Everyday Canvas

September Songs

Prompt: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow liked the month of September. Does any part of the year feel more inspiring to you for your writing?

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When I was young I, too, found September touching if not inspirational. I don’t think the inspirational part had anything to do with the month but with all the September songs, or autumn songs in general, that circled inside my brain like a merry-go-round.

I recall some Italian lady crooning Il Septembre, but I neither recall the song nor the singer’s name. And, there are others from long ago, really long ago, like Georges Brassens’ "Le 22 septembre" and another song sung by a variety of singers, C'est en septembre. The only line I remember from the latter is, "La grande foire aux illusions" meaning 'the grand sham of illusions.' Also in existence was Les Feuilles Mortes sung by Yves Montand, which still is sung in all languages as Autumn Leaves. Then Sinatra, Tony Bennet and their cronies singing the September Song came about, and after about a decade plus, Earth Wind and Fire’s “Do you remember the 21st night of September? Love was changing the minds of pretenders // While chasing the clouds away…” And the September songs scratching inside my brain, I think, stopped with that one.

Other than the September songs and autumn that did a number on me in my youth, I am not really inspired by the time of the year, at all. I am more inspired by people, nature, and things that happen, but it was fun to read about Longfellow liking the month of September and finding it inspirational.

“Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow