The Music of Autumn
The increasingly cool weather combined with the earlier setting sun has definitely put me in the autumnal mood. Even though these signposts most surely mark the end of summer, I confess that I look forward to them every year. They bring to mind good memories of school, especially those final years at North Park; they make me look forward to the comfort of fleece and boots and sitting by a late night fire; they even make me look forward to the crisp, damp air of early morning.
For me, autumn also has its own soundtrack; and, yes, I am fully aware of how odd that fact is. Not surprisingly the main score is that of George Winston's Autumn: the clean, melodic accompaniment to numerous hours of reading and schoolwork. (One close friend still has the Pavlovian response to crack the textbooks whenever he hears George Winston's piano playing.) But another album that holds an equally strong association with autumn is the Greatest Hits of James Taylor. I am not entirely sure what in this record---especially those first six songs---represents autumn with such power. It may be because the first time I heard it was the fall of my freshman year at college. Or it could be that the contemplative, sad nature of the lyrics in "Fire and Rain" and "Sweet Baby James" invoke a feeling of slowing down after the crazy summer rush. I don't know; and I probably never will know. All I am certain of is the ability for these songs to simultaneously send me to the past while firmly rooting me in the present; not many things can perform such a feat.