The melodic but melancholy jazz standard “Autumn Leaves” began life as a French tune written in the early 1940s by composer Joseph Kosma titled “Les Feuilles mortes,” which literally means “The Dead Leaves.”
An aerial view shows fall colors at the confluence of the Clarks Fork and Yellowstone Rivers near Laurel on Monday.
And that presented a bit of a challenge for Johnny Mercer, the legendary American songwriter, who fell in love with the song and wanted to render it for English-speaking audiences. He worried a jazzy romantic ballad called “Dead Leaves” would fall flat — like the eponymous foliage — with American listeners.
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