"Autumn" is a three-part song by

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

band Strawbs featured on their 1974 album ''

Hero and Heroine ''Hero and Heroine'' is the seventh studio album by English band Strawbs. Background After the tour supporting the previous album, ''Bursting at the Seams'' (1973), there was an acrimonious split leaving only Dave Cousins and Dave Lambert to ...

''. The final part "The Winter Long" was released as a single in 1974 under the title "Hold on to Me (The Winter Long)".

Heroine's Theme

The first part of the three part song is an instrumental written by keyboardist

John Hawken John Christopher Hawken is an English keyboard player, best known as a member of The Nashville Teens, Renaissance, and the Strawbs. He also played in Spooky Tooth, Third World War, Vinegar Joe, Illusion, as well as being a session musician. ...

. It was later released as a single in the United States due to demand from black radio stations. The music begins with a menacing riff played on a Moog synthesizer, gradually builds to a climax and then segues into the much quieter second part of the song.

Deep Summer Sleep

"Deep Summer Sleep" is written and sung by

Dave Cousins Dave Cousins (born David Joseph Hindson; 7 January 1945) is an English musician who has been the leader, singer and most-active songwriter of Strawbs since 1967. Career Cousins is a founder member of the Strawbs, which started out as the Str ...

The Winter Long

The final part of the song is written by Dave Cousins but sung by Dave Lambert. It was released as a single in the UK in 1974. Several overseas releases followed.

Release history

B-side of the single

The B-side track "Where Do You Go (When You Need a Hole to Crawl In)" is a Dave Cousins composition, featured on the 1974 album '' Ghosts'' album.

Personnel

*Dave Cousins – lead vocals, backing vocals, acoustic guitar * Dave Lambert – lead vocals, backing vocals, electric guitar *

Chas Cronk Chas Cronk is an English musician, best known as the bass player and acoustic guitarist for the Strawbs from 1973 to 1980 and again from 2004 to the present. Chas also toured and recorded with Steve Hackett and Rick Wakeman in the 1980s and C ...

– backing vocals, bass guitar *

Rod Coombes Rodney Coombes (born 15 May 1946) is an English musician. He was mostly known from playing drums with British bands Stealers Wheel in 1972 to 1973 and again in 2008 and Strawbs from 1974 to 1977 and again from 2004 to 2010. Career He has pla ...

– drums *

– piano, Mellotron, organ, synthesizer

References

"Hold on to Me" at Strawbsweb

External links

Lyrics to "Autumn" at StrawbswebLyrics to "Where Do You Go" at Strawbsweb
1974 singles Strawbs songs 1974 songs Songs written by Dave Cousins {{1970s-rock-song-stub