Playlist: Oh My God, Autumn

I used to hate Fall. I was of the opinion that once the leaves fell off the trees, all we’d have were sticks and snow for six months. I hated Fall for what it preceded; for it’s being the harbinger of Winter. Over the past few years, as I start to smell woodsmoke and see burnt orange frost the leaves each October, it’s grown on me more and more.

Now I’m a full-on Fall fanatic. Cider, hayrides, apple picking and carving pumpkins. I’ve grown to love sweaters. I’ve grown to love the juxtaposition of a hot drink in your hand and the brisk air at your cheeks. This is a playlist for all of that. Hello Fall. Welcome.

Oh My God, Autumn

[STREAM THE PLAYLIST HERE]

The Universe Is Laughing – The Guggenheim Grotto
Babel – Mumford & Sons
Ragged Wood – Fleet Foxes
Mushaboom – Feist
Scotch & Chocolate – Nickel Creek
You and I – Ingrid Michaelson
Mary Mary – Morgan O’Kane
Keep It Quiet – Ra Ra Riot
Such Great Heights – Iron & Wine
Whiskey – Nicole Reynolds
Why Bother – Allison Weiss
Falling Slowly – Glen Hansard
Les feuilles mortes – Edith Piaf
Wagon Wheel – Chris Pureka

Oh My God, Autumn from Autostraddle on 8tracks Radio.

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Tell me your favorite crisp Autumn related tracks below.

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A.E. Osworth

A.E. Osworth is part-time Faculty at The New School, where they teach undergraduates the art of digital storytelling. Their novel, We Are Watching Eliza Bright, about a game developer dealing with harassment (and narrated collectively by a fictional subreddit), is forthcoming from Grand Central Publishing (April 2021) and is available for pre-order now. They have an eight-year freelancing career and you can find their work on Autostraddle (where they used to be the Geekery Editor), Guernica, Quartz, Electric Lit, Paper Darts, Mashable, and drDoctor, among others.

A.E. has written 542 articles for us.

43 Comments

  2. guys, i saw feist live and i sobbed the whole entire way through her concert. like you can ask the three other people who went with me, i was just crying the whole time. anyway, when she did mushaboom, she did this incredible version of it that destroyed me in one billion ways, and even though it’s a happy song, just hearing it makes me start crying again.

    tl;dr: i sobbed when mushaboom came on. like big baby tears sobbed.

  3. THAT PICTURE IS THE BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY VIADUCT, that is my home, I miss it so much in the autumn
    (also good music!)

  4. This is so great. I am currently living in the Caribbean (after living in Chicago all of my life) and this is my first year without Autumn. The music helped cure a little of my nostalgia.

    • I’ve never had autumn, at least not since I was 3 (my family moved from Indiana to Florida). I got to see snow for the first time in about 14 years last spring (we were in Virginia), so I suppose that’s something. :)

  5. When I think of fall and sweaters and fresh-crispy-smelling-weather, my first instinct as a [ro]mantic is to run with my love outside somewhere to roll in something autumn-y. But the leaves haven’t fallen yet, hay is too poky and a pile of apples would just hurt.

    So, with this playlist, I can now opt to stay indoors, roll in my own soft bed, but still feel as though I’ve experienced Autumn incarnate through the gift of song! Thank You AS!! :)

  6. Mm, Autumn. Kicking leaves, smoke in the air, bringing back proper woollen scarves… this playlist is all upcheering, even though within a few days I’ll be complaining about the cold & having to get up in the dark.

  7. I haven’t even listened yet but Fall playlists are something I look forward to like crazy every year!! The list looks great, hitting play now!

  8. Shockingly enough, the Midwest has several redeeming qualities and Fall is one of them! Kansas City is a great place to visit in September/October. I love the weather, the trees, hayrides, bonfires, pumpkin patches, corn mazes, the Renaissance Festival, various fall festivals in the surrounding cities and towns, wearing hoodies, cool crisp mornings, beautiful afternoons, caramel apples, pumpkin flavored everything. I could go on and on! This playlist will just add to the experience :)

    • Dear Vanessa,

      I actually wanted to call the playlist ERMAHGERD FERL. But we figured no one would be able to find it via the google machine if I did that.

      Love, Ali

      • I was just looking at the fall playlist I created last year, other classical pieces I put on there besides Vivaldi are the second movement of Beethoven 7, Saturn from The Planets and the second movement (I like second movements) of Dvorak’s American Quartet.

