There are a lot of song reviews out there. (I follow Todd in the Shadows, among others.) But these all look at the singers, as well as the song. So in this series, I want to look at specific songs.After all, it is the job of the singer to know as much as possible about the songs we sing.
September is here, and I thought I’d start off with a song about the month. Although, in truth, this song is about aging, and not the month, but I still like it.
September Song was written by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson for the 1938 Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday. To understand Knickerbocker Holiday, I need to give a little background on Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson.
Kurt Weill was born on 3 March 1900 in Germany, the third of four children in a German Jewish family. He trained as a musician/composer and was quite successful in his native Germany. The most famous of his early works is probably the Three-Penny Opera, which gives us the wonderful Mack the Knife (check out this great version by Louis Armstrong).
Weill escaped Nazi Germany in March of 1933, and eventually made his way to New York, where he opened a production of Three-Penny Opera. It ran for 13 performances.
He decided that he needed to learn the American style of song writing, and within a very short time, he succeeded. In fact, he became extremely important in the evolution of the American musical. Shows were slowly changing from the variety show format to the idea of the music continuing the plot of a cohesive story.
One of these was 1938’s Knickerbocker Holiday. The play is somewhat loosely based on stories by Washington Irving, which are about life in New Amsterdam (what New York was called when it was a Dutch colony). Although, the musical is also a criticism of FDR’s New Deal, which Anderson felt was a dangerous turn for government to take.
Anderson, it turns out, was a bit subversive. Born in December of 1888, the son of a Baptist preacher, he got fired from a lot of journalist and teaching jobs for his pacifist ideas (keep in mind this was during and after WWI), or for arguing with his bosses. Finally, he settled on writing plays and adapting books into screenplays. He was very successful at this type of writing, with among many, many others, the wonderful Anne of a Thousand Days about Anne Boleyn’s brief time as Queen of England.
Back to the rehearsals for Knickerbocker Holiday. Walter Huston, playing Peter Stuyvesant, wanted a solo. In an afternoon, Weill and Anderson churned out a solo designed to suit his limited range and ability. That was September Song, which is now considered a classic part of the Great American Songbook.
As I said earlier, this is a song about aging; with May being the spring of life, and December meaning close to the end of life. So, September is when we are feeling our age. Like the leaves, our hair may be changing color, if not to such bright, vibrant colors that some leaves achieve. And we start to feel that time is flying past and becoming more precious.
When I was a young man courting the girls
I played me a waiting game
If a maid refused me with tossing curls
I'd let the old Earth take a couple of whirls
While I plied her with tears in lieu of pearls
And as time came around she came my way
As time came around, she came
Oh, it's a long, long time, from May to December
But the days grow short when you reach September
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
And I haven't got time for the waiting game
Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few
September, November
And these few precious days I'll spend with you
These precious days I'll spend with you
And these few precious days I'll spend with you
These precious days I'll spend with you
September Song has been covered by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Dee Dee Bridgewater. It was even done in the TV series Smash by Walter Huston’s granddaughter, Anjelica Huston. Jessica Lange also covered it in American Horror Story. I’m not going to say this song is a slut, but it has definitely been around.
I’ll be posting some versions of this song every day on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so visit there to hear them! If you have any stories about September Song, or favorite versions, let me know in the comments section, I’d love to hear from you.
I’ll be posting roughly once a week with a new song. I’m trying to make the songs seasonal, but I can make exceptions. So, if there’s a song that you’d like some background on, or questions about what it means, let me know.
Thanks for reading! Until next time!
September is here, and I thought I’d start off with a song about the month. Although, in truth, this song is about aging, and not the month, but I still like it.
September Song was written by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson for the 1938 Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday. To understand Knickerbocker Holiday, I need to give a little background on Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson.
Kurt Weill was born on 3 March 1900 in Germany, the third of four children in a German Jewish family. He trained as a musician/composer and was quite successful in his native Germany. The most famous of his early works is probably the Three-Penny Opera, which gives us the wonderful Mack the Knife (check out this great version by Louis Armstrong).
Weill escaped Nazi Germany in March of 1933, and eventually made his way to New York, where he opened a production of Three-Penny Opera. It ran for 13 performances.
He decided that he needed to learn the American style of song writing, and within a very short time, he succeeded. In fact, he became extremely important in the evolution of the American musical. Shows were slowly changing from the variety show format to the idea of the music continuing the plot of a cohesive story.
One of these was 1938’s Knickerbocker Holiday. The play is somewhat loosely based on stories by Washington Irving, which are about life in New Amsterdam (what New York was called when it was a Dutch colony). Although, the musical is also a criticism of FDR’s New Deal, which Anderson felt was a dangerous turn for government to take.
Anderson, it turns out, was a bit subversive. Born in December of 1888, the son of a Baptist preacher, he got fired from a lot of journalist and teaching jobs for his pacifist ideas (keep in mind this was during and after WWI), or for arguing with his bosses. Finally, he settled on writing plays and adapting books into screenplays. He was very successful at this type of writing, with among many, many others, the wonderful Anne of a Thousand Days about Anne Boleyn’s brief time as Queen of England.
Back to the rehearsals for Knickerbocker Holiday. Walter Huston, playing Peter Stuyvesant, wanted a solo. In an afternoon, Weill and Anderson churned out a solo designed to suit his limited range and ability. That was September Song, which is now considered a classic part of the Great American Songbook.
As I said earlier, this is a song about aging; with May being the spring of life, and December meaning close to the end of life. So, September is when we are feeling our age. Like the leaves, our hair may be changing color, if not to such bright, vibrant colors that some leaves achieve. And we start to feel that time is flying past and becoming more precious.
When I was a young man courting the girls
I played me a waiting game
If a maid refused me with tossing curls
I'd let the old Earth take a couple of whirls
While I plied her with tears in lieu of pearls
And as time came around she came my way
As time came around, she came
Oh, it's a long, long time, from May to December
But the days grow short when you reach September
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
And I haven't got time for the waiting game
Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few
September, November
And these few precious days I'll spend with you
These precious days I'll spend with you
And these few precious days I'll spend with you
These precious days I'll spend with you
September Song has been covered by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Dee Dee Bridgewater. It was even done in the TV series Smash by Walter Huston’s granddaughter, Anjelica Huston. Jessica Lange also covered it in American Horror Story. I’m not going to say this song is a slut, but it has definitely been around.
I’ll be posting some versions of this song every day on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so visit there to hear them! If you have any stories about September Song, or favorite versions, let me know in the comments section, I’d love to hear from you.
I’ll be posting roughly once a week with a new song. I’m trying to make the songs seasonal, but I can make exceptions. So, if there’s a song that you’d like some background on, or questions about what it means, let me know.
Thanks for reading! Until next time!
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