September Song
It’s nearly the end of September and I can’t let this strange month in the year of the pandemic slip by without recalling two of my favorite songs, each bringing back so many memories from long ago when times were so different and hope filled the air.
When I was young, September meant returning to school after a long, carefree summer. It was a month filled with dread, anticipation and excitement.
Later, as I entered my adult years, the month became the longed for prelude to October and all the glorious associations with Autumn, that most mellow and wistful time of year. The air started getting cool and bracing and all the signs of the season were everywhere, it seemed. It was a longed for time of year, like Spring, and September was its herald.
This was the way September always was until I moved to the coast of South Carolina in 1995. Then, September became, as it has been this month and every previous September since that year, a somber waiting game as the dreaded peak of hurricane season came and went. The last five years have been particularly stressful because of mandatory evacuations. I always prayed, “Let us get through September.”
But as I write these words on September 25, 2020, the danger period is passing, but not over yet. I’m in my seventh month of self-quarantining during a pandemic that’s going to be with us awhile longer. We’re living through the most tumultuous and divisive political period of my lifetime, and I’ve been around a few years.
When I listen to these two songs, however, I can dream a little dream of more forgiving and mellow September’s in the past “when life was so tender that no one wept except the willow.”
“September Song” Willie Nelson’s version
This was on his unforgettable album, “Stardust,” which I listened to when it first came out in 1980, over and over again. It was one of those near-perfect albums where every song was really good and perfectly blended in with the other songs.
This immortal and wistful song was recorded by many singers, but the version I remember best and listened to in 1965 was by The Brothers Four
“Try to Remember” The Brothers Four
I also love Try To Remember by Brother’s Four. The lyrics of this song seem so timely in these challenging days in which we are living.
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, follow
Try to remember when life was so tender
That no one wept except the willow
Try to remember the time of September
When love was an ember about to billow
Try to remember and if you remember
Then follow, follow
Deep in December It’s nice to remember
Although you know the snow will follow
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, follow, follow…
Other favorites are The Autumn Leaves & Tis Autumn by Nat King Cole. I love his mellow tones on both songs
@adrift Those were the days when words and music were purer and simpler and more honest and heartfelt. I’m so glad we can treasure those songs decades later.
🙂
@oswego Did you get my reply to your reposted post about the song, We Are One?
I tried replying twice today, but my note doesn’t show up, at least on my end). Let me know if you got it, because if not, I’ll try posting it on this entry.
@adrift
Please try posting it on this entry.
Here is a video of Dimash’s parents. Have you seen it yet? Beautiful voices.
https://youtu.be/MtRPwfQ7cX8
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“the month became the longed for prelude to October and all the glorious associations with Autumn, that most mellow and wistful time of year. The air started getting cool and bracing and all the signs of the season were everywhere, it seemed. It was a longed for time of year, like Spring, and September was its herald.” So true — I long for September as an escape from the terrible temperatures of summer here in the Central Valley — when all you can do is hunker down under the AC. But I love those 2 songs, even though September Song always makes me feel sad about my impending death because of my advancing age.
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The music is just beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. Autumn is my most favorite time, Thanksgiving my most favorite holiday. I’m going to miss spending it with my sister and family this year.
@wildrose_2 Glad you like them. I love both of them, but especially “September Song.”
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