Welcome to October. As the leaves begin to change colors and drop away from branches, candy gets stockpiled for trick-or-treaters and jack-o'-lanterns are lit from within, its time for a seasonal playlist.
In the below list, we've rounded up 35 songs for exactly that. Not all of them explicitly mention October in their titles or lyrics, but they're still deserving of a spot here.
So while you're making squash soup, raking the yard or designing your Halloween costume, here are some tunes to listen to.
1. "Sekret October," Duran Duran
From: 1983 B-side to "Union of the Snake"
"Sure eyes awake before the dancing is over / Wise or naked in secret Oktober."
"Mother change in the seasons I see / Winter's on the rise / Autumn still in my eyes / Reborn as daylight dies."
The lyrics to this song don't actually mention October, much less a specific date, but for those that don't know: Roy Harper is an English folk musician who heavily influenced Led Zeppelin, hence their song "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper."
"In August October the grass grew / The sky was blue and I want you / Now as I look out my window / I see the world carry on."
"October and the trees are striped bare / From all they wear / What do I care?"
Technically, this song doesn't reference October but we felt it necessary to include as this year's real life harvest supermoon will take place on Oct. 6, 2025.
"And when October goes / The snow begins to fly / Above the smokey roofs / I watch the planes go by."
"Well I'm-a going back down maybe one more time / Deep down home, October road / And I might like to see that little friend of mine / That I left behind once upon a time."
"And so you wait to see what she'll do / Is it sun or rain for you / But it breaks your heart in two / When you find it's October / And she's gone."
"Well, it's a marvelous night for a moondance / With the stars up above in your eyes / A fantabulous night to make romance / 'Neath the cover of October skies."
"I was born in Portland town / Yes, I was / Oooh, yes, I was / October third, I'm on my way."
"Saw the sad shire horses walking home / In the sodium light / Two priests on a ferry / October geese on a cold winter's night."
"The dead leaves of autumn / That cling so desperately / Must fly before the cold October wind / Their simple life is ended / Must they be born to die again?"
"And in that bright October sun / We knew our childhood days were done / And I watched my friends go off to war / What do they keep on fighting for?"
"On October 23rd, 1978 / I lost a loved one and I confess, I cried / In the joyous celebration of the lady and her music / There were tears in the Holston River."
"I was born under the sign of Libra / October, eighteen, seven o'clock / I must have had it bad, because in the cradle I had / My mother said, before noon I was trying to rock."
"Someone get Popsicles / Someone do something 'bout this heat / 'Cause it's late in October / And tar's still melting in the streets."
"Iron-clad feather-feet pounding the dust / An October's day, towards evening / Sweat embossed veins standing proud to the plough / Salt on a deep chest seasoning."
"You were the raven of October (bizarre) / I knew the sign you flew around (bizarre) / Up in the air so high above me / Never needed to look down."
"Well, a hundred men went down in that dark watery grave / When that good ship went down only forty-four were saved. / 'Twas the last day of October we saved the forty-four / From the cold ocean waters and the cold icy shore."
"Imagine a young woman / Running for her very life / Tr-tr-trying to get away from the one who loves her / This young woman, ha, your wife / Into an alley, cold and rainy / October, just before dawn."
"It was the morning of October 6th, 1960 / I was wearing my brown suit / Preparing to leave the House of D / Shook some hands, then adios, Brooklyn amigos."
"October leaves are falling, so am I / A harvest moon is calling me and I know why / The traffic's like a symphony in blue."
"End of October / The sleepy brown woods seem to / Nod down their heads to the winter / Yellows and grays / Paint the sad skies today / And I wonder when you're coming home."
"Shine hard October moon / Eagle take me to her soon / Run swiftly silver stream / Find my love or let me dream."
"On October 31st many years ago / Three friends went out for a ride / For it was a famous party night / And to party was to get high."
"I was born in October / Turned the hourglass over / My hair was dripping / My shirt was stained / Hit the ground running / Shackled and chained."
"October loves you / Strawberries love you / Who wouldn't love you?"
"On a cold October morning / As frost lay on the ground / Waiting to make my move / I make no sound / Waiting for the mist to cover all around / I carefully picked my time / Then took the wall."
"A chilled wind was blowin' / A cold October rain / And, as I stood before the house / It was silently saying: / 'Sorry about your father' / 'He don't live here, no more.'"
"The skies were ashen and sober / The leaves they were crisped and sere / The leaves they were withering and sere / It was night in the lonesome October."
"October has gone and left me with a song / That I will sing to you although the moment may be wrong / Could it be the sea's as real as you and I? / I often wonder why I always have to say."
"It's late October in Copenhagen / The skies are grey / The snow is falling / I see my breath outside, I'm freezing."
"On October's last, I'll fly back home rolling down winding way / And all I've got's a pocket full of flowers from my grave / But now summer is gone I remember it best."