My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion - A Playlist

A few weeks ago the A.V. Club posted a pretty great autumn playlist, "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground: 25 Sad Songs for the Changing Seasons." I like the idea of this playlist, and thought I'd add my own autumn songs to the list (although with less explanation than they write. I'm not getting paid for it.) My current iTunes playlist includes theirs (as availability in my library allows) and the following:

• "Yardwork in November" by The Actual Tigers - The Actual Tigers are severely underrated, and this song is one of their best. It's perfect for this time of year, with images of flower beds losing their color and life, people listening for the sound of snow on their roofs, etc. It's a beautiful and worthwhile song at any time of year, but more so right now.
• "Autumn" by Carla Bruni - Even her voice sounds like leaves rustling. It's awesome.
  
• "Autumn" by Paolo Nutini - This is a beautiful song with a nice use of the autumn/death metaphor.
  
• "Lost in Autumn" by The Sea and the Cake - Chill, melancholy, the end of autumn equals the realization that there never was a relationship and life is dark and gloomy. Perfect. :)
• "Autumn Walker" by Jets to Brazil - Autumn is a reminder that "all things must end, but did you know what that meant?"
• "My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion" by The Flaming Lips - This is awesome. It provides a reminder that everything dies and changes, and "only a fool believes that he is different from the birds in the sky," but ends up with the rebellion - "This one bird didn't leave you . . . yes it's true, everything dies, but we won't let that defeat us." As trippy as the Flaming Lips are, they still have some pretty great sentiments.
• "September Baby" by Joseph Arthur - "You can feel the falling leaves filling up our vacant lives/When I fall onto my knees, I pray you don't leave me behind. Summertime is over, I don't owe you nothing."
  
• "Summer Skin" by Death Cab for Cutie - The saddest of all relationship endings - "the season's change was a conduit, and we left our love in our summer skin." Tragic.
  
• "Pale September" by Fiona Apple - A reversal of some of the other songs - September comes and she thinks that everything is going to sink into the oblivion of death and sadness, but instead someone comes and she keeps him warm. Lovely.
  
• "August & September" by The The - Summer ends, so does relationship. Typical. But a pretty classy song.
  
• "November" by Duncan Sheik - an incredibly over-the-top melancholy song about how sad and dark November is as we remember May.
  
• "A Long December" by The Counting Crows" - There's still little that is more poignant than the thought that "there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last.
  
• "Cold December" by Matt Costa - Despite the winter month in the title, this song is still about the birds flying south, the guy weeding the garden, and the girl leaving, and the plea, "If only time could slow down." Indeed.
• "December Baby" by Ingrid Michaelson - You guessed it - it's December, and the guy is avoiding her eyes and refusing to hold her hand. Tragic.
  
• "Snow Don't Fall" by John Gorka - a lovely song that is maybe a little more hopeful about the winter relationship than most. :)
  
• "The Other Side of Summer" by Elvis Costello - a reminder that "there's malice and there's magic in every season."
• "The End of Summer" by Dar Williams - Dar turns the end of summer into the time of year when you leave - "It's just that time of year when you have to move ahead." Incredibly melancholy with images of hanging flowers up to dry and leaving the familiar behind and going off to school with boxes in your car. Good stuff.
• "Scattered Leaves" by The Be Good Tanyas - a new discovery which I love - "Fall was just the calm before the next spring riot." Yes.
  
• "A Hazy Shade of Winter" by Simon and Garfunkel - Need I say more? "Seasons change with the scenery, weaving time in a tapestry, won't you stop and remember me?"
• "Winter" by Joshua Radin - an excellent song "I should know myself by now." Indeed, Joshua, and isn't winter the time when we realize that?
• "Things to Forget" by Sarah Harmer - Autumn as a time to move on, ahead, etc.
  
• "Poses" by Rufus Wainwright - This song isn't as autumn-centric as some of the others, but it's got the same introspective melancholy, and I love the line "The green autumnal parks conducting/ All the city streets, a wondrous chorus singing . . ." Beautiful.
  
• "The Swell Season" by The Swell Season - An instrumental peace by Glen and Marketa that definitely sounds like autumn going into winter to me.