GC Myers- September Song 2014
August has finally and thankfully passed. You would think as one gets older you would want to hold on to every moment–every day, week and month– but August never passes quickly enough for me. This distaste for August has given September an almost magical appeal. The very sound of the word feels cool and easy in my mind.
Relieved from the hard edges and sharpness of August, September brings cooler air and falling leaves. Time passes just as quickly but there is a calmness which allows for reflection. In September, I often find myself stopping and just standing, looking into the sky and absorbing the moment, glad to just be where I am.
Maybe that’s why I love the old song September Song. It’s a wistful reflection on the passing of time and aging. Composed by Kurt Weill, it was written for and first recorded by Walter Huston for the Broadway play Knickerbocker Holiday in which he plays Peter Stuyvesant, the governor of New Amsterdam (present day New York) in the 1600’s.
The play didn’t have much success but the song, written for Huston’s limited vocal range and rough voice, has lived on as one of the great standards of modern music, recorded by scores of artists over the years. Today I thought I would play a beautiful version from the one and only Ella Fitzgerald. As I look out of my studio window, it is cool and foggy and the words and sound of this song just feel so right for the first day of September.
Have a great day.
Redtree Times 