DennisG learning Eva Cassidy's "Autumn Leaves"
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 3:07 pm
Autumn Leaves was originally written in French at the tail end of WWII, and it wasn't until 1950 that Johnny Mercer wrote new lyrics in English. This is a song I remember hearing a lot as a small child in the '50s, since virtually every major singing star of that era recorded a version. To be honest, I never much cared for this song because its heartbreaking lyrics were always offset against a swinging, hipster, up-tempo beat that destroyed whatever longing was built in to the song. Picture Sammy Davis Jr., cigarette in one hand, snapping his fingers with the other, bopping away ... and you get the picture.
Why I chose this song
Truthfully, Autumn Leaves completely fell off my radar for decades -- until Chris posted a link to the absolutely magnificent Eva Cassidy version, the first one I can remember slowing the song down and treating it like the poem to a lost love that it really is. From the moment I watched Eva's version of the song, I just fell in love -- with her, with the song, with the idea that one day I might actually try to play it. And so I noodled around with it at guitar camp a couple of weeks ago, then came home and discovered that I was playing it all wrong. So I've been retooling it the past couple of days. What follows is a rough, rough, rough version of the song that I did in one take.
Challenge #1: As you'll see from the video, the song really isn't very difficult to play. The challenge was to figure out what to play, since I could never quite overlay the tab with Eva's video.
Challenge #2: Autumn Leaves is filled with chords I'd not only never played, but never even heard of, like F#m7b5, Am13, Cadd9, G6, and Am9 -- not to mention that fun little slide that's used extensively in the song. There's also an arpeggio from F7 that proved to be a bit of a challenge, since there's nothing like hitting individual notes to expose the weakness of your barre chords.
Challenge #3: Singing, of course, is the equivalent of playing a second instrument while flailing away at the first one. So adding the vocal layer was a stretch. My goal here, vocally, was to keep the song low key -- not belt it out like a lounge singer, allowing the song to have its ebb and flow of tempo changes as the lyrics dictate. And it's always a temptation when singing to do an impression of the original singer, a temptation I always do my best to avoid.
At any rate, here it is. And thanks so much, Chris, for bringing Eva Cassidy and this song into my life. That she died within a year of recording the video that appears on YouTube makes Autumn Leaves that much more tragic.
PLEASE NOTE: If video was recently uploaded it will not work yet. YouTube will need a little more time to get the video ready. Please check back again soon.
Why I chose this song
Truthfully, Autumn Leaves completely fell off my radar for decades -- until Chris posted a link to the absolutely magnificent Eva Cassidy version, the first one I can remember slowing the song down and treating it like the poem to a lost love that it really is. From the moment I watched Eva's version of the song, I just fell in love -- with her, with the song, with the idea that one day I might actually try to play it. And so I noodled around with it at guitar camp a couple of weeks ago, then came home and discovered that I was playing it all wrong. So I've been retooling it the past couple of days. What follows is a rough, rough, rough version of the song that I did in one take.
Challenge #1: As you'll see from the video, the song really isn't very difficult to play. The challenge was to figure out what to play, since I could never quite overlay the tab with Eva's video.
Challenge #2: Autumn Leaves is filled with chords I'd not only never played, but never even heard of, like F#m7b5, Am13, Cadd9, G6, and Am9 -- not to mention that fun little slide that's used extensively in the song. There's also an arpeggio from F7 that proved to be a bit of a challenge, since there's nothing like hitting individual notes to expose the weakness of your barre chords.
Challenge #3: Singing, of course, is the equivalent of playing a second instrument while flailing away at the first one. So adding the vocal layer was a stretch. My goal here, vocally, was to keep the song low key -- not belt it out like a lounge singer, allowing the song to have its ebb and flow of tempo changes as the lyrics dictate. And it's always a temptation when singing to do an impression of the original singer, a temptation I always do my best to avoid.
At any rate, here it is. And thanks so much, Chris, for bringing Eva Cassidy and this song into my life. That she died within a year of recording the video that appears on YouTube makes Autumn Leaves that much more tragic.
PLEASE NOTE: If video was recently uploaded it will not work yet. YouTube will need a little more time to get the video ready. Please check back again soon.
