“Rustling whistling leaves, turning breeze to speech”

Autumn leaves. Image Su Leslie, 2016. Edited with Snapseed and Stackables.

My engagement with NZ Music Month is leading me down all sorts of byways, coupling my visual imagination with audio memories.

This week’s theme for Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge at Lens and Pens by Sally is nature. And wouldn’t you know it, Nature is the name of the song that in 2001, APRA, the association which represents Australasian composers, lyricists and music publishers, named as the best NZ song ever written.

Caveat: this is not the choice I would have made, though I like the song very much.

Written by 19 year old Wayne Mason of the band The Fourmyula, Nature topped the local music charts in December 1969.

In 1995 ‘Nature’ was covered by another Kiwi band, The Mutton Birds. This is a slightly “rockier” take on the song; reflecting not so much the mellow colours of autumn, but perhaps the increased energy we feel when Auckland’s summer humidity departs.

I really like the The Mutton Birds’ cover; but I’ll leave you to decide which version you prefer.

The Fourmyula (1969)

The Mutton Birds (1995)