Songs about fall: the sweet, the sad and the strange

They were supposed to do a straightforward episode about autumn songs, but this week the hosts of "How We Heard It" found themselves in lively debate from the get-go.

When is fall? When the kids go back to school in August? Is it the autumnal equinox in September? Maybe when the leaves turn in October?

Your host Chuck Campbell doesn't like much of anything about fall - colder, darker days make him gloomy, sleepy and unproductive. Yet his counterparts, Wayne Bledsoe and John Baker, are invigorated by the cooler days and natural beauty of the season.

But at least Chuck - and John - embrace the excitement of football ... which Wayne adamantly rejects. And they're similarly separated by the music of the sport, from the school fight songs to the commercial songs that have been adopted by fans.

Autumn music also include all those songs about September - generally the bittersweet kind about saying goodbye to summer (and summer flings) and moving on to some new adventure. And don't forget sweaters, cozy settings, ambivalent moods, hopefulness and hopelessness.

As a season, fall sends a lot of mixed signals and it's hard to make sense of it. But here we are, and we just have to ride it out.