We’ve been into the woods for our latest Sounds Like... series of themed songs, to forage some brilliantly interesting choices for your autumnal listening pleasure. Join us for a 20 minute journey into the forest... a (sometimes) dark place, bursting with life and a hint of danger around the edges. And if you do go mushroom picking, folks, please be careful!

This (quite long) track sets the scene for the whole 'Into the Woods' musical, by Stephen Sondheim. The musical weaves Grimm Fairytales together, including Cinderella and Rapunzel. All your favourite scary stories in one, collected and edited by the brothers Grimm in order to sustain their family. The Woods are dark and dangerous places in some of their tales, first published 200 years ago. And the plentiful supply of food – berries, nuts and mushrooms, sustained a wildlife population that included predators like wolves.

Well, if you were in the very thick of the woods, you perhaps wouldn’t see the Harvest moon... but this song is more about love that endures year after year, through the seasons. It’s a simply structured, plain song, but works so well. For something so straightforward, it just shows you what a good songwriter Neil Young is.

This is a lovely song by Fiona Apple. Wistful and with a sense of the fading of autumn... and with a very appropriate surname for the season too!

Is it time to go? Then let’s get “Out of the Woods” by Oregon, from 1978; the whole album is on YouTube, and we particularly like Yellow Bell, the opening track. It does get a little dark in the middle, mind:

We couldn’t do this without a little Vivaldi, could we? Here’s a particularly fine performance of ‘Autumn’ with each section titled as it begins...

And finally... a bonus track! Last but by no means least, allow us to introduce Steve Berry (for those that don't know him), the Head of Jazz and Improved music at the Royal Northern College of Music. We did a little further foraging on You Tube and found this – for Grade 1 Bass players, written by the man himself: