“Fall Classics”
Earlier in the week, the fall arrived. (No, I’m not talking about the plummeting Mets bullpen.) See if you can name the songs and poems that celebrate this bittersweet yet colorful season:
1. “The leaves of brown came tumbling down, remember?” was the musical question posed in which song popularized by the inexplicably-famous Al Jolson. (Yes, of course he was before your time– MY time, too! I’m old, but I’m not THAT old!)
2. Name the Romantic poet whose “Ode to Autumn” contained these lines:
“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom-friend of the morning sun. . .”
3. If you’ve had “no lovin’ since January, February, June, or July. . .” what seasonal song are you singing?
4. What’s the title of the perennial favorite song from a Broadway show by Brecht and Weill called Knickerbocker Holiday? It contains the line:
“And the days trickle down to a precious few– September, November. . .”
5. Name the Johnny Mercer song in which the lyrics miss “the summer kisses, the sun-burned hands I used to hold.”
6. Vernon Duke, a Ukrainian immigrant, dedicated which musical tribute to a certain big city in his adopted land?
7. L’autunno was one of four violin concerti composed circa 1725 by which composer?
8. Back in fourth grade, the teacher may have made you memorize lines such as:
“When comrades seek sweet country haunts
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour. . .”
The next line is also the poem’s title. Name the title and the poet.
9. Victor Herbert was the composer, and the great Al Dubin, the lyricist for a song that refers to a short period of warm weather occurring after a frost in fall. Name the season which is also the song’s title.
10. Name the work and the author of the poem that begins;
“That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang. . .”
11. Exactly what is poet Thomas Hood talking about in these lines?:
“No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds –“
12. “There’s a dance pavilion in the rain, all shuttered down; a winding country lane, all russet brown. . .” is Johnnny Mercer's gorgeous imagery and internal rhyme in “Early Autumn,” a Ralph Burns song from the late(before my time) 40s. Name the big bandleader who had a hit with that song, and/or “Chances Are” you can name the pop singer of the 60s who included the tune on one of his albums.
13. BONUS “When I FALL in Love” was a huge hit for a singer in the 1950's, whose daughter also had a successful career recording her Dad’s songs. Name them both.
Answers follow in the "Reply" below.
