# What is a September song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2009, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992 "2009-08-28T02:07:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drewchas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@drewchas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewchas)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/1 "2009-08-28T02:07:40Z")
I recently saw musician Pieta Brown post a list of her five favorite September songs. 1. Don’t Lose Your Cool - Albert Collins 2. Out Of Left Field - Percy Sledge 3. Lovers Rock - Sade 4. It’s All Good - Bob Dylan 5. Shiny Shoes - The Pines The Dylan and Sade songs do not mention the word September. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/2 "2009-08-28T02:09:58Z")
I don’t know, but I hope that September Song by Kurt Weill qualifies no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Captain\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/3 "2009-08-28T02:16:55Z")
‘September Gurls’ by Big Star should also get a look in. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/4 "2009-08-28T02:26:55Z")
Maybe it’s a song exploring that ‘summer is over, playtime/the easy life is over, time to get back to school/work’ feeling everyone here in Canada/northern USA gets as September approaches? I’ve never heard the expression before. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/5 "2009-08-28T02:45:59Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I don’t know, but I hope that September Song by Kurt Weill qualifies no matter what. Yes! And “Try to Remember” from _The Fantasticks_. ---
**Author:** ![drewchas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@drewchas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewchas)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/6 "2009-08-28T02:49:44Z")
Nobody is answering my question. I don’t know what a “September song” is. I thought The Straight Dope message board was for trying to get answers to questions. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/7 "2009-08-28T03:13:44Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Maybe it’s a song exploring that ‘summer is over, playtime/the easy life is over, time to get back to school/work’ feeling everyone here in Canada/northern USA gets as September approaches? I’ve never heard the expression before. Close. This is the rock/pop version, of which the best example is “A Summer Song” by Chad and Jeremy. (One of the best, prettiest, and most underrated pop songs of the 60s, BTW. And they wrote it.) I’ve already heard the expression applied to songs that used September metaphorically as September of one’s life, i.e. the time before old age when one looks back at the transitory pleasures one rushed through and instead turns to a true companion for the trip through old age and unto death. “September Song” by Maxwell Anderson and Kurt Weill is the most famous example. Sinatra’s “When I Was 17” by Irvin Drake is along this line, although it’s all about looking back. The songs in the OP seem to use the motif of finding the right companion, but it’s hard to see in them the September metaphor except obliquely. I wouldn’t put them in the category of September Song but musicians may have a different or more specialized vision of it means. ETA: drewchas, you’re complaining because people didn’t completely answer your question after 42 minutes? Get off the meth and onto something mellower. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/8 "2009-08-28T03:17:41Z")
I’m not sure there is a definitive answer to what a “September Song” is. Since I’m an old fart :), I don’t know who Pieta Brown is and I’m not familiar with her five songs. But, if one is to judge by THE “September Song” by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson,\*\* Sunspace \*\* is on the right track. Look at it as a metaphor for one’s life, not one season. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/9 "2009-08-28T03:32:26Z")
> [@drewchas](#): > > Nobody is answering my question. I don’t know what a “September song” is. I thought The Straight Dope message board was for trying to get answers to questions. Yes but it’s also a place where tangential discussion is hard to resist. You did get some guesses. If you wait a while someone who knows the answer might see your thread. Be patient. > [@drewchas](#): > > I recently saw musician Pieta Brown post a list of her five favorite September songs. It might help to have some context. Where did you see this post? Can you give us a link? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/10 "2009-08-28T03:35:03Z")
Moving to Cafe Society from GQ. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/11 "2009-08-28T03:39:12Z")
> [@drewchas](#): > > Nobody is answering my question. I don’t know what a “September song” is. I thought The Straight Dope message board was for trying to get answers to questions. Yes, but sometimes it takes longer than 42 minutes, especially with a vague or ambiguous OP. I’m going with the entering-the-latter-stages-of-one’s-life theory . . . about where I am right now, at 63. In fact, I may be about ready for an October song. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/12 "2009-08-28T03:39:16Z")
**freckafree’s** and **Exapno Mapcase** , is what I was thinking when I read the OP. More specifically, I would associate the Summer with youth. When the Summer begins it feels endless, like you have all the time in the world. When it’s over, you wonder how it could have gone so fast, an whether you really made the most of it. Of course, that’s just my general impression, not necessarily the correct answer. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/13 "2009-08-28T03:58:17Z")
> [@drewchas](#): > > Nobody is answering my question. I don’t know what a “September song” is. I thought The Straight Dope message board was for trying to get answers to questions. Boy are you impatient. It’s a message board, not a chat room. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/14 "2009-08-28T19:20:25Z")
I e-mailed Pieta Brown through her agency and received this reply: > [@](#): > > Pieta’s response was “songs for listening to in the month of September.” When she was asked to provided a Top 5 list this was the theme of the list she was given. Always go to the source, boys and girls. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/15 "2009-08-28T19:27:24Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’m going with the entering-the-latter-stages-of-one’s-life theory . . . about where I am right now, at 63. In fact, I may be about ready for an October song. You’re ready for “When I’m 64”. ---
**Author:** ![Easy\_Easter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8c91f0/32.png) [@Easy\_Easter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Easy_Easter)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/16 "2009-08-28T19:34:17Z")
“September When It Comes” by Roseanne & Johnny Cash. Prophetic, as he died in September. ---
**Author:** ![Loisseau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Loisseau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loisseau)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/17 "2009-08-28T21:45:28Z")
of “September Song” \*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 make 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 When you meet with the young girls early in the Spring You court them in song and rhyme They answer with words and a clover ring But if you could examine the goods they bring They have little to offer but the songs they sing And the plentiful waste of time of day A plentiful waste of time Oh, it’s a long, long while from May to December But the days grow short when you reach September When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame One hasn’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 \* Panache45 has it right-a reflection on the passing of love’s seasons; not much time left if you are at the “September” era of your life. Good “September” song–"Is That All There Is’’ --Peggy Lee’s version. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/18 "2009-08-28T21:47:42Z")
For me? “Happy Birthday to You.” ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/19 "2009-08-28T21:49:47Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Maybe it’s a song exploring that ‘summer is over, playtime/the easy life is over, time to get back to school/work’ feeling everyone here in Canada/northern USA gets as September approaches? I’ve never heard the expression before. Yeah, sure, in the north. Down here in the Southwest, September is cause for celebration: the daily temperature finally starts dropping below 100. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992/20 "2009-08-28T21:59:43Z")
Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day…although that would technically be an October song. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-september-song/507992.md?page=2)