As the notes of a scorching hot summer continue to fade away, we get ready for cooler days. That means hot chocolate, woolly socks and our favourite records on repeat. That’s right; it’s time to get into our sweaters and our feelings with 10 of the most iconic autumnal tracks ever released.
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Guns ’n Roses — November Rain: Some of today’s music listeners might gawk at the nearly nine minute runtime of ‘November Rain’, but before it was released in 1992, Guns ’n Roses had recorded a whopping 18-minute version of the song, according to Slash. The song is based on Del James’ short story ‘Without You’, part of the book ‘The Language of Fear’. It revolves around a rock star who grieves his girlfriend, who died by suicide.
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Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong — Autumn in New York: It doesn’t get better than two legends joining together for this jazz ode to leaves falling and love being reborn in the big city, recorded in 1957. If you’ve ever seen (or imagined) Central Park turn from green to rusty orange, you’ll want to keep this one on your playlist.
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The White Stripes — Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground: With the weather cooling and sentiments running at an all time high, songs about loneliness just hit different. The Stripes’ ‘Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground’ is noted for its rawness and rough recording.
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Manic Street Preachers — Autumnsong: Maybe it’s the perfect season to make rash decisions, like chopping your hair off — autumn is the season of change after all. At least that’s what Manic Street Preachers have us thinking, as they croon, “Now baby, what’ve you done to your hair? Is it just the same time of year, when you think that you don’t really care?”
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Green Day — Wake Me Up When September Ends: One of the more morose songs on this list, Billie Joe Armstrong wrote ‘Wake Me Up ...’ about his late father who died of cancer when Armstrong was only 10 years old. The music video starred Jamie Bell and Evan Rachel Wood as a couple torn apart by the Iraq war.
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The Neighbourhood — Sweater Weather: If you wait all year long until it’s cool enough to pull out your hoodies from storage, then don’t give this one a miss. The Neighbourhood’s ‘Sweater Weather’ is a perfect encapsulation of a young Autumn romance.
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Eva Cassidy — Autumn Leaves: Eva Cassidy paints a heartbreaking picture of loss amid the changing season, singing, “Since you went away the days grow long, And soon I’ll hear old winter’s song, But I miss you most of all my darling, When autumn leaves start to fall.”
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The Cure — Last Days of Summer: The Cure lean into the melancholic side of the season changing — aka saying goodbye to the warmth of summer as it gives way to the cold of autumn. ‘Last Day of Summer’ might ring too true for some of us during the slower days of 2020, opening with, “Nothing I am, Nothing I dream, Nothing is new.” We can always count on The Cure when we want to indulge in some sad music.
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Enya — The First of Autumn: Rich, urgent and stirring, Enya’s ‘First of Autumn’ will sweep you up in its wordless instrumentations. It’s the kind of song you listen to while drinking hot cocoa and dreaming of more eventful days.
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Wyclef Jean — Gone Till November: There’s nothing more quintessentially autumn than Wyclef Jean’s outfit in the music video for ‘Gone Till November’ — we’re talking black leather trench coat on top of a white turtleneck sweater. The artist name-drops Bob Dylan in the track (‘knock on heaven’s door like I’m Bob Dylan), and the iconic Dylan makes a cameo appearance in the music video. The Top 10 hit was from Jean’s 1997 debut solo album ‘The Carnival’.
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