I nearly missed a chance to post here during one of my very favorite months of the year...beautiful, vibrant, brilliantly colorful October. Here in the Northeast, October is foliage prime-time...glorious, but just a touch sad, since the changing colors signal that summer is over and it's "time to dress for fall"...as the lyrics to "The Summer Knows" by the marvelous composer Michel Legrand (from the film "Summer of '42") remind us.
It's a wonderful song, and brings to mind all the beautiful melodies of the fall season. Two others, in particular, are long-standing favorites of mine and were combined and recorded as a medley (if you can call two songs a medley - I always think of a medley as at least three songs) by the late singer, Nancy LaMott. They are "Autumn Leaves" (music by Joseph Kosma and Elnglish lyrics by Johnny Mercer) and Mr. Mercer's and Barry Manilow's "When October Goes". Each is a wistful, musical gem brought to another plane entirely by the magnificent voice of Miss LaMott. If you have a chance, check them out on MySpace or wherever you listen to and can find her music...I promise you won't be disappointed.
"The falling leaves drift by the window
The autumn leaves of red and gold.... "
(And just a little reminder - as "Hurricane/Tropical Storm" Sandy bears down on the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern coast in the next few days, last year - in 2011 - we had a freak late October snowstorm on October 28. You never really know what Mother Nature might do...just sayin...)
October 28, 2011
"And when October goes
The snow begins to fly
Above the smokey roofs
I watch the planes go by"
Happy autumn!