    • Dear Rose,

      Get out of my head. Seriously, I almost put that on here. But it didn’t fit with everything else. Great minds think alike.

      Love, Ali

      • It’s okay, I know the feeling. Just like when people were telling me my heatwave playlist was incomplete without “Hot in Herre” and I was like “Guys, I tried! I really did!”

  11. Lahve this. I grew up on the lovely (but conservatively homophobis as fuck) shores on northern Lake Michigan, so I’m pretty fucking partial/in-love with fall.

    • As a fellow Michigander I can attest fall in Michigan being one of its only redeeming qualities. It’s almost beautiful enough to make me never want to move away though. Then winter comes and reminds me why I need to.

      • I missed falls in Michigan (and I’m from SE Michigan, pretty sure it’s not as fantastic as northern Michigan falls) when I lived in Baltimore. But then I moved to New England so I’m pretty sure it’s all good. The four seasons I love without Michigan’s ridiculous social politics!

  13. This is a solid list. I’d add all of Travis’ “The Man Who” album, specifically “The Fear” and “She’s So Strange”. Freshman year of college nostalgia: activate!

  14. I was just listening to this and working and it was great and I was happy and it was fall.

    And then: Wagon Wheel came on and I just sort of lost it. Such a visceral memory of lying in bed with an old love, a beautiful sleepy nap on a Sunday afternoon.

    This playlist wins today.

  16. This is the only thing keeping me from screaming at the world while I apply to things.

  17. This is making me miss living in ohio. Now I live in the south. I’m not sure what’s happening out there but it’s not autumn. Excellent playlist :) I love Edith Piaf!

  18. this was amazing. so sad it’s over. i guess i’ll just have to listen to it again, and again, and again.

  20. this is AWESOME!
    I also love “Autumn Sweater”, by Yo la Tengo, but “The Universe is Laughing” is really all I needed from a playlist, so gracias.

  21. Dear Ali,

    You must psychically be aware that I am in full autumnal mode, despite the fact that LA thinks it is still mid-August. I have been seeking out cold buildings so that I can wear sweaters and eat pumpkin-flavored baked goods. Thank you for your contribution to my fantasy world.

    Love, Liz

  22. love the playlist.
    But I have to say, the Yves Montand version of les feuilles mortes wins in my books!

  23. Autumn is basically the point where I put on Death Cab for Cutie and don’t listen to anything else for months.

  24. I just found the autumn playlist I made last year:

    Symphony no. 7, Mvt. 2 – Beethoven
    Airbag – Radiohead
    Do You Remember Walter? – The Kinks
    Leaves That Are Green – Simon and Garfunkel
    Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby? – The Rolling Stones
    That’s Not Me – The Beach Boys (from Pet Sounds, the one Beach Boys album that doesn’t scream “SUMMER!”)
    Long, Long, Long – The Beatles
    The Planets: Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age – Gustav Holst
    Lithium – Nirvana
    Renaissance Fair – The Byrds
    American String Quartet (no. 12 in F), Mvt. 2 – Antonin Dvorak
    Wicked Annabella – The Kinks
    Brief Candles – The Zombies
    Possibly Maybe – Bjork
    The Black Angel’s Death Song – The Velvet Underground
    Sleeping Bear, Sault Ste Marie – Sufjan Stevens
    It’s Alright Ma, I’m Only Bleeding – Bob Dylan
    Hold On – John Lennon
    The Vivaldi I posted above

    Honestly I have no idea what half this shit has to do with fall, but it just seemed to fit; I guess I associate fall a lot with memory and changes. Also I love that I managed to include two Kinks song on this and neither one of them is “Autumn Almanac.”

  25. Holy hell – The Guggenheim Grotto and Nickel Creek in THE SAME PLAYLIST!? Are you trying to kill me with perfection?
    Oh Autumn … I am ruin’d

  26. This is actually the best Autostraddle playlist ever. If I didn’t have a girlfriend, I’d want to date this playlist. I kind of want to date it anyway. moar plz kthnxbi

  27. The Weakerthans- Left & Leaving
    Maybe the line “spring forward, fall back down” causes me to associate it with the change of seasons. Or maybe it’s just my desire to ease the transition into cold, dark months to the tune of less than upbeat beats.

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