Autumn leaves

[Triple-o]

I am trying to understand this song.The version that I have is from the latest edition of the Real Book.

I see where some on line folks are referring to Autumn Leaves as AAB and others as a AABA and still others as a AABC song form.  

I am assuming that the first 16 bars is the AA.Then the next 8 bars is the B then 8 more bars of A making it 32 bars AABA.I am assuming the B stands for bridge.When some say the song firm is AAB, I take that to mean they consider the bridge to be 16 bars.What about the C ?

On line I found a beginner lesson by Eric Blackmon. He breaks the bridge into two parts the bridge and the “breakdown bridge”. The breakdown bridge is Em7 A7 Dm7 and G7.Is that a music term?  I think I came across something that said these 4 chords are from another key,  could that why he seems to separate them.

Another thing, If you add the lyrics to the real book version the bridge seems to start on “Went a Way” .The bar before that has the lyrics “Since you”, Why wouldn’t the bridge start with Since you? “Since You”is where the song seems to change. Eric plays  the bridge as 16 bars.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2018 by Triple-o

[V7#5b9]

@Triple-o 

Take a look at the musical analysis of “Autumn Leaves” provided on the following PAGE. When you get to the page, you may have to click on the “Music and Lyrics Analysis” in the left column to see the result in the middle column. The original key is G major/E Minor, and the form is A-A-B-C. So, the first 16 bars are the A-A section. The next 8 bars are the B or Bridge section, and the last 8 bars are the C section. When the sections are melodically different, they can be assigned different letters: A, B, C or even D. 

Now, I don’t know about “breakdown bridge”, but as far as I’m concerned when you add the lyrics (and I do have “Autumn Leaves” sheet music with lyrics version) the B section starts with “Since you …” as you point out, and the C section starts with “But I …” I hope that makes sense to you. 

Edited October 21, 2018 by V7#5b9

[Triple-o]

Thanks , that was interesting.

Now if I only had Nat King Cole to join me for morning practice. I recorded his version to my iPad,so I could play along.The big take away from listening to him was that after the solo, he came back in at the bridge section to finish.

I might change some minor changes to my sheet music so that it is exactly as he sings it.

 

Edited October 21, 2018 by Triple-o

[colder]

On 10/20/2018 at 9:51 PM, V7#5b9 said:

@Triple-o 

Take a look at the musical analysis of “Autumn Leaves” provided on the following PAGE. When you get to the page, you may have to click on the “Music and Lyrics Analysis” in the left column to see the result in the middle column. The original key is G major/E Minor, and the form is A-A-B-C. So, the first 16 bars are the A-A section. The next 8 bars are the B or Bridge section, and the last 8 bars are the C section. When the sections are melodically different, they can be assigned different letters: A, B, C or even D. 

Now, I don’t know about “breakdown bridge”, but as far as I’m concerned when you add the lyrics (and I do have “Autumn Leaves” sheet music with lyrics version) the B section starts with “Since you …” as you point out, and the C section starts with “But I …” I hope that makes sense to you. 

Thanks for introducing me to that website! I can tell I'll spend a lot of time there eventually! 

[Triple-o]

When I was looking through my theory book,he had a chapter on song forms. It explained  why the bridge (B) section was shown at the measure following “since you” . In his example he used “Lilly of the West” he talked about how the pickup notes belonged to the following A section and the different notes at the end of the A section actually belonged to the B section.Thats exactly what’s happening in Autumn Leaves.like you pointed out the bridge section is melodically different and that starts with the rest and two quarter notes.