The fall

I know in the cycle of things that seasons come and go, regardless of how much we pay attention.  For those who live in subtropical and warmer places in the world, I don’t think a change in season makes much difference to how life goes on.  

In more temperate places, like Ohio though, seasonal changes can be pretty dramatic.  There is a drastic difference between a hot August day topping out in the 90s and a January night when a Canadian low pressure system brings on a dump of six inches of snow.   

Still, in my view it’s the ‘shoulder’ seasons -- spring and fall -- ushering in those extremes that bring me the most satisfaction.  As a kid with a spring birthday, I always loved gentle rains, the coming north of the sun, the warming and re-blooming of Earth, and the return of baseball.  

Autumn, however, is one tough season to beat for sheer drama.  Even though I can still find a tomato to pick in late October, or pluck one last bell pepper in our little front yard garden, the main event is the color change of trees and the inevitable dropping and collecting of leaves.  Just yesterday I mentioned to Cindy Lou, while looking out our dining room window, that the yellow leaf canopy we’ve enjoyed for the last few weeks has pretty much dropped, leaving us a spider web of bare branches and a better look at the sky beyond.  Winter can’t be too far behind.  

As I write this, a collection of music called ‘midweek’ is playing on my Mac.  It is mostly instrumental, designed to give my brain a fertile place to find connections that make my writing practice workable.  In fact, I find it damned hard to write without music playing. 

Beyond the writing, though, I thoroughly love to create music collections for the sheer joy of it, something I’ve been doing since I bought my first reel-to-reel tape deck back in the day.  Music almost always accompanies me in my work space and in the car, so I’m perpetually ready to pick up on a musical idea that could become a new playlist.  

Today I’d like to give special attention to a new music collection I just completed entitled ‘The fall.’  Along with all the eclectic assemblages of tunes I make, this one fits into the ‘semi-annual’ category, a special ongoing collection I finish twice a year, first one around my birthday in March, with another following at the half-year point in September.  Music included is always both new and great old stuff.  These collections are numbered according to my birthday, so ‘The fall’ is subtitled 62.5.  

I distribute these collections to a few special friends, as illegal as that may be.  They all seem to enjoy ‘em and, after all, it’s only music.  I mean, how good is music if you can’t share it?  

Here’s a little ‘seasonal commentary’ on the new collection: 

62.5:  The fall  

run time: just under 60 minutes

1. ‘Ain’t it the fall’ / Starland Vocal Band  (1976)

Love the vocals these four folks create.  Recorded on Windstar, a John Denver label, so you know I’m going to like it. 

2. ‘Autumn leaves’ / Nat ‘King’ Cole  (1956)

Back when I figured many songs on this collection would be about ‘fall,’ I knew Nat Cole’s classic would have to be part of it.  

3. ‘Summer’s almost over’ / Cheryl Wheeler  (2005)

My sister Martha turned me onto Cheryl Wheeler a few years back.  Great little narrative for us baby boomers. 

4. ‘We take care of our own’ / Bruce Springsteen  (2012)

Now the theme song for Barack Obama’s campaign.  Says something about the America I stand for. 

5. ‘Emmylou’ / First Aid Kit  (2011)

New song from a Swedish duo I know little about.  I’ve been an Emmylou Harris fan for a long time, though. 

6. ‘Cosmic love’ / Florence & The Machine  (2009)

The last song to make the collection.  Needed a newer song and don’t know much about Florence and figured she was worth the listen. 

7. ‘Bridge over troubled water’ / Simon & Garfunkel  (1970)

From the Central Park concert before anybody knew this song. 

8. ‘Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey’ / Paul McCartney  (1971)

Back in our college days, good buddy John Lauer and I headed to Maine for my first road adventure.  On the way through the Berkshires, this song was on heavy radio rotation.  This summer when Noah and I were driving through that same area, wouldn’t you know Sirius/XM satellite radio played it, too -- right on time!  Good to remember John, too!

9. ‘Classical gas’ / Mason Williams  (1968)

Somewhere along the line I realized I liked instrumental stuff a lot.  Easier to work in my head that way.  Mason Williams was one of the first originals that took me places.

10. ‘Inside passage w. Eno’ / poetry by Tom Schaefer

An original poem by your truly, accompanied by perennial favorite ambient artist Brian Eno.  Music from the album ‘Music for Films.’

11. ‘Alaska and me’ / John Denver  (1990)

Another reason to love Alaska -- and JD. 

12. ‘When you wish upon a star’ / Rosemary Clooney 

We in southwestern Ohio hold Rosie as one of our own, who was from Cincinnati.  Had to include a Rosie piece following seeing ‘Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical’ here in town last year.

13. ‘Venus’ / Frankie Avalon  (1959)

I’ve always liked Frankie Avalon, but this mention of Venus is especially for David Peck Todd, a guy who is part of my book, who was the first to photograph the transit of Venus a century ago.  The transit happened again this past summer. 

14. ‘Because’ / Dave Clark Five  (1964)

It’s the British invasion, you know?  ;-) 

15. ‘Brand new key’ / Melanie  (1971)

Cindy Lou brought this one back to me.  She sings it to the little kids she babysits!

16. ‘Desiderata’ / Les Crane  (1971)

Contrary to common belief at the time of release, this is not an old classic text, but a poem from the 1920s by a lawyer from Terre Haute, Indiana, Max Ehrmann.  ‘You have a right to be here...’ 

17. ‘I can see clearly now’ / Johnny Nash (1972)

If only we could keep that clarity! 

Today’s elder idea:  ‘Who could help but welcome autumn and the promise of a early snow?’

Cheryl Wheeler