A seasonally topical word relating to the the red pigment of tree leaves, fruits and flowers, that appears particularly when changing in autumn, as opposed to the green effect of chlorophyll, from the Greek erythros for red, and phyll for leaves. Some plants also include red leaves all year round, such as Syngonium erythrophyllum or (Red Arrow), a common houseplant which has a mixture of dark green, arrow-shaped leaves on top, with a rich maroon or deep red underside.
But what of songs about red leaves in autumn? Here’s a small selection.
Autumn Leaves is the English-language lyrical adaptation of the French song Les Feuilles mortes (The Dead Leaves) composed by Joseph Kosma in 1945. The original lyrics were written by Jacques Prévert in French, and in 1950 Johnny Mercer wrote the English lyrics:
The falling leaves drift by my window
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold.
There are many versions by different artists, but few do it better than Nat King Cole:
And with a very different style, here’s Television’s Tom Verlaine and from his solo self-titled album, Red Leaves: “Red leaves … whirling, across my lawn …”
And back to more romantic note, here’s the Drifters with The Bells Of St. Mary's, a song also recorded by Bing Crosby and many others.
“When red leaves are falling
The love bells shall ring out …”
And here’s BB King with the bittersweet, gospel-blues number Take It Home:
“Fall winds blow and the red leaves falling
Don't know there's a voice keeps calling
Saying, you have found your song
You've been gone so long …”
And finally, a very recent song by singer-songwriter Meadow Talks - Red Leaves, Green Leaves, which makes a seasonal switch to convey a dreamy melancholy:
“Just like red leaves in the spring
Remind me of the time we need
Passing right beneath our feet
Look around and you're not here
Just like green leaves in the fall
Leave you out in the cold
Let you go and now I fear, l′ll
Look around and you're not here”
See also another previous autumn-related Word of the Week - kexy - here.
So then, any more erythrophyll-related music skipping across the sands of your imagination or sounds of your own music library? Feel free also to share anything more in relation to it, whether in music or wider culture, such as from film, art, or other contexts, in comments below.
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