Passage Of Time

This week in Glyn Wilton’s Mixed Music Bag,
“The Last Days”, he’s asking us to write about
a song which mentions the current month. 
Here’s my featured May artist and his song.

My featured song today is an oldie which was introduced by the Canadian/American singer and actor, Walter Huston in the 1938 Broadway musical called Knickerbocker Holiday. The music was composed by Kurt Weill who also wrote The Threepenny Opera which included the great song, “Mack The Knife”.

“September Song” became an international hit after it appeared in the 1950 film September Affair, featuring Joan Fontaine and Joseph Cotten.  Since then, the song has been recorded numerous times by artists such as Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Willie Nelson and others. I’ve chosen Frank Sinatra’s rendition which is considered the definitive version. I grew up listening to this beautiful number by Frank without really understanding what it was about. All I knew back then was the song sounded sad and my parents would quietly listen.

“September Song“, particularly as performed by Frank Sinatra, is a reflective piece about the passage of time and the approach of our senior years. It’s a bittersweet song, acknowledging the shortening days and the preciousness of the remaining time in life, while also finding beauty and contentment in the autumn of one’s years. This beautiful song suggests a focus on spending the remaining time with a loved one, savoring the present moment. The song uses vivid imagery and metaphors, such as “the days grow short” and “golden days” to evoke the feeling of time slipping away and the wonder of the present.

As someone who is now in my golden years, I understand all too well about the passage of time. And Frank sings it all so splendidly in this wonderful song.

This is “September Song” from Frank Sinatra’s album September Of My Years.

LYRICS

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

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 a 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

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Kurt Weill/Maxwell Anderson
September Song lyrics © Kurt Weill Foundation For Music Inc., Chappell & Co., In

Mixed Music Bag 2025 – The Last Days

Big thanks to Glyn Wilton for hosting Mixed Music Bag each week. Please be sure to follow the link and check out Glyn’s site.

Thanks for joining me today and spinning some tunes.

See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy’s Notes 🖊️🎶, The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk, and The Rhythm Section, et. al., and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.