor for change — good, bad, or indifferent — made even more stark by the Edge’s spare piano arrangement. The song was the title track for their enduring 1982 sophomore release.
"September"
Earth Wind & Fire: Awesomely upbeat and funky, this 1978 love song is bright as the foliage on New Hampshire’s rolling hills and a masterpiece of cotton candy R&B. Earth Wind & Fire are under-respected giants.
“September Song,” Frank Sinatra/Lotte Lenya: The fall can also be a metaphor for maturity, and this tune — with lyrics by the brilliant songsmith Kurt Weill — was composed in 1938 for the character of an aging leader in the Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday. It has since been sung by some of the greatest voices of the recording era. The definitive versions are by Frank Sinatra in 1962 and by Weill’s wife and muse Lotte Lenya in 1957.
“Autumn Leaves”
Nat “King” Cole: Famed jazz lyricist and arranger Johnny Mercer wrote an English text for this French ballad in 1949. Seven years later Nat “King” Cole recorded the greatest version, wrapping his elegant voice around Mercer’s wistful reflection on love lost inspired by the season’s tumbling show of colors.
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground”
White Stripes: This song about homecoming was released in August 2002 as the third single from White Blood Cells. It gets points for quoting the Delta blues great Son House — “I didn’t feel so bad ‘til the sun went down/then I come home/no one to wrap my arms around” — and Jack White’s vocal performance, which recalls the quivering intensity of the Gun Club’s late Jeffrey Lee Pierce.
“Autumn Sweater”
Yo La Tengo: Well, the seasonal connection’s a little tenuous in this 1997 entry, but it is a truly sweet song of longing and insecurity from these sleek pop modernists — about wanting a girl in an “autumn sweater.” And there’s no time like the chilly fall for plunging into love.
“Wake Me Up When September Ends,” Green Day: Once again the season is used to signify a passing. But despite this iconic pop-punk outfit’s name, in this number from 2005’s American Idiot what’s lost is innocence, not chlorophyll.
“Forever Autumn,” Justin Hayward: The Moody Blues’ singer had an unlikely hit with this 1978 tearjerker from a concept album based on science fiction pioneer H.G. Wells The War of the Worlds. Migrating birds and falling leaves represent the disappearance of the singer’s lover, and now his “life will be forever autumn.” Of course, “Forever Winter” would be worse, but that’s a song for another season.