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Song of the Day #6,285: ‘Autumn Leaves’ – Roger Williams

Throwing back to the week of September 20, 1955, we find a trio of usual suspects atop the singles chart: Mitch Miller’s ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas,’ The Four Aces’ ‘Love is a Many Splendored Thing,’ and Pat Boone’s ‘Ain’t That a Shame.’

In the fourth spot that week was ‘Autumn Leaves,’ an instrumental track by pianist Roger Williams. The song was composed a decade earlier by Joseph Kosma, a Hungarian who immigrated to France, with lyrics penned by Jacques Prévert. Johnny Mercer adapted the song to English.

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Song of the Day #6,284: ‘MUTT’ – Leon Thomas

The final Song of the Summer finalist shows up at #11 on Billboard’s official chart, and it’s another case where I’ve never heard of the song or the artist.

It turns out I do know Leon Thomas, if not by name. He played Andre in four seasons of the Nickelodeon series Victorious, which my daughters (and therefore I) watched in the early 2020s. He also appeared on Broadway in The Lion King and The Color Purple. In the mid 2010s, he shifted his attention to music, writing and producing for others and eventually recording his own songs.

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Song of the Day #6,283: ‘Love Me Not’ – Ravyn Lenae

It’s hard for me to consider something a candidate for Song of the Summer if I’ve never heard the name of either the song or the person singing it.

But that’s the case for the #10 song on Billboard’s Song of the Summer chart: Ravyn Lenae’s ‘Love Me Not.’ The pop/R&B banger is the first single from the Chicago singer-songwriter’s sophomore album, Bird’s Eye.

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Song of the Day #6,282: ‘Manchild’ – Sabrina Carpenter

In my opinion, Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso’ was last year’s Song of the Summer regardless of what the charts said. Sure, it peaked at #3 on the Hot 100, but it felt like it was everywhere. And it’s exactly the sort of frothy crowd-pleaser that deserves the SotS title.

This year, Carpenter had another runner-up in ‘Manchild.’ This one did hit #1 (it even debuted there) but ended up at only #9 on the Songs of the Summer chart. Carpenter just can’t catch a break.

(Incidentally, #8 was Chappell Roan’s ‘Pink Pony Club,’ which I’ve already featured).

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Song of the Day #6,281: ‘Golden’ – – HUNTR/X (EJAE, Audrey Nuna & REI AMI)

Continuing my look at this year’s Songs of the Summer, I’ll skip over numbers five and six (Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s ‘luther’ and Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ ‘Die With a Smile,’ respectively) because they’ve shown up on the blog already.

At #7 on the Billboard summer chart is ‘Golden’ by the fictional K-pop band HUNTR/X, a song featured in the hit movie KPop Demon Hunters. The animated Netflix film follows the K-pop girl group, who are secretly (you guessed it) demon hunters, as they face off against a boy band who are secretly (again, you guessed it) demons.

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