Spring and autumn are bifurcated seasons — they start off as the tail end of the season that precedes them, then end as the precursor to the one that follows. But where spring begins bleakly and ends in a riot of life, autumn proceeds in the opposite direction, from abundance to death.

That’s the sentiment I wanted to capture in autumnlight, and why I eventually chose a two-part format for the song.

The first section, especially the second verse, is my attempt to describe the kind of bucolic scene so many poets before me have done: Keats, in particular, in his famous “Ode to Autumn.” I make no apology for the old-fashioned Romantic notions expressed here. When I wrote the lyrics, I was living in Cazenovia, where I frequently traveled past many Amish farms, watching the farmers eschew modern technology and drive a team of horses in their field as they would have done centuries past. The scene always reminded me that, no matter how far we think we’ve progressed technologically, the fruits of the harvest are still central to our lives.

The second section came to me as I was processing the extraordinary number of deaths of people I had known. They were the shadows I was speaking with as they faded in 2023: Father Jim Heidt, who mentored me as I was taking a lay preacher class and whose spiritual insights inhabit many of the sermons I preached at that time; musicians Paul Case and Jon Liebing, who played many of the same Central New York bars and clubs I did back in the 80s and 90s; and most of all, my dear friend Ed Vollmer, with whom I played music for many years. It’s a deliberate vocal rant that ends abruptly, setting the stage for the contemplative mood that you will hear in the last song of the sequence.

I
In the dimming of the light
in the dying of the day
bathed in fading ochre shades, I
speak with shadows as they fade.
Distant memories rewind
in nostalgic sepia tones
caught between the past and now, I
hold them close to let them go

to let them go, to let them go,
like the autumn light’s last glow
beginnings end as ends begin
leaves are turning in the wind

Under the spectral harvest moon
day and night meld into one
weathered by the wind and sun
the weary farmhand labors on
till all is safely gathered in
ere the winter storms begin
when the day of rest can come
long the rest but soon the time

soon the time, soon the time
to pluck the grape right off the vine
crush between my mouth and tongue
taste its sweet juice as it runs

II
The time has come, the leaf must fall
and leave its tree without a sound
floating on the bitter wind
like an ember goes to ground
white clouds scud through moonlit sky
restless geese in timeless flight
on the age-old flyway borne
cry out to the starless night
and all must wait to take their turn
changing fear to growing calm
the spark that keeps the soul in flight
now must fade like autumn light
and all must fade like autumn light
and all must fade like autumn light
and all must fade like autumn light
and all must fade like autumn light

NOTES

In the dimming of the light: Inspired by the title of Richard Thompson’s beautiful “Dimming of the Day”

all is safely gathered in: From the Victorian hymn, “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come.”

crush between my mouth and tongue: Inspired by the lines from another of Keats’ great odes, the “Ode on Melancholy”: “Veiled Melancholy has her sovran shrine,/Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue/Can burst Joy’s grape against his palate fine.”

DOWNLOAD:

Bandcamp:  https://brucepegg.bandcamp.com/track/autumnlight
iTunes:  https://music.apple.com/us/album/autumnlight-single/1767261221s
Amazon: https://amazon.com/music/player/albums/B0DGDFNJPR?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&musicTerritory=US&ref=dm_sh_H1gAvO3xzPZRvXXPBNu8cDtjj&trackAsin=B0DGDGBTTL

STREAM:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0nWCqenl2ZYCMwHNvFEaPR
Pandora: https://pandora.app.link/V52gmDyrjNb
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bruce-pegg/autumnlight
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/autumnlight-single/1767261221
YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ri-wKX556_w&si=K_-cjNjn8Y3Kz3Un
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/us/album/640411641
iHeart Radio :https://www.iheart.com/artist/bruce-pegg-42576563/albums/autumnlight-287892432/

Written in Cazenovia, NY, between August and October, 2023; recorded between November 2023 and June 2024. Released September 22, 2024.

Bruce Pegg (vocals, guitar)
Mark Chatwin (keyboards, backing vocals)
Tom Westcott (bass)
Mike Santiago (percussion)

Produced by Mark Chatwin with Bruce Pegg
Art by Ann Stevens