Songs About November

Christian Jones ‘26 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

I have long been fascinated by artists’ interpretations of the different months. Having grown up in Chicago, and now going to school in Boston, I have only lived in places with the full spectrum of the seasons. In these places, we tend to define months based on the weather and their relation to each other: December is deep cold and the austere beauty of winter, by January the ever-gray skies have become unbearable, and in February we are simply waiting for the slush to soak into the new green. However, Americans more generally tend to define months by certain cultural connotations, e.g., October is spooky because of Halloween, February is somehow romantic because of Valentine’s Day, and December is a whimsical wonderland of gift-giving and religious reverence. This conception of time isn’t limited to America’s commercially-driven holiday obsessions though. When I say “May,” I know several people whose first thought is “AAPI Heritage Month.” So-called “awareness months” are a relatively new progression in American social consciousness that blur personal investment and sociocultural connotations. Because of course, there is always the personal resonance: February is my birth month, July is the month I got really sick, and so on. Simply put, each month is a confluence of personal and social meanings. These songs are all about November and thus showcase each artist’s unique interpretation of the month. Still, common themes emerge, nostalgia, relationship turmoil, and strange prophetic musings.

“Rose Hip November” – Vashti Bunyan

This mystical pastoral, off Bunyan’s masterpiece album Just Another Diamond Day, sees November as a month caught between remembrance and expectation. The chorus, “Rose Hip November / Autumn I’ll remember / Gold landing at our door, catch one leaf and fortune will surround you evermore,” has a sort of future nostalgia about it. At the turn of seasons, Bunyan knows that she will remember autumn, and, expectant of this change, she sees holding onto its memory (in the form of a golden leaf) as a totem of good fortune. Even her description of the natural world, which was inspired by the rural Scottish islands where Bunyan wrote the album, mirrors her feeling of expectation: “Pine tree very tall, waiting for snow to fall / Mist hangs very still, caught by dawn in castle moats around the sleeping hill.” The song is ripe with sensory detail—the striking smell of rose, shimmering golden leaves, the pastels of a misty dawn. The best, though, is halfway through the song when a piper begins to play a medieval-sounding melody at Bunyan’s call: “Now a pipe is heard, happy is the shepherd.” Bunyan replaces the piper’s melody, singing “oOOOoooOoo” like a gently howling wind while a shimmering harpsichord dances in the background. The piper returns for the end of the song and Bunyan repeats “Evermore” three times, incantatory, as if this November will echo through the rest of all time.

“Suddenly November Morning (Anthology Version)” – Jimi Hendrix

This intimate home demo is one of my favorite Hendrix deep-cuts. It is a gentle acoustic tune, so raw that you can hear the grainy tape saturation. Hendrix sings about how his change in emotions seems to have brought on the change in weather, “Well, it seems like the wind has changed when my love changed.” This emotional change, this loneliness, makes Hendrix aware of how deep into fall he really is: “But it seems like years ago / Since I felt the warm glow / Of the sun.” But perhaps it is just loneliness that distorts our perception of time, Hendrix reminds himself, “But then again, / It’s all in my mind / Ever since / I left that girl of mine.” His post-breakup wistfulness is split between how recently it happened but how far away from it he already feels, “It wasn’t too long ago / It seems like years ago.” He strums away beautifully on improvised riffs, before coming in to say he is simply going with the flow of his feelings, “Well I’m driftin’ in a sea of golden teardrops / In a lifeboat, sailing for land.” To Hendrix, November is the feeling of loneliness, repetition, and isolation that comes after a breakup—the sun, those warm feelings of love and comfort are long gone, though they live in distant memory. All he can do for now is ride the wave.

“Sweet November” – SZA

This sexy track off SZA’s underrated debut album, Z, sees November as the time for looking at a toxic relationship through rose-colored glasses. Though the instrumental is fit for an Amy Winehouse track (thanks to Marvin Gaye’s awesome, soulful production), SZA’s delivery is more Sade—breathy, sultry, and coolly nonchalant. The track opens with SZA ignoring Jesus’ collect call—she doesn’t want to pay up her sins this time, only keeps indulging in them (I assume it’s her given her track record of personal songwriting). She knows there will be some karmic retribution for this, “Daddy warned me the perils of playing / Hard to get with God as his standard.” But she doesn’t care, after all, she’s “Flying high and fearless baby.” She’s “kissed death a thousand times before.” It isn’t certain who she’s addressing with the chorus—God, her lover, herself, maybe all three. But she’s clear about what she wants, “Remember me for who I was, not who I am / I’ll pray you never understand this sweet / Sweet, sweet, sweet November.” She urges them to see her as this idea of who she was, to get lost in the sweet feelings of that November because the real thing is probably not so pretty. What seems to be the voice of God comes in, telling SZA he knows what’s up: “Heard you fucking with Tommy again / We both ‘member where that landed you last time / That ***** don’t really love you, girl / He just fucks you every night, it’s his pastime.” God’s lyrics turn portentous, “You two might just do it raw tonight / Heaven help if he leave you, girl.” The chorus repeats and it seems that SZA’s plea will protect her from the same mistake she is about to make again.