In 1978 a guy named Jeff Wayne rang up Justin Hayward and asked of he was the guy who sang Nights in White Satin.  To hear Justin tell the story he says a guy “called” Jeff Wayne.  You are not named something you are called something.  It’s the English way.  Kind of cool to listen to him tell it.

Anyway, a guy called Jeff Wayne asked Justin if he would sing a song on an album he was producing.  It was a musical version of H.G. Wells “War of the Worlds”.  At first Justin dismissed the thought.  Justin was a guy that sang his own stuff.  Jeff Wayne had a song ready made for him to come in the studio and sing and be on his way.  Finally, after some coercing from a guy that worked for the Moody Blues, Justin said yes.  He then went on to record a song called “Forever Autumn”.  It was a hit all over the world, with exception of the USA.  I did hear it on WHAS 84 one late night with Joe Donovan.  That was a very long time ago.  84 WHAS has not spun a record in, well, I would hate to say just how long.  But I did hear Justin Hayward sing Forever Autumn on “84” that night.  Justin is glad he recorded it and so am I.  I heard him sing it St. Louis in September.

I don’t want this autumn to end.  In my mind and in my heart, I don’t think it will.  I have a new sense of ease that has calmed some of my world down.  This I attribute to not having to drive two hours and more to work and back every day.  That…and it seems this new situation has help me put behind some axes I buried a long time ago for things that seem like a distant memory now.

I got to enjoy football season at North Harrison again.  I had not done that in a very long time.  That will always be a part of this Forever Autumn for me.  I got the chance to go back to high school games with my Dad and have fun doing it.  I thought that day would never come back. We both enjoyed this high school football season.   The North Harrison Cougars were bested last Friday by a tough Southridge Raiders team.  It hurt.  It still does.  I miss the anticipation that you feel on a Wednesday leading up to the game on Friday.  That is what happens when you spent as much time around the game as I did growing up.

The season is over.  Nine wins and one defeat.  A season to remember.

So many times this year I have thought about the James Wright poem Autumn Begins in Martin’s Ferry, Ohio.  The Pulitzer winning poet brings forth a work that captures the essence of high school football better than any piece of literary work short or long ever did.  It is about wanting to hold on to Autumn.  But we know we can’t…not physically.  We see this:

and this…

We know the winter will soon follow.  I know that fall does not officially end until the second half of December.  Don’t tell me that.  High School football season is about over.  The College Football Season has another month left.  The leaves are falling and the frosty mornings are next.

But for me, this one particular fall, this Autumn of 2015 will live on livelier than most in my head and in my heart.  I will remember this fall.  And like the song suggests…”my life will be forever Autumn…”  At least the memory of 2015 will be.

Speak the Rights.

Danny Johnson