There are great songs about September (September Song, See you in September) and June (June is Bustin’ Out All Over, June in January) and April (April in Paris, I’ll Remember April), but few about October. Yet October is a beautiful month! We start with some of the mildness of late summer and loads of crazy color, wade through the pleasant aerobic rustle of raking the yard, drink cider, eat apple pastries, go on hay rides, and finish with kids in wild costumes eating enough tiny candy bars to make themselves sick! And there’s always a chance we’ll get a snowstorm somewhere in the middle of it. What other month has that range?

There is a tune called “October Song” written by Robin Williamson and performed by the Incredible String Band. Incredibly, the word “October” appears only once in the lyrics, which are otherwise about briars and fallen leaves, the fickleness of time and murder. Cheery. But it pales in comparison to the song “October”, by a North Carolina band with the uplifting name “Collapsis”.

And I never thought we’d break this ground.
Fall down, hit the ground, don’t make a sound.
It’s been nothing more than a big cheep thrill.
Yeah yeah this is my October.
Let me die.

What’s the problem? I know everything is dying right now, but do we have to focus on that? Is the “Oct” in October too reminiscent of the slithery, scary octopus? Are there not enough October rhymes? Can’t anyone come up with a hopeful ditty about October?

Apparently not. I just tried to invent a happy-go-lucky lyric with October in the text and in the very first verse it took a detour into the miserable lonesome cowboy-in-recovery genre and Merle Haggard demanded that I let him drawl it out.

This year has been a monster
and I’ve spent it on a binge.
From New Year’s through September
I did stuff that makes me cringe.

I’m askin’ you to help me
As I fight my private wars.
I want you by the bonfire
Should I slip and beg for ‘smores.

Oh well.

What’s your favorite thing about October?