After months of sweating, thirsting and waking up in the middle of the night to remove covers, it's always something of a relief to reach the autumnal equinox. I've spent a lifetime trying not to play favorites with seasons, but rising global temperatures have forced my hand. As my thoughts drift to frosted fields, bare trees standing guard over terrain carpeted with dried brown leaves, mists hanging low over black ponds that beckon to any fowl that might be passing through, giant orange moons coming up low on the horizon, I have to admit it: I'm an autumn person.
Something about this song says Fall to me.
I love the We Five cover of Sylvia Fricker Tyson's 1962 tune-- it was one of the touchstones of my youth-- but very few songs and performances feel quite so easy on the ears and inspired as Ian and Sylvia's original.
For comparison, here is a live performance of the We Five hit version on Hollywood Palace from October 2, 1965-- per host Fred Astaire, mere weeks after the song was recorded.
Some creative liberties were taken with the lyrics and melody, to indelible effect. Most notably, the mutable refrain, which was originally:
I got some aches and
I got some pains and
I got some wounds to bind
...
I got to move onbecomes in the We Five version:
I got to travel
Walk away my blues
I got troubles, Whoa-oh
I got worries, Whoa-oh
I got wounds to bind
...
I got to ramble, whoa -oh
I got to move on whoa-oh
I've got to walk away my blues
Both versions inform the spirit of the song, which concerns itself with a change in the wind. I can't live without either.
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