{"id":118,"date":"2008-09-10T19:33:39","date_gmt":"2008-09-10T19:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.wordpress.com\/?p=118"},"modified":"2012-12-02T17:57:38","modified_gmt":"2012-12-02T22:57:38","slug":"september-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=118","title":{"rendered":"September Song"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Oh, it\u2019s a long, long while from May to December, but the days grow short when you reach September.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSeptember Song\u201d always comes into my mind and out of my vocal chords at this time of year. I sang it in the shower this morning and thought about the ways in which Kurt Weill\u2019s music in this popular standard captures the emotions of early autumn.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What works best about \u201cSeptember Song\u201d is the tempo. As Maxwell Anderson\u2019s lyrics in the song’s two verses remind us, September is the time of the year (and the time in our life, if we buy into the song\u2019s metaphor of the calendar year as a stand-in for a person\u2019s lifespan) at which the pace starts picking up, and\u00a0human existence\u00a0becomes particularly precious. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The song\u2019s singer\/narrator is an older man recalling the days of his youth, days in which he waited patiently for love and life’s treasures\u00a0to come his way. In\u00a0September, he explains, we \u201chaven\u2019t got time for the waiting game.\u201d Winter lurks right behind autumn. Death follows middle age.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In contrast to this “gather ye rosebuds” mentality, Kurt Weill\u2019s melody embraces and enhances the shortening days by belying the lyrics and taking\u00a0its time. The song moves at a pace that seems lazy but is\u00a0instead deliberate. Its mode is entirely conversational. In fact, it was premiered in 1938 by Walter Huston, a non-singer who talked his way through the piece. There simply isn\u2019t any way to rush through this music. The joy of \u201cSeptember Song\u201d for both a singer and an audience is its suspension of time. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>For the time it takes to sing the song, the old man character slows down the motions of the earth and the heavens–and makes a few moments in September seem to last forever. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As I walk down the street with my dog Truffle on a sunny September day, I often feel the same sense of time suspended that \u201cSeptember Song\u201d evokes. True, we see signs of age and of the onset of winter all around us. A maple tree starts to turn orange. The dammed-up mountain stream in which we swim grows cooler and more challenging. Sunset arrives earlier and earlier. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We also feel signs of new beginnings, however. With summer\u2019s heat gone, Truffle has a new spring in her step. And I somehow always find that\u00a0 September is the ideal time for embarking on new projects\u2014going on a diet, learning new music, starting a blog. Like the narrator of \u201cSeptember Song,\u201d I know that I need to make stronger decisions than I did earlier in the year and in my life. Like him as well, I have faith in the power of art, nature, and sheer endurance to help\u00a0humans embrace and extend the time we have.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And these few precious days I\u2019ll spend with you. These precious days I\u2019ll spend with you.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/em>— Tinky<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To hear Walter Huston sing \u201cSeptember Song\u201d in the musical Knickerbocker Holiday<\/em>, visit <\/span>http:\/\/beemp3.com\/download.php?file=255209&song=September+Song<\/a><\/span><\/span>. (Note that his lyrics are a little different from the standard version!)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Composer<\/a>

Composer Kurt Weill Copyright 2003 Milken Family Foundation<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Oh, it\u2019s a long, long while from May to December, but the days grow short when you reach September. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSeptember Song\u201d always comes into my mind and out of my vocal chords at this time of year. I sang it in the shower this morning and thought about the ways in which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[5,23],"tags":[147,240,1736,319,347,348,391,410],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10298,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions\/10298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}