Despite being a man whose natural habitat is the tropics, autumn has always been my favourite season. Even its sonorous pronunciation in various languages - autumn, otoño, automne, outono - suggests something of a slow descending into months of fiery arboreal displays as timber’s finery descends gently to earth, warm coffee on brisk mornings (or tea in the afternoon as the day’s light is growing dim), a warm fire inside a comfortable old house, book in hand and sleeping felines and canines nearby or a Manhattan in a salubrious hotel bar somewhere.
“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall,” the writer (and sometimes Baltimore resident) F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in The Great Gatsby and so, in honour of the change of seasons, I thought I would present a list of music that I closely associate with it, much as I do certain works of literature (such as James Joyce’s Dubliners) or films (such as the original 1973 Robin Hardy-directed, Anthony Shaffer-penned The WIcker Man). I would love to hear some of your favourite autumn tunes, as well, and if I manage to introduce you to some good new music, that will make my very happy.
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