An English bloke I work with recently commented on how much he dislikes this time of year. I was forced to set him straight, pointing out the return of the soccer season, abundance of cider, leaves changing colors, crisp autumn nights, fires in the fireplace and holidays like Halloween on the horizon. Fall has been my favorite season by far, for as long as I can remember.
In addition to the brief list above, there’s a more subtle feeling I get this time of year, a calm, comfort and confidence that enriches my days more than at any other time during the year. My hope is that these songs somehow convey this mood so that you may also experience its warmth.
George Winston - Charlie Brown Theme Song
Oh No! Oh My! - Walk in the Park
Shotgun & Jaybird - Secret Ukelele Track
Screaming Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell on You
The Decemberists - Culling of the Fold
Beulah - Calm Go the Wild Seas
Enjoy.
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2 responses so far ↓
I haven’t listened to your mixtape yet, but I’ve yoinked the MP3’s and will give it a go soon.
I, too, enjoy the crisp air of the autumn months, and often think back to days as a child going to gather hazelnuts in Enfield with my dad, or playing touch football in jeans with other kids in the apartment complex, all while wrapped in the cool air that doesn’t give you shivers, yet doesn’t let you sweat.
I’ve always enjoyed the Rushmore soundtrack as a fall anthem. Its back-to-school Mothersbaugh instrumentals dance lightly like an oak leaf hemming and hawing it’s way down to the lawn, and the classic rock documents bittersweet tales of loss and change. More than once I’ve thrown this in my car stereo while driving home from UConn amongst the red, yellows and oranges of Rt. 44.
So, you’re one of those people, are you? You like fall? Well, let me tell you something, sonny, fall is all well and good if, by some miracle, it is followed by spring - and we all know that cannot happen don’t we, unless we board a craft of some kind and boost ourselves with fossil fuels across a significant latitude to salvation.
But, you’ve got a point, I’ll grant you that; the aroma of woodsmoke, the darker nights, the rainy aerosols moving through the air and nesting in the crooks of our <a href=”http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/b.htm” rel=”nofollow”> boat-races</a>, and the profusion of colour, looming and exploding on the hills and dales all around. But it’s shit. Face it. It’s not the fall itself that horrifies me, certainly not, I, too, am something of a miserable bastard in a melancholy-yet-intelligently-thoughtful-yet-artistic-yet-serious but-not-too-serious-but-definitely-serious-enoough-to-be-taken-seriously-kind of way, no, no, no; it is what fall represents that I don’t like. The descent into New England winter, the sub-zero wasteland that honestly makes me wonder what the hell apes are even doing living at this latitude, and of course the excessive boozing every time a proper blizzard is forecast. I see them, the Yankees, clustering in the superdoopermarkets, gathering their Yankee provisions, gabbling in that strange tongue I have come to know and love, while I skulk around the liquor section, loading my basket with the correct materials for the job. It’s as if, because I emigrated from a country with a milder winter climate which bestowed upon me education enough to understand that I could be literally anywhere in the world I wanted to be right now, I <i>deserve</i> to be allowed to get pissed as a fart, even during the day. Oh, and don’t forget to call in at the local pizza house, too, and load up on that. A quick trip to the DVD rental place for a whole season of the Sopranos, or Goodfellas, or Sin City, or whatever, and away we go. But now I’ve gone and made winter sound like a lark, and it’s not. It’s hell. And you, young Cook, simply know not the joys of living in a place where winters are much milder, yet still there’s fall, and “soccer”, and chilliness, but not as bad, and not as good (in the colours of fall). Doesn’t stop us moaning though.