Autumn Playlist

"As the days dwindle down, to a precious few..."

I know you know those lines--written by Maxwell Anderson, set to music by Kurt Weill, and memorably sung by Walter Huston. "September Song." It's that time.

There are other wonderful songs for a season that seems to bring a kind of rueful memory, a soft regret. Probably the first on the playlist would be "Les fueilles mortes," better known as "Autumn Leaves" in its English lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was Yves Montand's signature song, and when he ended his solo performances with it, the applause went on for what seemed like days.

Johnny Mercer gave English lyrics to another European song, the German "Summer Wind." Sinatra recorded it, but the better version is heard in Mercer's own bourbon and honey delivery. And Mercer also wrote lyrics for "Early Autumn," the coda to Ralph Burns's "Summer Sequence," recorded in the 1940s by the Woody Herman band. It was Stan Getz's solo on "Early Autumn" that made him not just one of the Four Brothers, but a star. And then there are such wonderful, unforgettable Mercer images as "a dance pavilion in the rain."

Perhaps the classic lament for a lost summer love is "The Things We Did Last Summer." Julie Styne wrote the music, and Sammy Cahn set down the words, which include "The leaves began to fade, like promises we made."

Fill out the list with "Autumn Serenade," "September in the Rain" and eccentric Henry Nemo's "'Tis Autumn."

The truly sad song doesn't come until later. That's "When October Goes," the last lyrics Mercer wrote. His widow took them to Barry Manilow, and the composer set them to a farewell melody. The only recording of it that we know is on the album "Rosemary Clooney Sings the Songs of Johnny Mercer."

When October comes, pour a glass of brandy and listen.