Autumn Leaves

Autumn Leaves" is a much-recorded popular song. Originally it was a 1945 French song "Les feuilles mortes" (literally "The Dead Leaves") with music by Hungarian-French composer Joseph Kosma and lyrics by poet Jacques Prévert, the Hungarian title is "Hulló levelek" (Falling Leaves). Yves Montand (with Irène Joachim) introduced "Les feuilles mortes" in 1946 in the film Les Portes de la Nuit.[1] Early Recordings The American songwriter Johnny Mercer wrote English lyrics in 1947 and Jo Stafford was among the first to perform this version. "Autumn Leaves" became a pop standard and a jazz standard in both languages, both as an instrumental and with a singer. On December 24, 1950, French singer Edith Piaf sang both French and English versions of this song on the radio programme The Big Show, hosted by Tallulah Bankhead.[2] The Melachrino Strings recorded an instrumental version of the song in London on August 18, 1950. It was released by EMI on the His Master&Voice label as catalogue number B 9952. The film Autumn Leaves (1956) starring Joan Crawford featured the song, as sung by Nat King Cole, over the title sequence. The French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg paid tribute to this song in his own song "La chanson de Prévert".[3] Frank Sinatra included a popular version of the song on his 1956 album Where Are You?. The Coasters released a version of the song on their 1960 album One by One.[5] The British Invasion band Manfred Mann released a rock version on their 1966 album As...