Fall has always been more than just a season to me. It’s the feeling of crisp, cool air, the smell of leaves changing color, the taste of Oktoberfest beer. Fall is a state of mind, for me, and it has a soundtrack, too.
No matter what time of year I hear certain songs (“Gaia” by James Taylor, “Pinch Me” by Barenaked Ladies, “If You’re Gone” by Matchbox Twenty), specific artists (Counting Crows, Katie Todd Band, Mat Pond PA) or even a single album (Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie), I immediately have a desire to don a hoodie and go camping, like I do most autumns.
To make sure I wasn’t the only one who associated music with the season, I asked my fellow Hammockites if they had any songs that made them sentimental or nostalgic for the fall, and luckily I discovered I am not alone. Here are some other fall favorites from around the office:

Bill Hudgins:
George Winston – “Thanksgiving”
Don Henley – “Boys of Summer”
Moody Blues – “Forever Autumn”
Bob Seger – “Roll Me Away”
Simon & Garfunkel – “Hazy Shade of Winter” and “The Boxer”
Judy Collins – “Who Knows Where the Time Goes”
Joni Mitchell – “River”
Counting Crows – “A Long December” and “A Murder of One”
Joan Baez – “Diamonds and Rust”
Bob Dylan – “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”
Gordon Lightfoot – “Christian Islands”
Natalie Willis:
Hank Williams Jr. – “Monday Night Football”
Barbara Mathieson:
Old Genesis prior to Phil Collins becoming a pop star. Any Genesis album before 1980. Phil Collins is actually a great musician. Brand X is another band I identify with fall. He played drums in that 70s fusion band.
I remember now why I like the Genesis music so much and associate it with September-November. In the mid-1970s I had a job that was going nowhere, and I found a new job that led somewhere in September. For two years in a row in the ’70s, I got a better job in September. I listened to the Genesis music during those years.
Jamie Roberts:
The fall semester I lived in London I couldn’t stop playing Crowded House, U2, Smashing Pumpkins and the Cure. Hearing their songs never fails to put me right back on those history-soaked streets.
Megan Pacella:
Every October for the last three years, David Bazan, my favorite musician, has played a show at Exit/In in Nashville. No matter what time of year it is, whenever his name pops up on my iTunes, I always feel like it’s October.
Summer Huggins:
The first thing that came to mind was jumping into huge piles of leaves in my grandparents’ backyard when I was a kid. For some reason in my head, Carole King started singing songs from her Really Rosie kids’ album from 1975. (Yikes, I am aging myself there.)
Songs like “Chicken Soup With Rice” and “One Was Johnny” bring back great fall memories of raking those leaves, jumping into the piles and then swinging on the tire swing with leaves stuck to my sweater. Still to this day it’s an album (well, CD I guess now) that I think every kid should own.
Emily McMackin:
“California Dreamin’.” After visiting California for the first time last year, I have an even deeper appreciation for this song because it was sunny and 70 degrees in California and dreary and below 40 degrees back home.
Get into the season with Hammock: Head over to our MySpace page to listen to our fall soundtrack!