I’m so ready for fall, y’all. I have never been more ready for fall as I am at this moment. That’s because, for reasons out my control, my summer was a bit of a bust. So I’m ready for summer to be over. I love the sun, and I love the heat, but summer 2022 was just another broken promise. I’ve been clinging desperately to the idea that the 2020s version of the 1920s jazz age that will follow our version of the 1918 Great Influenza epidemic is just around the corner. Yeah, no. Instead, there were summer dresses I didn’t wear and festivals I missed for fear of my safety. So bring on the sweaters, the layers, the cozy hunkering. I’m bidding farewell with gusto to the old season and prepping for the new with open arms. Time to queue up the playlist that expresses the perfect mood for the transition from the hazy days of summer to the crisp air of autumn. 

My Top Five Songs for Fall

“September” by Earth, Wind & Fire

Do you remember
The 21st night of September?

The classic ebullient song for those harvest dance parties. Just because summer’s ending doesn’t mean that the fun has to be over. Not yet, anyway. 

“Dog Days are Over” by Florence + the Machine

Leave all your love and your longing behind
You can’t carry it with you if you want to survive

Hallelujah. The dog days of summer are over. This song inspires leaving all disappointments and failed flings behind. Time to rush forward like the autumn wind and embrace the next phase.

“Autumn in New York” by Billie Holiday

It’s Autumn in New York that brings the promise of new love
Autumn in New York is often mingled with pain

Oh, boy. Nobody can tell these hard truths like Billie Holiday. The mix of the ever present hope for something new and better. The inescapability of bittersweet sorrow. Sing it, Billie. 

“Autumn Leaves” by Duke Ellington featuring Ozzie Bailey

I miss you most of all, my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall

I first heard this song from Ellington Indigos when I was in college and it’s forever burned into my memory. One time I was walking up to the building where I used to work and all the leaves were falling from a tree in this golden waterfall. I immediately burst into the opening lines of this song, trying my best to imitate Ozzie Bailey’s impeccable vocals. My vocals . . .  not so much. It was more about the feeling. 

“All Too Well” by Taylor Swift 

Autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place 
and I can picture it after all these days

Red was the first Taylor Swift CD I fell in love with. Track five, “All Too Well”, was the song I would replay as soon as it was over. I could say which and how many lines in this song hit right in the center of my heart. But I’d be revealing way more than I care to about my romantic disappointments history. (And more than you’d probably care to hear.) That’s why I belt those lyrics out at the top of my lungs while driving down a back road in fall. 

What are your favorite songs for the fall season? Let me know in the comments or on social media.