We woke this week to the first frost of the year. You really didn’t have to look at the grass or cars to see the crystalline frosting. You could smell it in the air.
The first frost is like adding an accelerant to an ember. The transition from summer to fall started relatively slowly and barely noticeable. The foliage will now transition to an explosion of color. The intense burst will be ephemeral, quickly burning out like the trail of a firework. In a couple of weeks, the trees will return to their dormant, naked state. Frost’s airborne cousin is sure to quickly follow.
Although I have always been drawn to the vibrant autumn scene that James Taylor paints in “Walking Man”, I have only recently come to the understanding that this song is actually about the longing for his emotionally and physically distant father. Probably not the proper lead in for a blog about hope.
The only other music that I think embodies the season is Vince Guaraldi’s “Great Pumpkin Waltz”. Much like fried baloney sandwiches, canned fruit cocktail and Count Chocula cereal, I was reared on this song. As Halloween neared, I’m sure that I asked my mother a dozen times ““When is “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” coming on?”” In my biased opinion, “The Great Pumpkin Waltz” is the perfect accompaniment to the television special. If I were describing the composition like the taste of a wine, I would say that it maintains notes of melancholy, the spice of newly fallen leaves and just a hint of poisoned dog lips.
I don’t know where Charles Schulz came up with the concept of the Great Pumpkin. Maybe he was trying to find a deeper meaning to the holiday. Only a year prior to the release of the Halloween television special, he did a masterful job of gently awakening us to the distractions of a commercial Christmas. Much like his weekly cartoon strip, I suspect that there was a subtle lesson to be learned in his Halloween classic.
Released against the backdrop of an escalation in the Vietnam War, continuing race riots and growing distrust in our leadership, Charles Schulz chose to focus on sincerity and hypocrisy in this autumn tradition. If we fast forward past all of the Dolly Madison commercials to 2020, it all feels strangely familiar.
The Great Pumpkin will not be visiting the Rose Garden this year. I am optimistic that it will rise again next year. To make matters worse, today it was announced that this Fall tradition will not be coming back to broadcast television. Apparently Apple TV (it’s a big syndicate you know) wrapped up the rights to air all of the Peanuts specials. Good Grief!
