I’m often asked why our magazine is called Wayzgoose or what it means, and upon further inspection, I found that a Wayzgoose was a party that “marked the traditional end of summer and the start of the season of working by candlelight.” And so, with the Autumn equinox having passed and the halcyon days of summer receding quickly in the rearview, I have curated an autumnal, or Wayzgoose-themed playlist, if you will. Put this on while walking to lectures, cooking supper for your friends, or, fittingly, working into the wee hours. I’ve picked each song perhaps for a specific autumn referencing lyric, or maybe the album art looks as though it was photographed in October – I’m a simple man. But beyond that, all these songs have a particular warmth and introspection to them that, to me, is reminiscent of this season. Autumn is inherently transitional, often prompting a bit of reflection or solipsism (whatever you prefer to call it). So have a cup of tea and wander around the bailey, romanticising the oncoming chill and its accompanying heating bills and colds.
- Summer’s End – John Prine
To kick us off, we have perhaps the saddest song on the playlist. Prine’s rich and wise voice imparts words of comfort to the listener. A wistful ode to lost summer love and reminiscing upon happy memories best sets the tone for this playlist.
- Color Song – Maggie Rogers
At this time of year, the clocks change, and the days grow shorter; Rogers opens this track singing, “now that the light is fading”, her crystalline Appalachian harmonies ebbing and flowing like a mountain stream – the perfect accompaniment to a walk along the river at dusk.
- Friend of mine – Whitney
This song from Whitney’s sophomore album sounds like a rollicking road trip through Northumberland as the leaves change, creating avenues of burning colour. The guitar and brass post-chorus sound like the low harvest-time sunlight sliding through the tree line, bathing everything in amber.
- These days – Nico
Full of regret and longing, this song plays in Wes Anderson’s ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’. Set during “fall” in New York, ‘Margot’ steps off a bus, wrapped in a mink coat, exhaust fumes steaming around her in the cold, and locks eyes with a past love. For those who think Anderson’s style is unemotional and too focused on the aesthetic, watch this scene; the choice of song may just change your mind.
- Smoke signals – Phoebe Bridgers
I’d be remiss not to include Phoebe Bridgers, queen of autumn, for her melancholy comfort and recurring ghostly imagery. With a title evoking images of bonfires, she writes of a week in the country, where she and a partner played at being Thoreau in ‘Walden,’ a book alternatively titled ‘Life in the Woods.’ It affirms the craving many of us have during October to be more in tune with the natural world.
- Girl from the North Country – Bob Dylan
Dylan sings of a time,
“When the rivers freeze and summer ends
Please see for me if she’s wearing a coat so warm
To keep her from the howlin’ winds”
Thematically, this track is a perfect companion to ‘Summer’s End’, bottling the hazy nostalgia of a bygone romance. Moreover, the cover art with Dylan and his girlfriend walking down a street, bundled in jackets, on a characteristically bright and crisp autumn day, is rather appropriate.
- Harbor – Clairo
Recorded at Allaire studio, in the mountains outside Woodstock, during October of 2020. The rustic setting of the recording: log cabin, candle-lit dinners, open fires, and long hikes through the woods permeates the track sonically. Seventies Wurlitzers and pianos eddy beneath Clairo’s voice as her lyrics and melodies unspool like a ball of tangled wool.
- Old Friends / Bookends Theme – Live in Toledo, OH – November 1969 – Simon and Garfunkel
Posed in polo neck jumpers on the cover, this pair sings of two old friends recalling memories, wrapped in overcoats on a park bench as the wind pushes fallen leaves under their feet. This live version specially marries the tracks together and has a profound intimacy.
- Blackberry Stone – Laura Marling
Laura Marling’s pastoral folk is particularly suited to this season with its traditional old-English melodies. I have often put on her music whilst rambling through the Somerset countryside, where apples (it is the home of Thatcher’s cider) and blackberries are in abundance at this time of year.
- Harvest Breed – Nick Drake
Anything from Nick Drake’s oeuvre is worth mentioning here, but I’ve gone for the most literal choice to close out this playlist. His bucolic music is the perfect accompaniment to Autumn.
“Falling fast and falling free you look to find a friend
Falling fast and falling free this could just be the end
Falling fast you stoop to touch and kiss the flowers that bend
And you’re ready now
For the harvest breed”
Other worthy mentions:
Hammond Song – the Roches
Shelter – Ray LaMontagne
Hello rain – The Softies