Forever Autumn (song)
"Forever Autumn" is a song by Jeff Wayne, Gary Osborne and Paul Vigrass. The original melody was written by Wayne in 1969 as a jingle for a Lego commercial. Vigrass and Osborne, the performers of the original jingle, added lyrics to the song and recorded it for inclusion on their 1972 album Queues. Their interpretation was also released as a single and gained moderate commercial success in Japan, selling more than 100,000 copies and becoming a top-20 hit on the country's record chart.
The best-known version is the recording by Justin Hayward from the album Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds. Wayne wanted to include a love song on the album that sounded like "Forever Autumn", and he decided that the best course of action was to simply use the original song. Hayward, of The Moody Blues, was hand-picked by Wayne to sing it (because, Wayne said, he "wanted that voice from 'Nights In White Satin'"), and it was recorded at London's Advision Studios in 1976. The song reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart in July 1978.
Chart positions
Vigrass and Osborne version
Justin Hayward version
Notable recordings
- Vigrass and Osborne performed it on their 1972 album, Queues. This version also appeared as a single.
- Hayward performed it on the 1978 album Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds. A slightly different mix (notably excluding the narration from the album) was released as a single, and later included in the Moody Blues' box set Time Traveller. Hayward has also performed the song live with the Moody Blues.
- Pierre Belmonde, on the 1980 album, Themes for Dreams.
- Acker Bilk, on the 1980 album, Mellow Music.
- Paul Brett, on the 1980 album, Guitar Trek. This version also appeared as a single.
- Peter Hayward, on the 1982 album, Hayward's Choice.
- Ronnie Aldrich, on the 1987 album, For All Seasons.
- Ed Starink, on the 1992 album, Synthesizer Gold.
References