Oh the days dwindle down, to a precious few...

September 28, 2007 6:40 PM

38 versions of Kurt Weill's hauntingly beautiful September Song.

39. Willie Nelson(mp3)

Lou Reed

Coleman Hawkins

posted by vronsky (24 comments total)

The Lou Reed's on there, unless there are two different ones. One of my fave covers ever. The entire album I heard it on was Weill covers, all of 'em pretty good.
posted by pax digita at 7:01 PM on September 28, 2007

Sorry, meant to mark those as videos pax.
posted by vronsky at 7:12 PM on September 28, 2007

That's a great song, and a great find. Thanks vronsky.
posted by RussHy at 7:31 PM on September 28, 2007

Awesome. James Brown's version definitely stands out here -- compared to the others, he (and his cohorts) made it their own.
posted by spiderskull at 7:34 PM on September 28, 2007

Whenever it comes out, the original Broadway cast album of LoveMusik will close with Donna Murphy's spine-tingling rendition of "September Song" in character as Lotte Lenya.

Bad show, but I'll never forget her (with the very good but not quite spine-tingling John Scherer) singing that song. Also her version of "Surabaya Johnny," Michael Cerveris singing "It Never Was You" or the two of them together on "Speak Low." (It was otherwise a very long two hours.)
posted by Epenthesis at 7:37 PM on September 28, 2007

Ian McCulloch's is fab--thanks!

now, on to Bryan Ferry : >

(but Lotte rules, forever--no one can do Weill like her)
posted by amberglow at 7:52 PM on September 28, 2007

(ok--Ferry's is really really not good at all)
posted by amberglow at 7:54 PM on September 28, 2007

you need either an accent or a gravelly voice to do it justice, i think--it's too smooth otherwise, which doesn't fit. Marianne Faithful would be great.
posted by amberglow at 7:56 PM on September 28, 2007

"These precious days, I'll spend with you. Overnight!"

That's why they call him Godfather.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 8:02 PM on September 28, 2007

Yeah, Brian Ferry can be bad, but when he is good, he is very, very good.

(goddamn your comment made me miss NYC Epenthesis)

amberglow:)
posted by vronsky at 8:08 PM on September 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

amberglow:)

exactly--ugh!
posted by amberglow at 8:49 PM on September 28, 2007

and you call yourself a gay man:(

for shame!
posted by vronsky at 10:08 PM on September 28, 2007

Adding to the September goodness...Try to Remember the Kind of September.
posted by nickyskye at 10:11 PM on September 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

try to remember, then follow

Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green And grain was yellow

Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a tender And callow fellow

Try to remember and if you remember
Then follow, follow
posted by vronsky at 10:37 PM on September 28, 2007

September Songs
posted by hortense at 11:05 PM on September 28, 2007

The entire album I heard it on was Weill covers, all of 'em pretty good.

That was one of those Hal Willner serendipitous juxtaposition quirky cover projects--Todd Rundgren plays Thelonious Monk!--and the best one at that. The Monk tribute had its moments and the Disney one mostly meh-ments but that Lost In The Stars brought out the best in more than one.
posted by y2karl at 11:36 PM on September 28, 2007

I'm not a jazz fan by any stretch of the imagination, but if God gave Chet Baker lips for a reason, it had to be so he could play that song.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:42 AM on September 29, 2007

Thanks for the post vron, and for the final reminder that I really should add Beware of the Blog to my bookmarks bar, which I (inexplicably) hadn't done until now. That's a site that's always worth a visit.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:30 AM on September 29, 2007

In case nobody's noticed yet, the video version of Lou Reed's "September Song" linked above is a completely different interpretation from the Lost in the Stars version linked in the original post. I think this is worth noting only because, while the second version is pretty good, the Lost in the Stars version is one of my favorite songs in the world, ever. The first time I listened to it, about 20 years ago, I was all, like, WTF is this? And I never stopped. (Listening to it, I mean.) Little Sister is another non-LP Lou Reed cut (I originally heard it in the closing credits to Get Crazy, a really odd Allan Arkush-directed comedy in which Reed plays a Bob Dylan type) that sorta blew my mind with its simultaneous awkwardness and awesomeness. I really like him in that mode (cf. the entirety of New Sensations).

Also, anybody who really likes this sort of Beware of the Blog post should really, imo, make a point of carving out three hours every week to listen to Station Manager Ken's show, which is reliably full of similar stuff. It's on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to noon, or for the next two weeks as a stereo MP3 archive (Real Audio after that, so don't dawdle) at wfmu.org.
posted by Joey Bagels at 6:12 AM on September 29, 2007

Listening to Hawk now. Thanks for the post!
posted by languagehat at 6:23 AM on September 29, 2007

Was thinking of Ian McCulloch's version of this just yesterday after not having heard it for years so thanks so much for this.
posted by merocet at 7:21 AM on September 29, 2007

Thanks! I have the Ian McCulloch version on vinyl, but I was just recently wishing I had an mp3 of it. Now I do!
posted by mds35 at 8:59 AM on September 29, 2007

Fr my tastes, this song is one of the representatives of the absolute acme of American popular songwriting. It's bittersweet, haunted lyrics and halting, exquisite melody are as gorgeous to me today as when I first heard them, 30-some-odd years ago.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:45 AM on September 29, 2007

Thanks man - the first time I ever heard September Song was Lou Reed's version (not the youTube version) and I was knocked way back on my heels. I was a little let down to find out he didn't write it himself, but hey, take whatcha can get. He turned me onto Weill in a big way.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:59 PM on September 29, 2007