After our previous entry, leaftail, a completely different meaning, but connected is that this obscure adjective used until the mid 19th-century onomatopoeically crisply and evocatively describes something withered, dry or brittle, appropriate to falling autumn debris. While in slang, kexy could also refer to losing sexual allure and drying up, the chief meaning is one of literal desiccation. At this time of year in the western hemisphere there are plenty of examples falling to our feet and just as numerous are songs that describe, literally and metaphorically, the falling of leaves as autumn slowly turns to winter.
Here is a small scattering of kexy-related seasonal examples. Feel free to add your own.
Among the most sung is Autumn Leaves, a much covered jazz standard composed by Joseph Kosma with original lyrics by Jacques Prévert in French in 1945. The lists of artists who have recorded is numerous and varied from all the jazz greats to Serge Gainsbourg, Edith Piaf to Frank Sinatra to Sarah Vaughan. Let's enjoy a lovely rendition by Nat King Cole.
The autumn leaves drift by my window
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun burnt hands I used to hold
But since you went away, the days grow long
And soon I'll hear, old winter's song
But I miss you most of all, my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall
By contrast, here's another take by Coldcut, one of several mixes, this one with singer Janis Alexander:
Autumn leaves fall and are swept out of sight
The words that you said have come true
Autumn leaves fall and are swept out of sight
So is the memory of love that we knew
Another melancholy classic is capturing the falling of the kexy leaves is There's No You, written by Harold S. Hopper aka Hal Hopper with lyrics by Tom Adair. It was first published in 1944, and was recorded by the likes of Jo Stafford, and Frank Sinatra in 1957:
I feel the autumn breeze
It steals cross my pillow
As soft as a will-o' the-wisp
And in its song there is sadness because
There's no you
The lonely autumn trees
How softly they're sighing
'Cause summer is dying
they know that in my heart there's no gladness because
There's no you
Probably the best known pop-era song on this theme is the evocative rich vocal harmony opening of California Dreamin' by The Mamas & The Papas:
All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown)
And the sky is grey (and the sky is grey)
I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk)
On a winter's day (on a winter's day)
Paulo Nutini has his own slow autumn withering leaf song:
Autumn leaves under frozen souls,
Hungry hands turning soft and old.
My hero cried as we stood out there in the cold,
Like these autumn leaves I don't have nothing to hold
Van Morrison slows things down even more with When The Leaves Come Falling Down:
I saw you standing with the wind and the rain in your face
And you were thinking 'bout the wisdom of the leaves and their grace
When the leaves come falling down
In September when the leaves, come falling down
But for a final overview, let's take it even easier with Willie Nelson and Seasons of My Heart from a 1966 compilation, whose "sorrow and tears like withered leaves will fall”, but ultimately the kexy sights should wither themselves, looking forward to a new spring:
The seasons come, the seasons go
We get a little sunshine, rain and snow
Just the way that it was planned to be
But there's no seasons in my heart
While you play the leading part
'Cause the flowers will bloom eternally
Your leaving, will bring autumn sorrow
And my tears like withered leaves will fall
So then, care to scatter more kexy-related songs in comments below? Feel free also leaf through some inspiration with a previous autumnal song topic, songs about September and October, as well as some splendid resultant playlists here. Please also feel free to share any further ones from songs, or even film, art or other contexts in comments below.
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