Recommended Western music for autumn: popular autumn songs and hidden gems [2026]

Girl from the North CountryBob Dylan

Girl from the North Country – Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country” is the perfect song for the season when cold, wintry winds blow.

Released in 1963, this classic is featured on his early masterpiece “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan,” which reached number one on the UK charts.

The sound of the acoustic guitar paired with Dylan’s distinctive vocals evokes a sense of poignancy and melancholy.

When he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016, a musical was staged that used 20 of his songs, including “Girl from the North Country.”

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Hamada Takuya

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exile (feat. Bon Iver)Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift – exile (feat. Bon Iver) (Official Lyric Video)

Taylor Swift’s “exile” is a perfect fit for the autumn mood, with its melancholy lyrics about a man and a woman parting ways.

Justin Vernon, the vocalist of the indie rock band Bon Iver, appears as a guest on the track.

It reached No.

6 on the U.S.

charts and No.

8 on the U.K.

charts.

Expressing miscommunication and separation, “exile” is a song that really hits home when you listen to it in the chilly autumn season.

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Hamada Takuya

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Goodbye Yellow Brick RoadElton John

Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John, the genius singer-songwriter Britain proudly boasts to the world—and whose recent buzzworthy autobiographical musical film Rocketman is still fresh in our memories.

Among his many hits, I’d like to introduce the classic “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” known in Japan by the localized title “Kōshin no Rengamichi” (“Twilight Brick Road”).

It was included on the album of the same name released in 1973, and when it came out as a single, it became a hit in both the UK and the US.

The title itself is taken from the Yellow Brick Road in The Wizard of Oz.

It carries the meaning of pursuing one’s own path rather than the “yellow road” of stardom.

Strictly speaking, it doesn’t have anything to do with the autumn season, but its wistful melody and sound make it a song with the perfect atmosphere to recommend for listening in the fall.

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Pale SeptemberFIONA APPLE

Pale September by fiona apple

A literal translation of the title would be “Pale September,” but the remarkably mature singing voice—hard to believe it belongs to an eighteen-year-old—and the piano that hints at a grounding in jazz together shape the song into something that skips over autumn and gives a premonition of winter.

Fiona Apple, who released her stunning debut album Tidal in 1996, is a singer-songwriter with a singular talent born of the ’90s.

She is also known for being extremely sparing in her output—only four albums released as of 2020—but the music she creates is nothing short of uniquely brilliant.

The track introduced here is one of the calmer, more relaxing songs on Tidal, making it a perfect recommendation for an autumn evening’s soundtrack.

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Autumn LeavesChris Brown ft. Kendrick Lamar

Chris Brown – Autumn Leaves (Explicit) ft. Kendrick Lamar

A track included on the 2014 album ‘X.’ The music video, directed by Colin Tilley—who has also worked on projects for Enrique Iglesias, Justin Bieber, and Justin Timberlake—was filmed in Hawaii.