What Are the Songs of *Fall*?
I'm asking the important questions here. Also, quick-and-tasty pulled pork, an autumn daydrinker and more! It's Friday at the ACBN.
We’re at a bit of a seasonal crossroads—musically, that is.
Summer? Summer’s all about bright, poppy, danceable hits. Each year, by some sort of collective consensus, we elevate one song to the throne of Song of the Summer. It will forever belong to that year, and remind us of that specific summer for decades hence. This year, that’s most likely Sabrina Carpenter’s effervescent hit “Espresso”.1
Winter’s got its standbys, too—Christmas music is its own robust genre, and many people will switch over to round-the-clock holiday favorites as soon as Thanksgiving is over.
(Or Halloween, for the more degenerate among you.)
What are the songs of fall, though?
You can conjure up a hot summer day simply by cranking “Smooth” by Santana ft. Rob Thomas, or a snowy Christmas morning with “All I Want For Christmas (Is You)”. Whither goest the autumnal bops, though? What songs represent this, the greatest of all four seasons?
I’ve done some thinking on the subject, and I’ve got a few admittedly-imperfect nominees.
I’d like to hear yours, too.
“September” by Earth, Wind & Fire
This one’s an edge case, by design. I personally can’t let a September 21st pass without listening to the song that explicitly mentions that date, which means that—for me—fall cannot start without this song.
Unfortunately, that day-precision kills its staying power.
Who’s listening to “September” on the 22nd, let alone in October? That’d be like humming “Auld Lang Syne” in mid-February. You can’t do that. We live in a society.
“Autumn in New York”
The jazz standard’s certainly on the nose for the question, and the countless recordings of it over the years (Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, Bing Crosby, Diana Krall, etc.) means there’s a version for many different tastes. Also, autumn in New York (the place) is fantastic. There’s no better time of year to be in New York City than early October, in my opinion.
Ultimately, it’s a little too dated to assume the mantle, though.
Pretty much any song by the band Driveways
Okay, maybe this one is just me.
Still, the Massachusetts-based post-hardcore band plays a big part in the season for me every year, as nearly all of their albums and EPs have come out in October, and their music—really, their whole vibe—strongly suggests Halloween in New England (complimentary).
Heck, they have a song titled “October Forever”:
Not for everybody. I get that.
But it’s extremely for me.
“The Monster Mash” by Bobby Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers
Undeniably a fantastic song. It tells a whole story! There’s no better Halloween song, in my book.
Still, I can’t help but be haunted by the fact that we’ve never actually heard The Monster Mash—we’ve only heard a song about the Monster Mash.
(This is the same issue explicity addressed in Tenacious D’s “Tribute”.)
As good as this song is, it leaves us longing for something just out of reach. That’s a very autumnal feeling, I guess, so it stays in the top tier of contenders.
“November Rain” by Guns N’ Roses
Great song, better video.
Heck, by virtue of my age and my grandparents getting cable in the early ‘90s, it’s my foundational perception of what a “music video” is. All music videos should be like, nine minutes long and feature a guy jumping through a wedding cake for no apparent reason. I would write more about this video, but there is nothing I can say that hasn’t already been said better by the esteemed
years ago.(Brian’s newsletter
is a delight, as is Brian. You should subscribe to it.)Anyways, the song is an all-time banger, and this definitely fits the seasonally-affected vibe of the back half of the season:
I know it's hard to keep an open heart
When even friends seem out to harm you
But if you could heal a broken heart
Wouldn't time be out to charm you?
I’d almost be ready to crown it.
But I think there’s one better fit.
“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot
The eponymous event took place on November 10th, 1975—you know, when the gales of November turn gloomy.
Beyond that, though, this song just feels like fall.
There’s no more autumnal vibe that can be conjured than sitting in a camp chair around a fire pit, snuggled under a stadium blanket with a warming drink in your hand, listening to a seven-minute folk song about a shipwreck. I am not saying any of this in jest; I love this song. My wife still complains when it comes up on our shared “Fire Pit” playlist, but that’s what she gets for sharing it with me.
AT SEVEN PM, A MAIN HATCHWAY CAVED IN, HE SAID ‘FELLAS, IT’S BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YA’
That’s my pick: for the 49th fall in a row, the Song of the Fall belongs to Gordon Lightfoot.
Friends, it’s Friday at The Action Cookbook Newsletter.
Your ol’ pal Cookbook’s been on the road for much of the last month, but I’m looking to settle down and cozy up with fall this weekend.
In service of that goal, I’ve got a quick-by-design pulled pork recipe, a cocktail specifically engineered for enjoying on the porch on a fall afternoon, some great music, a handful of adorable animals, and more!
The legend lives on from the internet on down, of the Fridays at ACB’s letter…
Cook Smarter, Not Harder
I’ve made a small fuss the last few weeks about my intent to celebrate CROCKTOBER, welcoming in the blessedly-cooler days of fall by breaking out my big pots for some all-in-one meals. Two weeks ago, I made a killer creamy chicken noodle soup, and last week, I tried my hand at jambalaya.
Today’s effort is an offshoot of the latter.
The jambalaya I featured last Friday featured an impressive assortment of meats—Tasso ham, Andouille sausage, chicken thighs and pork shoulder. By nature of shopping at Costco, I had a good amount of pork shoulder left after I’d prepped what I’d need for that dish. Rather than freeze it, I seized the opportunity to prep a second dish that could itself be saved up for later—a pressure-cooker pulled pork.
A good number of pulled pork recipes default to barbecue-sauce flavors, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, I wanted this to hew closer to “chili” than “BBQ”.
Working with what I had on hand, I whipped up a quick concoction that turned out great. I really do mean quick, too—I prepped all of this in between steps of the jambalaya, which isn’t a dish that can be left unattended for too long.
AC’s Pulled Pork in a Pinch
3-4 pounds pork shoulder, cut into roughly 1” cubes